If you wish to make beautifully detailed sugar decorations but do not have much time, one of the best solutions, is to choose a delicately crafted silicone or resin mould and use this to create stunning and impressive pieces in no time at all. Moulding sugar can be as simple or complex as you wish to make it!

In general there are three types of moulds available to sugarcrafters:

• Plastic moulds, made from thin sheets of plastic that has been moulded. These are used predominantly for chocolate work, we stock a shoe mould which makes an excellent former for a sugar shoe

• Hard resin moulds, which are excellent when you are trying to minimise distortion such as when moulding faces.

• Silicone moulds, commercially now the most widely available moulds - extremely easy and quick to use and so effective.

Pastes to use: Moulds are very simple to use provided you select the correct paste and it is of the right consistency for the particular mould you have chosen. The secret of success for many moulds is to use a firm paste, Lindy favour's modelling paste made with gum tragacanth rather than CMC, however for some highly detailed silicone moulds with undercut sections the best approach is to use softer paste so the mould is easier to fill completely and then to place the mould in the freezer for 15-30 minutes before releasing the design. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try using other pastes such as marzipan with a little added gum for strength, flower paste and modelling chocolate.