I want to make a bear for my sons birthday cake and I was wondering if it was easier to do it with fondant or gum paste. I've never made a bear so I don't even know where to start. All help in appreciated =) Kristen

Hi, I haven't done a bear (yet) but of the figures I have done, I typically use 50% gumpaste & 50 fondant in my mix. To me the mix is easier to work with, more elastic and holds great this way.

But I will leave it to the pros to give you more details and suggestions

Here is a link to Aine2's tutorial for tiny teddy bears. The process for making a bigger bear is the same, just use bigger parts.

http://cakecentral.com/article176-VIDEO-How-to-make-a-tiny-teddy-bear.html

Also, she sells tutorials on how to make the bigger bears. Here is the link if you are interested.

http://www.lorraine-icingonthecake.co.uk/masterclasses/masterclass3.htm

Using fondant will give you more time to work on it....as fondant dries slower than gp
Since you are in the L.A. area you should not have a problem w/humidity.

Depending on how big you make it you might want to consider using 1/2 & 1/2.

Thank you so much. I think I'm gonna use the 1/2 and 1/2. I'll post pics as soon as I'm done. Hopefully it will look like a bear =)