20 to Sugarcraft: Sugar Animals (Twenty to Make)

Winter 09/10

Sugarcraft expert Frances McNaughton has designed 20 wonderful sugar animals that you will want to make using simple tools and techniques and readily available ingredients. There are clear step-by-step instructions for the range of popular animals which include an elephant, panda, hippo, lion and monkey.

Dec 09

Here are 20 great designs with clear step-by-step instructions that are easy and fun to make using simple techniques and readily available ingredients. They're the perfect finishing touch for young and old for the festivities ahead. Frances shows how to make cute and funny animals using sugar paste plus a few simple tools and techniques. We learn about the simple shapes that are the basis for all the animals and then it's straight on to making elephants, monkeys, pandas, lizards, dolphins, kangaroos and much more.

Dec 09

If you enjoyed playing with modelling clay as a child, then sugarcraft is surely going to have a lot of appeal. Celebration cakes decorated by hand are so much more special than those bought in stores, and you can tailor the decorations to suit the taste of the recipient. Most people have a favorite animal; so modelling these is a good place to start. I've always enjoyed doing this even though I don't personally have a sweet tooth (it really is not a requirement for sugarcraft). I own other books on the subject, but tend to find that too many of them fall into the usual craft book tendency of insisting you need everything but the kitchen sink, although for this craft the latter is a necessity! Here you just need the paste, basic kitchen equipment and a few other bits and pieces that you probably already have. Fancy cutters can come later - this is about working with your hands. There is a page showing the shapes you need to make so you can practice making them neatly before you begin, and then it is on with the projects. There are twenty animals in here rather than the usual twenty plus twenty more variations, but you need both pages for a photo of the finished item, instructions plus another extremely useful feature. For every animal as well as the completed model it shows each separate piece you need to make in order to assemble it. Each part has a number which corresponds with the instructions, and if you have practised making the shapes at the front (and are reasonably proficient with modelling clay) then it is all relatively easy to make a professional job of it. Animals include favorites such as tiger, elephant, dolphin, zebra, monkey, crocodile, snake, panda etc tending towards those found in a zoo rather than pets or creatures associated with festivals. You will just have to roll out your sugar paste and see if you can make reindeer and chicks for yourself...a really user-friendly book.

Apr 10

This book by British Sugarcraft Guild member Frances McNaughton is absolutely adorable!

I loved the darling designs for little sugar paste animals included in this book. You'll find directions for elephants, panda bears, a lizard, snakes, hippopotamus, dolphin,kangaroo, camel, tiger, seal, skunk, a mischievous raccoon, leopards, koala bears, lions,a crocodile, monkeys, a zebra, giraffe, and a frog. A virtual zoo full of animals to create to decorate everything from cupcakes to birthday cakes, to even a wedding cake if you so desire.

The versatility of the sugar paste animal designs is that they can also be crafted from polymer clays or other air dry or oven dry sculpting clays as well...not just used for cake decor. You can create more permanent versions of the animal menagerie for keepsakes.

I found myself oohing and ahhing over these adorable animals and I was amazed that each and every design ,though it may look complex, actually uses very basic steps to create stunning results. Easy for a beginner to create very nice results for their cupcake and cake creations. I can't wait for the next time that I have a child's birthday cake to create! I'm going to have so much fun making something memorable for a child in my life....but gracious!...these are so cute though, that I do believe that someone will need to create a cake for me with these darling critters on it too.(after all the little kids can't have all the fun now can they?)

This is a darling book to have on hand for the next time you are called upon to create a birthday cake or special occasion cake.

Frances McNaughton's sugarcraft books have become international bestsellers. She has been a tutor and demonstrator for many years, teaching all aspects of sugarcraft to students from beginner to advanced level. She travels all over Europe providing demonstrations and workshops for exhibitions, shops, groups and clubs and has fans in the US, Australia and New Zealand through her online tutorials and sugarcraft products. Frances has made sugarcraft props for the films Notting Hill, Chocolat, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and three of the Harry Potter films.