Five Ways with the Holly Trio Mould!

Our Holly Trio Mould is a must have this Christmas for any baker! Here’s 5 different ways the mould can be used to create festive treats by Sarah Harris from The Cupcake Range.

Modelling Chocolate

Make or buy some round truffles and add dark modelling chocolate holly leaves to each one for a festive treat.

2. Coloured Fondant

Use some red and dark green fondant to make traditional holly leaves and berries to decorate mini chocolate logs. Dust the mould with cornflour and tap out the excess. Then cover the berry part of the mould with the red fondant adding the green fondant for the leaves next. Cover the tops of the mini chocolate logs with white fondant. Add a holly leaf and dust with icing sugar to give a snowy effect. Great for Christmas parties.

Try experimenting with different colours for a more modern twist or painting on some confectioners’ glaze to give the holly leaves a shiny look.

3. Using Edible Dusting Tints

Make several same sized holly leaves and berries using white or ivory coloured fondant. Leave to dry, then lightly dust the leaves, using a small paint brush, with green petal dust. I used Foliage Green by Sugarflair. I then painted the berries with a small paint brush dipped in Sugarflair Red Extra gel, finishing them off with a tiny amount of Jewel Fire Red Rainbow Dust to make the berries sparkle. Arrange the holly around the top edge of a round cake (or cupcake) to make a holly wreath. I used a large red bow I made from the Katy Sue Bow mould and the white flowers were made using flowers from the Sugar Buttons Enchanted Window and Flowers mould and some modelling paste, with the petals thinned out using a ball tool and a gold ball added to each centre. If desired add some pearl lustre dust to the petals to add extra interest. The acorns were made using chocolate fondant for the cups and the acorns were fondant coloured with Autumn Leaf gel by Sugarflair painted with a little clear confectioners’ glaze to make them shine.

Cover your favourite cookies with chocolate fondant and indent the lower half with a ball tool to look like currants. Add white fondant to the top to represent melting icing and top with a holly leaf for easy Christmas pudding cookies.

4. Painting on Fondant

Add a little clear alcohol (such as vodka) or a little lemon extract (for a non-alcoholic version) to your chosen colour lustre dust and paint onto pre-made and dried holly leaves.  If painting them all gold, start with fondant coloured with Autumn Leaf gel by Sugarflair or if painting them silver start with some light grey coloured fondant. Alternatively use gel colours and paint on undiluted or for a more subtle effect thin the gel with a little water and paint on sparingly. Leave to dry.

I made this cupcake using a pearlescent blue paint for the leaves and bow and a light silver for the berries. 

5. Pastry

Decorate homemade mince pies with pastry holly leaves. Use the largest holly leaf and make several holly leaves by dusting the mould lightly with cornflour and using sweet shortcrust pastry dough. Keep everything cold and if necessary place the mould in the freezer for a few minutes to help ease the pastry out of the mould. Keep the finished leaves refrigerated until needed. Arrange one holly leaf on the top of each mince pie, brush with a little milk, sprinkle lightly with sugar and cook in the oven according to your recipe’s instructions. These took about 10 minutes to cook. Dust lightly with icing sugar just before serving. An alternative suggestion is to cook the mince pies and then when cold add on holly leaves made from marzipan.

Sarah Harris, The Cupcake Range