I have a cake that i have to do in January. It's a pink camo fondant covered cake with a small mounted deer head on the front side of the top tier, a fondant ball cap as a topper and a fondant riffle sitting in front of the bottom tier. Ive done a lot of fondant/gum paste molded figures and decor but this is beyond me. Its all new territory and nothing like what ive done before.  Im looking into casting a mold for the head and making the antlers separate by hand but im not sure how well that will work because of getting the deer head out of the mold without tearing it. Im also really concerned about the weight of it and getting it to stay on the front of the cake without falling. Any directions or tips on how to sculpt the head and antlers or about mold making would be awesome! And also if anyone knows a good way or what to use to put the mounted head on to anchor it on the front of the cake I would greatly appreciate it. Any tips or tricks for any other part of this cake would be great also. Thanks you!

Try sculpting the head out of Rice Krispie Treats. I would put two dowel rods in the back of the head like this <= and stick them through the side of the cake and gluing it to the fondant. 

ive never molded with rice crispies, would that make it heavier or lighter than gum paste? It also has to be small enough to fit on the front of a 2 layer 6" round...

I would also make the head out of rice krispy treats cemented to a plaque of gumpaste using melted chocolate.  I would make sure there were two wooden skewers through the RKT head and through the plaque so that you can secure it to the side of the cake.  But I wouldn't put it into place until you arrive at the party.  The antlers could be made of wire covered in candy clay and the RKT could be covered in brown fondant or candy clay.

It would be lighter. If you decide to go with the RKT use the recipe on the box but leave out the butter.

Thank for all the advice :-) i think ill try the RKT now in advance and see how it comes out...if by chance i love the first one i do is it possible to save it and use it on the cake. How long can you store these types of decor?

Oh and where can i find candy clay?

You can make your own candy clay, there's just two ingredients, melted chocolate and Karo syrup - lots of recipes on this forum.  But what I would do is take a 50% off coupon down to your local Michael's or AC Moores and get a tub of Duff Goldman's (Ace of cakes) fondant in brown.  He mixes his fondant with a lot of chocolate making it set up hard as a brick.  Easy.   But it costs $20 a tub - hence the fifty per cent off coupon.  And yes, if you like your first trial just place a paper towel over it to prevent dust from collecting on it and it will last virtually for ever.  I just tossed out a RKT football helmet I made two years ago.

Hmm. I'm kind of reminded of the local Claim Jumper, years and years ago, when it first opened: one of the mounted deer-heads was wearing glasses. I thought it gave him more character.

So i have my RKT head done but not cover yet. As of right now it looks awful! like a big squiggly blob. Really hopeing that once i cover it it i can add some detail to it. Or this cake is going to be a disaster. UGH!

ADoes RKT set really hard. I need to make a lid for a treasure chest next week but need something light but solid I can shape. I am then going to cover with fondant. Do I crush the rice krispies a little first to get a smoother finish? What quantity should I use? Lid beds to be ten inch by eight and about 2.5 inch thick.

hard yes and no

you of course need to have this mounted on a cardboard--you want an open lid?

i make the recipe on the box less one cup of rice krispies

i shape it while it's hot with buttered hands--i pack it together really well

it has to set up overnight for all that gelatine to do it's thing

you can crush them first--measure after crushing

but i just use a microplane to smooth them before fondanting

if i'm making a tree or something tall i used crushed

for the car in the avatar i used regular not crushed and shaved the surface with microplane

i think i would make a double batch for that--prolly have some leftover

if you want really hard surface for an edible lid i'd use gingerbread made with honey substituted for the molasses

but that makes me nervous--i'd still wanna use a cardboard but there is that option

I used the recipe on the rice crispy box with only a tiny amount of butter just to grease the pan. Mine set really hard! i used crisco on my hands and work surface and shaped it while it was hot, but packed it very tight (which might be why it set so hard) . Then put butter cream icing over it to make the fondant stick. I used a viva paper towel to smooth out any bumps or lines in my icing.

Also my deer head came out really well...too bad my 4 year old ate it before i was able to use it on the cake!!!! Grrrrr  But we found a pretty awesome plastic mounted skull that work really well as a replacement last minute lol. I attached a picture which i will also upload to my page of my finished cake. Let meknow what yall think :-) And thanks for all the help with this!

Hi, I have just looked at your cake picture, its really really good, I love it1 I have just opened my cake business and  I have been following your thread as I have been debating whether or not to use RKT for the lid on my treasure chest cake. I have now done it and it has worked really well, I just hope it stays in shape on the cake!!

If you would like to look at the pictures of the cakes and toppers I have made so far here is the link.  http://www.facebook.com/CakedinLove?ref=hl   

keep up the good work, your cakes are ace x
 

". . . but I eated it."

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