I can't help you on the technique but I could offer a suggestion on where to find some answers........ I would go to the gallery here on CC and search the word "leather" - I found a couple of cakes that came up that looked just like leather - maybe you could PM the owners of the cakes and ask for their help. I do know fondant will be the way to go to start with but as for the technique to get it to look like leather - you'll have to ask around. Good luck. 
I don't know for sure, but I'd start with brown fondant and then go to a fabric store and get a hunk of fake vinyl leather and use that as an impression mat. You have time to give it a try on a small piece of fondant prior to the big day, if someone doesn't come up with a surefire method.
This site has a saddle; I would imagine that they are using fondant and painting it?
http://www.frostedart.com/SlideShow/Specialty/Spe1.htm
Hope this helps.
This site has a saddle; I would imagine that they are using fondant and painting it?
http://www.frostedart.com/SlideShow/Specialty/Spe1.htm
Hope this helps.
Interesting....looks like maybe it started with marbled fondant...with something overlaid with a sponge perhaps.
If you go through the slide show, there is also a leather bag that has a darker color.
First of all, Crimsicle, I love your Photo, below your nickname...we both know who it is !!
Ok, leather, that might be hard to do, because leather have differednt textures.. If you want "suede" there is way to do it.
just wanted to wish you good luck! a leather cake should be very interesting!
In Collettes Birthday Cakes....pg 89..she shows a "doctors bag" cake.
She gets the leather look by impressing the fondant with a sheet of flourescent light cover. (That bumpy plastic stuff that covers those lights) or she says you can get an impression mat from "Sunflower" sugar art..she gives the phone number as 305-717-0004.
Hope this helps.
Sugarcraft has many textured rolling pins. I saw one of the small rollers that might work. I believe the number was R-12. You might look at those and see if you see something.
Here is a leather cake I did for a competition and a purse I did for a display. I've done this several times, and people always comment on how much it looks like real leather. I use chocolate fondant mixed with various amounts of white fondant to get the color I want, and then impress it with ShadeTex Scratchart sheets. They're made for little kids to do crayon rubbings with. Locally, our stores don't carry them any more, but they can be ordered online if you Google-search for them. They make several different types of texture sheet sets and I have them all. They're wonderful.
I also use a little brown petal dust around the edges to simulate the worn appearance of weathered leather, and then add some diluted confectioner's glaze.
Hope that helps some....
Deanna
Here is a link to Scratch Art/ShadeTex. You can't order from this site, but you can use their "store locator" to find somewhere near you to get them from. I had to mail-order mine. You can see all the different texture sheet sets here.
http://www.scratchart.com/sui/scratch/smcat.cgi/scratchart2/Shade-Tex_Rubbing_Plates
Deanna
i finally found the site. hope it helps.
http://www.bakedeco.com/static/list/textured-sheets-for-chocolate.htm
If you're looking for the bumpy kind of leather look....you can use a football.......I bought one for like 3 bucks at the dollar store....cut it open (my sons about died lol) and made the whole thing flat...then you can use it as an impression mat for fondant....it works great.......there is a Loui Vitton (spelling) purse cake on here with keys and everything and that's what they said they did..and I tried it and it looked amazing....If you're looking for more of a suede look...I've found (when I wasn't going for a suede look lol) that if you heat up your spatula...I did it over the flame on my stove and then run it over chocolate BC it melts the top layer of icing just enough and it gives it a really soft suede look.....I will see if I can find that photo in the gallery for you too.
xandra83,
I did a saddle cake not too long ago. Check out my photos. To get the leather look I balled up a piece of foil and gently pressed it into brown fondant so that the entire surface was scarred up. Then I diluted some Americolor brown with a tiny bit of everclear to make it like paint. I then painted on the brown & used a dry paper towel to sponge off the access. It looks really good because the color gets into the marks made by the foil to make them darker.
Best of luck to you and make sure to post pics! I'm sure whatever you do will turn out fabulous!
Deanna -
Thanks so much for that link to the Scratch-Art sheets. They solve a problem for me that I hadn't yet tackled!
Now...as for the leather....which did you use? I didn't see any that specifically said "leather." Or maybe these old eyes are deceiving me again.
Suzette
Crimsicle, I used the Design Set SHP8, "dense dots" sheet. I have all the other sets and have used them for fairy godmother dresses and magic carpets for genies as well as all sorts of other things. You can even use them to make dual-colored chocolate pieces. What was it you had in mind to use them for? I'm always interested in other uses!
I like the cut-up football idea! LOL, I used brand-new rubber stamps on a competition cake earlier this month, and the judge wrote on my score sheet: "Are rubber stamps FDA approved??" 
I wonder what she'd say about a toy football. Heehee!
Deanna
Actually, on another forum, one girl achieved this look quite by accident and without any additional expence. She colored the fondant in whatever color she needed and then mixed it really long ... Overmixing the fondant gives it this grainy texture, just the leatherlook.
Peachez - I followed your directions on the saddle cake for the Bible on my first communion cake, although i didn't rough it up first. My aunt, an antique dealer, tried to open the Bible thinking it was an antique! Thank you for your info!!
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