Can't Make These Figures. Cake Due Tomorrow! Im In Trouble.
Decorating By JCE62108 Updated 29 May 2010 , 12:18am by JulieMN
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Don't actually turn on your oven to dry your fondant turn on the interior light and let the pieces dry overnight. I do this all the time when i mold decorations out of fondant with Tylose. This is what I did for my high heel shoe.
mamawrobin.....Wow!! if that is the first time making figures, then you have a bright future ahead....cause you did an amazing job there!
Better than what I would have done.....
Oh wow. Your mario looks so much better than mine! My Mario's head sunk into his body and I used gumpaste. Had I known tylose would have worked better I would have done it that way. Oh well. Overall I think it's an ok cake. I mean, I have to really stand back and try to look at it from a outsider's perspective and that is the only way I can sort of be ok with it. It's not anything like I wanted, but I still think it's an ok cake. I guess. At least it's over with....well, once I deliver it it will be. Then I can relax for a day and start freaking out about next weekend's orders. lol 
Wow...how did you get your Mario's head to hold it's shape? Mine started out good and it turned into...well...what you see above.
I really want to thank everyone who came to my rescue last night. Not only did I get things figured out, but now I have some awesome tips to use for next time. Like that flour trick!!!! Totally awesome! Had I known that I could have dried my Mario's head in some flour to help it keep it's shape before putting it on the body. That little tip is a gem. I've always struggled with figures because the stupid heads always lost their shape and got flat.
Also, I think from now on when doing figures like this I will use tylose and fondant. It just worked so much better than the gumpaste, and dried SOOO much faster. I picked up a piece of fondant with tylose that I left on the counter last night and it was dried all the way through. Now I have to go buy more. I'm so glad I had that on hand.
I stuck Yoshi to the side of the cake last night and kept him proped all night long, took the support out from under him and he didnt fall off the cake! ***insert singing angels here*** I put the legs on this morning and all is well.
Seriously, thank you everyone. You've saved me...yet again. One day I hope I'll be the one doing the saving and not always the damsel in distress. lol
WOWZY!!!
Awesome job!!!! I'm glad it worked out! they are going to love this cake!!!! you said it looked nothing like the other cake... I imagined the worst...
but I am pleasantly surprised.... very very good!!! you need to be proud of yourself.... amazing!!!
Good Luck to ya... :"-)
JCE62108.....There is absolutely nothing wrong with your cake..it looks super!!
Sorry you had such a battle with it,but I am sure you feel more confident now that it all worked out in the end.
Tell you, these people on CC are amazing.....they all jump in when help is needed!!
Well done ladies!!!
mamawrobin.....Wow!! if that is the first time making figures, then you have a bright future ahead....cause you did an amazing job there!
Better than what I would have done.....
Thank you. I knew for two weeks that I had to make this cake. I put off making the figures until the night before it was due because I just really didin't even know where to start. 
JCE...your cake looks great. Did you use fondant mixed with gumpaste? I used gumpaste only. Since I only had a few hours for the figures to dry I knew they wouldn't if I didn't use gumpaste only. Mine dried rock hard in a couple of hours. The head took a little longer maybe 5 hours or so but it did dry hard. Like I said, I didn't start on the figures until the night before the cake was due because I dreaded it that much. 
I used fondant mixed with tylose for a loopy bow once and after 5 days it still wasn't dry. I didn't want to take that chance since I had only a few hours to get them done.
My grandson thought his cake looked "just like the picture" LOL It didn't, but as long as he liked it I'm happy with it. I'm not in any hurry to make any more figures though. I prefer to stay in my "comfort zone".
Oh wow. Your mario looks so much better than mine! My Mario's head sunk into his body and I used gumpaste. Had I known tylose would have worked better I would have done it that way. Oh well. Overall I think it's an ok cake. I mean, I have to really stand back and try to look at it from a outsider's perspective and that is the only way I can sort of be ok with it. It's not anything like I wanted, but I still think it's an ok cake. I guess. At least it's over with....well, once I deliver it it will be. Then I can relax for a day and start freaking out about next weekend's orders. lol
Your cake came out FANTASTIC. They are going to go absolutely crazy over it. You should be very proud of how this turned out.
mamawrobin.....Wow!! if that is the first time making figures, then you have a bright future ahead....cause you did an amazing job there!
Better than what I would have done.....
Thank you. I knew for two weeks that I had to make this cake. I put off making the figures until the night before it was due because I just really didin't even know where to start.
JCE...your cake looks great. Did you use fondant mixed with gumpaste? I used gumpaste only. Since I only had a few hours for the figures to dry I knew they wouldn't if I didn't use gumpaste only. Mine dried rock hard in a couple of hours. The head took a little longer maybe 5 hours or so but it did dry hard. Like I said, I didn't start on the figures until the night before the cake was due because I dreaded it that much.
I used fondant mixed with tylose for a loopy bow once and after 5 days it still wasn't dry. I didn't want to take that chance since I had only a few hours to get them done.
My grandson thought his cake looked "just like the picture" LOL It didn't, but as long as he liked it I'm happy with it. I'm not in any hurry to make any more figures though.
I prefer to stay in my "comfort zone".
No, I just used straight gumpaste for Mario. The head and body. I touched the head this morning....it moves. It's maybe got a firm skin on the outside, but that's it. The tylose and fondant is dried all the way through! I used a LOT of tylose though. I mean, I used about half of a 2oz bottle for only two figures. I had the same issue with tylose before too, but maybe I just wasnt using enough of it to get it to dry as fast as I needed. That is why I didnt think about using it in the first place. But after the suggestion I though, well nothing else is working. Why not. Besides, I think something is up with the gumpaste I bought. Im not happy with it. I made a little man for a cake a few weeks ago. Made it 8 days in advance. the body of the figure was maybe 1/2 x 1 inches thick. By day 6, it was only dry down to about 3mm deep. Literally just a skin over the outside was dry. The inside was so soft that I could actually ball the thing up and reuse it. After 6 days!!! I have a few packs left from the case I bought. Once it's gone Im going to find a different brand.
I know you said you knew you had to do this for 2 weeks. LOL I got ya beat. She placed this order 5 months ago! Thats not really the point though. The point is I mis-judged how the cake was made. If Id have thought I needed to make them in advance, I would have. I was just mistaken. I have not really had to make a lot of figures for cakes before. Also, I've had to learn all this on my own. If you work in a bakery and have someone you can learn from, that's awesome. It's pretty much trial and error for me. lol. That's why I love you guys. I dont think Id be able to do much more than sheet cakes if it wasnt for you guys.
Actually, there is something I like better on your cake. I love that you have mario going down the pipe, I think that is a big detail that's just perfect.
LOL! Yeah I liked it better too. I think it's a little better than half a Mario body stuck inside the cake. 
It actually makes it look like it's 3 tiers. The pipe is actually rounds of foam core covered with gumpaste.
JCE if you are still wondering about mario- I would make the body and let it dry and then make the head and add after the body was dry, that way it can't sink into the body! HTH! Your cake is great, I would have been happy to have it!
Both of them are excelent cakes. they are really great!
I like doing things with fondant/gumpaste, but have never tried a person or animal. (well a squirrel, but it was a literly LAST second thing, she called me before she picked up the cake and told me a squirrel had scared the crap out of her int he deer stand that morning) Y'alls look perfect.
I learned alot from the tips too. thanks
and yes, I was looking for a total cake wreck, this would pass any test
JCE...I do work in a bakery but the lady that I work for has never even used fondant. That's why she hired me. She is a "queen" with buttercream and her piping skills are awesome but she has never done figures before like this so I was essentially "on my own" just like you! I think that's why I felt so intimidated by the whole thing.
BTW..there better picture of my cake in my photos, I tried to add one of them on here but they were too big. The picture I posted was taken with my cell phone.
im glad to read things are getting better w/ your figures...i'm in the Philippines w/c has super high humidity rate of 79%...i dont know what gum paste recipe you're using but i use nicolas lodge' gum paste & never had a problem w/ it melting...it even dries fast....hope you get your figures done on time & do post some pix
Bobhope, that's because the Nicholas Lodge gumpaste is chock-full of tylose (aka CMC). I also live in an extremely humid climate and there's nothing like CMC for making gumpaste and fondant manageable. I always add a little bit of it (plus a little more powdered sugar) to the fondant I cover my cakes with to keep it from slipping down the sides or foming bubbles and elephant skin. I had some true disasters before I figured this out.
OP - you said this was an order...do you mean you got paid for this cake? You do realize that's illegal, right? You cannot sell cakes with copyrighted material on them...Super Mario Bros. is copyrighted.
I was going to ask that as well.
One reason that I'd never made any figures like this is because I've never had a request for a figure that I could legally sell.
I really dont want to get into this. That is not the purpose of this thread. I have done my research and when I first decided to go out on my own, I called 5 custom bakeries in my area to see how they did business. I called with the request of a pink cake with a handmade Dora topper. 4 of the 5 bakeries said they would do it and quoted me a price. Im sure more than 80% of bakeries that are members of this site have done a licensed character cake at their bakery that was technically illegal to do. Point is, people do it. Oh well. Seriously, let's let this be the end of that conversation. Lock thread if needed. Ridiculous.
I'm with you on that one. There are so many home bakers out there that go out on their own and bake cakes for their kids of different characters. To me it's advertising. Maybe they should be paying us for promoting their products. Just enjoy making your cakes. That's why I only bake for friends and family I don't want to deal with the legal garbage.
Come on!!!! Enjoy your cake that it's finished. Everybody knows the home bakers sell cakes with no permit from health department, why should we had to worry about character cakes, people who ask for home bakers cakes they know you don't have any permit. Do you think they care? They just want a delicious and gorgeous cake like the one you made. Finally you made a piece of art.
Hi there,
Sorry you are having such a hard time. I wish you all the best. I am not sure if your question has been answered - haven't read all of the posts but I do have some ideas that may help.
I usually make all my figurines half Fondant half GP - they hold stronger and dry quicker. * I also would suggest making figurines at least a week in advance to allow enough time to dry. -Don't beat yourself up - use this at a learning experience and go from there.
Mario on top I would once dried a bit - or after delivery place on top with a dowel in him to the cake. A possiblity to glue on his head would be to use white melted chocolate. Chocolate dries quickly and holds really well. I at times use melted chocolate to hold arms and legs on as well. Use a paint brush to use just what is needed.
The figurines on the side of the cake could also be either glued on with royal icing or melted white chocolate.
I hope this helps and good luck!
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