The real-life Pasticceria Penso wrapped their apple strudel in puff pastry rather than the paper-thin sheets typical of true Austrian strudel, and naturally, I used their recipe as my inspiration. The dough was a color mix of Fimo vanilla, Premo ecru, white, and translucent, but unlike my presnitz slices, there was no need to create a bullseye cane. I simply formed the shape of the pastries, and after texturing the outside with a toothbrush, needle tool, and crumpled aluminum foil, I scooped out a bit of clay from the front of the slice, leaving a shallow cavity in which to put the filling. I then shaded the strudel with soft pastels for a golden-brown baked effect.
After an initial baking, I mixed some liquid Fimo with pale yellow and light brown soft pastels to create the appearance of the gooey cinnamon-laced filling and placed a few drops in the bottom of each strudel cavity. This would help all the prebaked filling ingredients to stick. I started with some prebaked apple chunks (a mix of Fimo vanilla, Fimo Soft sahara, Premo white, and translucent), and then, like the real-life Pasticceria Penso did, I also added some raisins, pine nuts, and diced candied orange peel. I needed to add more “sauce” to the filling but found that all the tiny bits didn’t want to stay put. So I baked the strudel again briefly, just long enough to set everything in place, before covering the filling with more sauce.
After a final bake, I sealed the strudel with Helmar Crystal Kote Matte spray varnish, so that the pastels wouldn’t rub off. Finally, to create the effect of an egg wash, I brushed a little matte varnish onto the crackled areas. (The brand of matte varnish I use is a tad glossy, which is perfect when I want just the slightest amount of sheen.) Here’s a closeup of a slice of strudel.
Here are the slices of apple strudel, presnitz, and putizza glued into the tray…
…and in the display case.
