Making People Figures For Top Of Cake

Decorating By heatherangel26 Updated 2 Sep 2011 , 11:50pm by heatherangel26

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heatherangel26 Posted 2 Sep 2011 , 3:06pm
post #1 of 4

Making a fishing cake for my dad's 60th birthday. I am attempting to do a chocolate cake with cannoli filling. Not sure of what kind of icing yet (suggestions welcome).

I wanted to make a figure of my dad for the top of the cake. Is it better to use fondant, modeling chocolate or gum paste to make the figure? I don't want it to be too heavy.

Any help is much appreciated!! Thanks!

3 replies
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JamAndButtercream Posted 2 Sep 2011 , 3:41pm
post #2 of 4

Hi,
These are my good and bad thoughts on the three options for making figures,

Fondant: Good, because its stays soft, so its easy to eat and is nice tasting, and easy to work with. Bad, because it doesn't go hard and can get damaged, also it can flop or melt in humid temperatures.

Modelling Choc: Good, because it sets quite solid, but still easy to eat and tastes like chocolate! Bad, because it still behaves like chocolate, it reacts to the heat from your hands and can get melty!

Gumpaste: Good, because its like working with fondant to start and then sets solid, so it doesn't get damaged and doesn't melt. Bad, because it is so hard to eat!

So which ever you decide to use, use wooden scewers or a wire frame inside if the figure is standing, also to bulk out the figure you can use rice krispie treats.

and with icing ideas, why not take a peek at this link,


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countrycaker Posted 2 Sep 2011 , 4:03pm
post #3 of 4

I like to use a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and fondant. I've found that using gumpaste alone, it dries out too fast as I'm trying to work with it and it is more likely to get little cracks as it dries. Also, by adding gumpaste to the fondant, your figures will dry hard so they don't flop over or sag like they could with pure fondant. Of course, by adding the gumpaste you're taking away the edible factor. Unless you want to risk breaking a tooth. icon_smile.gif

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heatherangel26 Posted 2 Sep 2011 , 11:50pm
post #4 of 4

Thanks so much!! I think I'm going to do the gumpaste. I'm not worrying about eating it because we usually don't anyway so that's ok.

I loved that tutorial on YouTube. It was very helpful! Hopefully it will turn out good.

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