Since I have a bit of time (a reallllyyyy tinnnnnyyyyy bit) between cakes and school work I thought I would do a quick product review on the impression mold I used for the bharathanatyam (dance) cake.
The Global mold is one of 3 or 4 I believe. It is made of silicone and comes with a bunch of designs on one sheet all relating to a certain theme. I received it as a birthday gift (ironically from the same friend that I used the mold to make a cake for) and was super excited to use it. I think its the most 'ethnic' looking one of the molds.
The instructions to use it were fairly simple. Wash the mold carefully before the first use. Obviously...this goes for any kind of tool you buy...if you even think about skipping this step, just picture a giant warehouse with rats running around on top of your products boxes...ya that's right...get scrubbing.
To use, you basically push in the fondant on top of the design you want and roll a rolling pin over it to make sure you fill every crevice. Make sure you sprinkled cornstarch onto the mold beforehand so that the fondant doesn't stick. Then just lift the fondant or gum paste out and TADAAAA.
Pshhh, who am I kidding...we all know things don't work that way in real life...
The biggest problem I had was that I had to make sure the impression wasn't overfilled or else I would have to trim the excess fondant off by hand which resulted in extra work...and we all know how much I hate extra work.
Eventually I got the hang of it and was able to fill each impression with just the right amount of fondant so that there was no excess.
I also found that I didn't need to use cornstarch! My fondant didn't stick to the silicone at all. I don't know if this was because my fondant was just the right amount of stickiness OR because the heavens were smiling down at me because I'm special....personally I think its the latter.
What I like MOST about this mold is that once you pop the shape out, you can manipulate it to form other shapes. I used the 4 petal flower impression and then cut them in half to make my own border. Winning!
What I didn't like was that the borders that came with the mold didn't look good when I made them. They were hard to fill without showing breaks or folds. When I did manage to fill it properly, there was always excess fondant that I had to then trim off. I also think it would be a hassle if you have a larger cake. The borders are not that long. I'm not too sure because I didn't use the border design and I decorated an 8 inch cake but I would imagine that you have to do a few borders and join them together resulting in more divides in your border. Again, not a big deal but since I'm a perfectionist and get crazy twitchy eyes when things I make have tiny flaws, I consider it a minus.
I think the mold would be better if they changed out the border designs and added some other impression designs and also if there was some way to fill the design and cut away excess fondant before popping the fondant out. Not sure how they would do that and make it convenient but I'll let the creative design engineers over at Wilton work on that one. The cavities were also quite deep and I think I would like it better if they were a bit thinner so that the work doesn't stick out of the cake oddly.
Regardless, I would give this product 7 out of 10. I think the mold is a great tool to give your cakes that extra flair if you are pressed for time. The intricate designs are great and you have an option among a few patterns to choose from. The product is very durable and seems like it will last a long time. I'm not sure about the price since I received it as a gift. But again, if you get it, make sure to check at Michael's first because they have those blessed coupons that make it easier on our wallets.
Next time for product reviews I think I should take some pictures of me actually using the product. All this text on the page is just boring...except for those few people who read my blog just for the writing...anybody? Ya didn't think so.
Happy Baking!
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