I need to make 4 fondant men in dress suits....how do I do this without them becoming so heavy they are difficult to keep standing on the cake? What I'm making is a stage with a quartet singing on it.

Give them peglegs!!

Use toothpicks or skewers in the legs to go into the cake to provide stability. This should help keep them upright. Or you could make the legs long and put the foot high up on the leg so you have leg to push into the cake. EIther way, the point is you get a portion of the figure into the cake!!

They will actually be standing on a "stage" that I'm making out of strips/planks of fondant tinted to look like a wood floor and I was going to use royal icing to glue them to the floor, but I didn't know if there was a trick to maybe making them hollow or something like that.

If you're not making them out of cake and just want them to be hollow I suggest going to wal-mart to their travel size shampoo or mouthwash bottles or something of that size and using it as the core of the men. That way they would be more lightweight or you can carve styrofoam into a shape and cover it with fondant. Then of course it wouldn't be completely edible but it would be decorated.

Great idea! How do you get the fondant to adhere to the bottle or the styrofoam?

If you can put a thin layer of buttercream icing, it should stick to that. Otherwise, maybe dampen what your trying to apply it to first, then put it on, but it's going to stick fast and I'm not sure that you'd be able to smooth it out well. Can't wait to see how it comes out... remember to post pics!!

Thanks! This cake is due in two weeks so I have a little time to play with it. The plastic bottle would be perfect but I'm not sure if the buttercream or fondant would stick to it. Maybe I could find some wood dowels that are really big and cut them...think it would stick to wood any better?

all the ideas sound good...I just had to add you gotta post a photo when it is complete! It sounds very cool!

They are going to be about 4-5" tall. I've never used clay. This is for a gospel music convention, so I'm doing sheet cakes and this "display" will be the stage, quartet around an old-fashioned microphone that I will make ahead of time and just set on the cake when I deliver it. Keep the suggestions (help) coming...Lord knows I can use it and I definitely appreciate it!

With them being that tall I think you're best bet is to try to secure them to the stage. And I would use spaghetti, toothpicks, something throughout the men as well to help with stability. I'm not sure about making them hollow. I can't imagine how you would do that?!

You can also use aluminum foil as a form like in polymer clay - i they're not going to be eaten.

Debbie

So is the general rule that I can get the fondant to stick to anything that buttercream will stick to? I don't mind if their little bodies are perfectly round (like a plastic travel bottle) because I'm putting on fondant sportscoats and will affix their legs, arms & head that I've molded out of fondant in advance. I just figured molding their entire body would take a lot of fondant and make them pretty heavy.

They would be heavy if their whole body was fondant. I have a skier in my pics and she got bottom heavy and spread a bit because she was all fondant (she was only my 2nd fondant person but I learned alot). I think you will be better off like suggested using foil or a bottle and dowels for the legs as the framework.

My suggestion is to make the legs earlier and let them dry. You could also use gumpaste for legs, so they will dry harder and quicker. When the legs are ready you can glue them on the base and built the figure up from there. It depends how big your figures will be. I haven't had a problem with figures under 10 cm with their weight if their bodies are full fondant.

It is also much easier if you make the legs pretty fat much more steady.

I attach body to the legs then hands and then the head. The only place I always need to use a toothpick is sticking the head to the body. You have already made the heads. My opinion you should trie and make a toothpich hole in the neck because if it dries to stone it will be very hard to attach the head to the body.

Thanks for the tips! I'm going to start working on this probably on Monday so I'm sure I'll be asking for more help along the way! I promise pics when I'm done!

How about these little guys? Would they help or be too flat?

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=417-441&killnav=1

I actually have those cutouts....duh!!! I may try a test run this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed!

How are you going to put those cutouts together to stand up though??

With this stage, will there be something behind them?

I will suggest not making them 3-d...make them 2-d. Take a look at my fireman or my king cake...they are "flat" but if you plan them carefully, you get a nice effect. You can use your cutters, but then, cut a pair of pants and actually put them on...then a jacket, to overlap the pants....and maybe a white shirt under the jacket and a separate bowtie and hair....

I like to handpaint the faces, too. So, since you have some time, just practice a little. You can attach dowels to them to stick them in the cake or just use some royal icing to prop them up after they have dried.

Have fun...

You know, I just thought of something else...if you have access to edible images...

look at my 50's cake...the elvis and marilyn were edible images that I attached to fondant and then literally cut the fondant and image at the same time to get the exact shape. Then, I handpainted on the image to get a really sharp effect....I think that might work for you as well...and they only weigh as much as the little piece of fondant...

Try using small styrofoam balls for the heads too using a toothpick to secure them to the body. You can find them at any craft store.