Was asked to do a safari/jungle theme cake for a 1st. b-day...I'm going to attempt to make some fondant animals for this cake..but I have some questions...is it better to use fondant or modeling chocolate? Also are there any tips, hints you could share with me...how far in advance can i make the animals? And are there any good books that have illustrations on how to make animals and other things out of fondant??

I use either 50/50 fondant/gumpaste or I add Tylose to my fondant.

Either will result in a nice hard/firm figure and it will dry quicker then if you were to use fondant alone.

If you do a youtube search for "Aine2 fondant figures" on google you'll get some great video of her making some animals from start to finish.


I've made my figures a month in advance if I have time. I just store them in a glass enclosed cabinet to keep the dust off.

i use 50/50 fondant/g/p mixture.. nice books at michaels and acmoore in the polymer clay aisles.. will help you. i have taken maisie parrish's classes and have her books.. also some tutorials on line.the polymer clay books will help you a lot. i think on a site of polymer clay.. can,t think of the web site.. there are tutorials also.. good luck .. have a farm wedding cake in my pics of this also.. hth

Now I just made MMF last night...can I mix that with already made gum paste? Also, the next time I make MMF can i add some gumpaste powder to it?

I dont know about the powder but you can mix the premade with your mmf. I find it is best to print out a picture of what I want the animals to look like then I just go for it! I just did a jungle themed cake recently that I made a bunch of animals for. check out my pictures to see, pass me a pm if you have any specific questions!

Have fun!

I recently made a cake with penguines and a polar bear on it and it turned out great....I just used fondant and it worked fine for me. I guess the best advice I have would be to print out a picture of the animals and just start molding!! Have Fun!