Hi,

I have to make the dog in the attached pic out of fondant/gumpaste. The dog will be the cake topper for a 5 yr old girl's birthday cake (pale pink round cake with black and white paw prints and dog bones as details).

The toy is totally ratty and used looking (it looks loved, as I say). It used to be a black and white dog, although the white parts have seen better days. The mother sent me this pic to use, so I apologize for the poor quality, and the fact that you can't see the eyes at all! I'll have to bug her for another pic.

I'm not sure how I should approach this task: should I spruce it up and make the white parts whiter? What about the fur? It's all matted and yucky. However, it is a for a 5 yr old and maybe she'll be more interested in having the dog really look like the toy as is.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

If you want it look as it is in the pic, I'd say make it out of fondant like you normally would and for the fur effect, use dried coconut flakes, color it as required and glue it onto the fondant dog. HTH

I'd ask the mom, but my instinct is to make the puppy gray and black.
Coconut flakes 'piping-gelled' to the fondant would be my guess as well.

How do I color the coconut flakes?

Here you go.
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Colored-Coconut-Flakes-120969

Amazing - thanks!!