3-D Stenciled Basket Cookie - A Julia M Usher Project Tutorial

Hi, Adria, Congrats on making your first post. I look forward to many more to come!

Cohesive!

I'm pleased, this was a challenging project for a beginner. Thanks Julia for all the excellent video tutorials! The fondant handle dried, but was very limp and didn't make it to the final photo. This was an excellent tutorial to work with so many different viscosities and colors of icing. I plan on a few days of rest, and can't wait to try this project again.

Also, here's the link to the tutorial: Tutorial by Julia M Usher, 5/24/13  http://cookieconnection.juliau...ciled-basket-cookies

Adria posted:

I'm pleased, this was a challenging project for a beginner. Thanks Julia for all the excellent video tutorials! The fondant handle dried, but was very limp and didn't make it to the final photo. This was an excellent tutorial to work with so many different viscosities and colors of icing. I plan on a few days of rest, and can't wait to try this project again.

Also, here's the link to the tutorial: Tutorial by Julia M Usher, 5/24/13  http://cookieconnection.juliau...ciled-basket-cookies

Awesome job! You should be pleased, as I can barely distinguish it from my own work!  Thanks for contributing, and I can't wait to see what you do next!

Beautiful!

This was an ambitious and fabulous challenge entry!  I instantly recognized this as a @Julia M. Usher-inspired project! Your colors are brilliant, and it looks like you really had a good handle on all of those different icing textures.  Clearly, this is a case of having both an excellent tutorial and talented student! I look forward to many more challenge entries from you in the future! 

Excellent job! Congratulations!!💕

Julia M. Usher posted:

Adria posted:

I'm pleased, this was a challenging project for a beginner. Thanks Julia for all the excellent video tutorials! The fondant handle dried, but was very limp and didn't make it to the final photo. This was an excellent tutorial to work with so many different viscosities and colors of icing. I plan on a few days of rest, and can't wait to try this project again.

Also, here's the link to the tutorial: Tutorial by Julia M Usher, 5/24/13  http://cookieconnection.juliau...ciled-basket-cookies

Awesome job! You should be pleased, as I can barely distinguish it from my own work!  Thanks for contributing, and I can't wait to see what you do next!

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement. With time, I hope to gain the patience and attention to detail that makes your work and the work of other cookie artists on this site so incredibly stunning. 

Bakerloo Station posted:

This was an ambitious and fabulous challenge entry!  I instantly recognized this as a @Julia M. Usher-inspired project! Your colors are brilliant, and it looks like you really had a good handle on all of those different icing textures.  Clearly, this is a case of having both an excellent tutorial and talented student! I look forward to many more challenge entries from you in the future! 

Thanks Christine! I love a challenge, or 'assignment', and am already wondering what new challenges are to come, airbrushing, father's day, camping... My friends are excited too, they are great at encouraging creative baking, and are more than happy to devour the rejects. 

Beautiful job!!!

There are so many techniques and colors in this project from Julia and you did such a great job!

A few notes on the build:

My limp fondant flower basket handle. I'm not sure if I rolled it too thin, or if the ribbon width was too wide and it wasn't strong enough to handle the weight of the fondant and icing. I made 4 handles, they all either broke or slumped. Previous to this handle I've had zero experience with fondant.

Same cookie flowers, different vase. I made 3 vases to try getting a smooth flood coat on such a large cookie, and it gave me extra cookies to practice stenciling.

Adria posted:

A few notes on the build:

My limp fondant flower basket handle. I'm not sure if I rolled it too thin, or if the ribbon width was too wide and it wasn't strong enough to handle the weight of the fondant and icing. I made 4 handles, they all either broke or slumped. Previous to this handle I've had zero experience with fondant.

Same cookie flowers, different vase. I made 3 vases to try getting a smooth flood coat on such a large cookie, and it gave me extra cookies to practice stenciling.

What brand of fondant did you use? Each has more or less tylose in it, and some (with less) are not really designed to set firmly very fast; they stay malleable longer. I use Satin Ice for this type of thing, as it usually dries firm enough to hold its shape overnight or in a few days (depending on the thickness of the piece). It also won't misshape once set. (In fact, it gets quite brittle and can be fragile, so thin, delicate pieces like this one DO need to be handled carefully.)

Julia M. Usher posted:

Adria posted:

A few notes on the build:

My limp fondant flower basket handle. I'm not sure if I rolled it too thin, or if the ribbon width was too wide and it wasn't strong enough to handle the weight of the fondant and icing. I made 4 handles, they all either broke or slumped. Previous to this handle I've had zero experience with fondant.

Same cookie flowers, different vase. I made 3 vases to try getting a smooth flood coat on such a large cookie, and it gave me extra cookies to practice stenciling.

What brand of fondant did you use? Each has more or less tylose in it, and some (with less) are not really designed to set firmly very fast; they stay malleable longer. I use Satin Ice for this type of thing, as it usually dries firm enough to hold its shape overnight or in a few days (depending on the thickness of the piece). It also won't misshape once set. (In fact, it gets quite brittle and can be fragile, so thin, delicate pieces like this one DO need to be handled carefully.)

I used Sweetshop Fondant purchased from Michaels. The pieces sat out to air dry for a day before the dots were added, and another couple days before the vases were ready for assembly. After sitting out for such a long time out I was a little surprised that the handles had not set up more firm.