Mexican Sugar Skulls!
Last night I spent well over 4 hours in the kitchen… it was delightful yet completely exhausting! I made fresh butternut squash soup, roasted a chicken and potatoes for dinner and made some Mexican Sugar Skulls… well actually, Mexican White Chocolate Skulls!
I was so excited to finally try out the mold that I got while exploring Olvira Street with my parents. There were many different kinds of sugar skull molds for me to choose from… big ones, little one, skulls on a sticks and even skull accessory molds like sombreros! But I opted for the Frida Kahlo Skull Molds. Frida Kahlo was a famous Mexican painter who was well known for her amazing self-portraits. I studied her work in grad. school while getting my degree in art therapy, mainly because her work was seen as highly symbolic; she used her art work to express her person pain or struggles. Anyways, that’s a discussion for anther day and another time, but these Frida Skull Mold’s were freakin’ adorable, so I absolutely could not pass them up!
The packaging for the molds provided a
recipe for creating the sugar skulls, but last night I was looking for simplicity, so I opted to use white chocolate that I had on hand instead. This made the process super simple… I melted the chocolate gradually in the microwave (50% power, 30 second interval and stirring in between each). I gently spooned the melted chocolate into the molds, tapped them on my countero t remove any air bubbles and then into the freezer they went for 30 minutes and… done! The white chocolate Frida Skulls popped right out and looked great!
I kept them in the fridge until my frosting was ready. I used Royal Icing to frost on some details to high light the skulls detail. Royal Icing in known for setting up super hard and should stick well to the skull… well in theory anyways… (Random Baking Tip: NEVER put Royal Icing down your kitchen sink… always throw any extra you don’t need in the trash first, then clean up your icing bowl… Royal Icing can do a number on your pipes!)
So I had some icing issues last night. After I had colored the icing the consistency changed a bit, then my kitchen was so hot from all the cooking I was doing that the frosting was becoming super soft and warm, then the chocolate skulls were sweating from the heat, preventing icing to stick to the skull. Also trying to see all the lines and details was almost impossible… I swear I almost went cross-eyes! After quite a bit of frustration and lots of trial and error I had one skull that turned out something like what I had wanted it to and here it is! Super cute huh?!?! These eyes on this skull kinda look like how mine felt after I finished with them! I think the next time I try these I am going to pick up some dusting sugar. The sugar may stick better to the skull and may provide color in many of the little detailed lines that I had so much trouble seeing! No more going cross eyed for this semi-pro. baker!
My skulls were super simple, yet felt so impossible at times to complete! After seeing all the crazy-intricate art work that has been created on these sugar skulls on the Mexican Sugar Skull Website, I have a new found respect for anyone who makes these for a living! Its amazing! The coloring are stunningly bright and the detail on some of them is freaking awesome! Check them out for yourself by clicking here!
Happy Baking, Chocolate Molding and Piping Frosting!
-Kristy
