I am donating a cake to an African fundraiser and am trying to keep along the safari theme. I figured out how to hand paint my fondant to a sunrise but am now looking for ideas to create a 3D tree.

I have attached a picture of the tree I wanted to create. I was going to use wire to mold my tree then cover in gumpaste. My only problem is the top of the tree where there seems to be some foliage that really looks like an SOS pad or something...any ideas how I can achieve this foliage look? Would some sort of sugar work have never use this before though.

http://www.europosters.co.uk/posters/africa-sunset-elephant-v5528


Thanks!

a spun sugar nest might work??

The first thing I thought of was unbreakable lace, squeezed in a squiggle design on some waxed paper - colored black. Once it's dry you can bunch it up and tack into place with bits of black royal.

I thought of spun sugar and that is what I would like to use. Only problem is that spun sugar doesn't last apparently long enough as I need it to last 2-3 days :S

What is unbreakable lace?

i just tried spun sugar and got nice strands but when I tried to form it into a ball it just totally cracked instead of form..any suggestions?

This is going to sound so far out in left field, that I don't know if it would work or not.
Have you thought of possibly using sugar rocks, crumbled and glued together to give a rather abstract look? They look like "hole-y" lava and give a kind of crushed, airy look. You could color them as desired and maybe, just maybe they would give the silhouette look of the tree?
I've made them and the procedure is easy. Here is a post I made some time ago to let you consider.
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6686963-.html

It is just a wild thought. Hope you find something that will work for you.

Jan

This is going to sound so far out in left field, that I don't know if it would work or not.
Have you thought of possibly using sugar rocks, crumbled and glued together to give a rather abstract look? They look like "hole-y" lava and give a kind of crushed, airy look. You could color them as desired and maybe, just maybe they would give the silhouette look of the tree?
I've made them and the procedure is easy. Here is a post I made some time ago to let you consider.
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6686963-.html

It is just a wild thought. Hope you find something that will work for you.

Jan

Sorry for the double post. The first attempt indicated an error. Oh well.

that sugar rock stuff looks interesting. Not sure how I would make branches out of it though?

I was thinking you could make your armature out of wire, covered with candy clay or modeling chocolate. Make a lot of small, secondary branches, (twigs) and then glue the assorted "rocks" or leaves on to the tips. Then bridge the gaps with more, creating an umbrella effect. This is all going on in my head; I don't really know how practical it would be, or if it would even work.
I'm just throwing my 2 cents into the ring.

Jan

well it got me searching and I found some stuff on pulled sugar. Not sure how easy/hard it is to work with but I may be able to do something with them combined ? :S

Please be sure to post a picture. I am eager to see what you decided to do. Good luck.

Jan