I am going to attempt to make a snowboarder cake similar to the ones in the gallery with a figure on a snowboard made out of fondant. My question is how do you make the figure stand up? Does he just stand up on his own because you have done such a fine job putting him together, or do you stick those guys on some kind of pick? Also, do you do that kind of stuff with pure fondant or do you add some of that gumtex stuff for gumpaste. Or are they just made out of straight gumpaste?

I may just wimp out and draw a snowboarder on a sheet cake, but I think it would be fun to try the figure.

......how do you make the figure stand up? Does he just stand up on his own because you have done such a fine job putting him together, or do you stick those guys on some kind of pick? Also, do you do that kind of stuff with pure fondant or do you add some of that gumtex stuff for gumpaste. Or are they just made out of straight gumpaste? ......

Hehehehe Your funny...."stick those guys on some kind of pick"...OUCH! LOL
Basically you make them small enough (not much taller than 2-4") and the legs fat enough to hold themselves up. You may have to prop them for an hr or so until it starts to harden/setup.
The best medium is 50/50 fondant & gp. I have done small ones in straight fondant but the mix is better.
You can add GumTex to fondant...that will work too. I never measured - just took a golf ball size chunk and dipped it into GumTex; worked that in, then if it didn't seem to 'tighten' it up enough, dip it again.

You can also use floral wire in the legs and torso to make it stand up too. That's what I do. Straight gumpaste dries too fast and you get a wrinkly skin on it and fondant doesn't dry fast enough and stays too soft. I add Tylose to fondant the same way Kakeladi does with the gumtex.

Thank you -- that helps a lot!

Okay - My answer is..... ready for this?

TAKE HIS CHAIR AWAY!!! HAHAHAHAHA!

Okay - sorry about that, I just couldn't help it.

HA!!! That made me snort outloud..

Ha ha ha, Sweetresults, that IS pretty funny. But then I have little boys, and you don't want to know what they think is funny.

I use a 50/50 mix of fondant/gumpaste. I also will use (raw, of course, lol) spaghetti to stick them right into the cake.

I HIGHLY advise practicing one first - you may not like the first one that you do, and will know what to do better next time! And if you do like the first one...you can just save him!

Good luck!

Spaghetti is a great trick.

I plan to haul out the playdough and do a little practice on that first. The cake is for my cousin's son, so it doesn't have to be perfect. But she is one of those people who is always doing stuff for everyone else, so I don't want to give her a sucky cake. She said anything is fine, so if my figures are a total flop, I will just do a sheet cake with drawings. Hmm, or maybe put them in a pile at the bottom like a huge accident -- she would probably find that funny.