Hello wonderful helpful people

I've been asked to make a princess holly cake from Ben and Holly's little kingdom, in case you don't know the character she's here:

http://www.google.co.uk/m/search?site=images&source=mog&gl=uk&q=princess%20holly&sa=N#i=0

I think I would like to try and make her 3d, I think it would be quite similar to the peppa pig cakes I've seen like this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smallthingsiced/5231973165/

I'll make and carve the body of the cake, and thought about doing the head with rkt, but I hate working with it, it never seems to go right, I can't get it to stay how its supposed to, and I would really like to avoid it if I can. Is there anything else you think I could make if out of? For support I'm thinking of making up a board with a pipe going up from the middle to keep it sturdy. Also, what could I make the wings out of?

Thanks in advance for any help. The cake isn't due until October 1st so I've got a bit of time!

Hi Jennifer!
So a 3d fairy cake, Is she going to be sitting down, like in the peppa pig picture?
Yeah you definately need a good inside structure, with the boards, the pipes and a board for the head to rest on. So you don't want to use RKT for the head, to be honest I'm not fussy on those either, I can't imagine what they taste like covered in buttercream and fondant, but thats just me. Polystrene could be an idea, or you could use cake, a CC member made an incredible "Despicable Me" cake and the head was cake! here's the link,
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1993917

With the wings, you could use gumpaste, rolled out cut into shape and left to dry, you could have two pieces of gumpaste and sandwich some scewers or wire inside, so you can attach them to the cake or you could make non-edible ones, like the fairy wings little girls wear.

Hope this helps! can't wait to see how this one turns out! Your hulk one was great!

Hi jennifer,
How did you do your owl cake in the tree trunk? Did you use a pipe and board structure for that?
Yeah I can see your worries about the nose and wings, maybe for this cake you could make it as a 3d carved cake, but laying down? were you asked to make it standing up?

The owl was just on a board supported by dowels, then a dowel going through the tree trunk and I plopped the owl on top with a little hole in the board for the dowel to go through. I'm not that up on support systems at the moment. I think I could probably manage that body and the head, but the wings and nose might end up looking terrible. It's for my friend and I'm not a business so people tend to let me do what I feel like most of the time. I only charge them the cost I incur, I just like 3d cakes to be honest. If I did it really well a 3d fairy would be great but if I messed it up the carved flat cake would be easier. I think if I used polystyrene for the nose I might be able to anchor it in well enough to stay up. And for the wings maybe sugar/rice paper or whatever it is? Luckily the little girl is only going to be 4 so I think she would be pleased with it anyway lol

I've just had a thought, Could you use edible wafer paper for the wings? Her wings are just basic white shapes aren't they? could you cut the wafer paper into shape and "glue" them to her back, big enough so they stick out the sides, so they can be seen if you are looking at her from the front, like this pic,
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=princess+holly&um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbnid=fVqutbP4CP5p6M:&imgrefurl=http://www.1stfortoys.co.uk/soft-toys-82/hollys-little-kingdom-talking-7246.htm&docid=-2mjuUJu3m7F0M&w=699&h=699&ei=vZ5gTpPCCoWr-gaw8sEt&zoom=1&biw=1280&bih=603&iact=rc&dur=187&page=2&tbnh=136&tbnw=135&start=19&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:19&tx=40&ty=83
This could be a lot easier than trying to get them to be 3d and standing up.
Dr Oetker do it,
http://www.oetker.co.uk/oetker_uk/our_product_range/home_baking/baking_ingredients/ingredients/edible_wafer_paper.html?Search=true

You could find it in a supermarket!

Yes that's what I was thinking! Although I didn't know where I would get it from so thanks for the link. It's looking up a little now. I think I'll go and try to find a pipe and board later on today!

Ha! we both had the same idea!
It's up to you, but I'd say have a go at the sitting 3d cake, if you really want to start making them you have to start somewhere haven't you? and at least your first attempt will be for a friend and not a paying customer.

Good luck!

Edit: I looked on Mysupermarket.com and it says they sell edible wafer paper in tesco, although I haven't seem it in my local tesco, I get it from a local cake decorating shop.

If you can't get it in the shops, they sell it on this uk website,
http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ecakescookiesandcraftsshop%2eco%2euk%2f&WD=wafer%20paper&PN=Rice%2dPaper%2ehtml%23aU_2dWFL383#aU_2dWFL383

The postage is £3.99 though, bit expensive so probably best if you can find it in a shop, unless you wanted to buy anything else from the website.

Good luck!

Yeah I will have a look in Tesco, thanks a lot for your help. As usual