Under the Sea or Little Mermaid Cake

As promised here is my Under the Sea cake with fondant Mermaid cake topper. I made this cake for a little girl who turned 5 and although the cake was a challenge in the February heat I think it came out really well.

Unfortunately I did not take photos with every step that I did, but I will try and tell you how I made all the different fondant/sugarpaste figurines on the cake. It was alot of fun to make the Mermaid and all the little sea creatures. I made a turtle, octopus, fish, coral, sea anemone, shells, starfish, sea sponges, seaweed and more.





Little Mermaid cake topper





How to make a fondant or sugarpaste Mermaid Cake Topper

You will need:

Fondant or sugarpaste
Gel colours in flesh, brown, green, black or  pre-coloured fondant
Edible spray (green)
Lollipop sticks
Edible glue
Tools





I used sugarpaste just because it dries harder than fondant and we have very high humidity here. I also wanted it to be hard because it was so big and the main part of the cake. You can use fondant and add a bit of tylose powder or CMC powder to it to make it dry harder.

Form the body for the Mermaid first from the flesh coloured fondant. Put a lollipop stick inside the body so that only a small part comes out both ends, to attach head and tail. Make some arms. Attach to body with edible glue.

Make the Mermaid's head, form eyes and nose and attach head to the body with edible glue. Make sure you stick the top of the lollipop stick inside her head. Leave to dry.

Take a piece of white fondant to form the tail. I used the back of a piping tip to make the scales. I also made a small hole in the bottom where I attached the fin. Use a lollipop stick for it.

Once the tail is dry spray it with edible spray.

Cut a fin out of green fondant for the bottom of the tail. Let dry in the position that you want it to be. Once dry attach it to the Mermaid with edible glue. I left this part till I placed it on the cake!

Roll two balls from the green fondant for her top. I used the scallop tool to imprint on these balls. Stick to Mermaid with edible glue before they are dry. I made a little seastar from the green to put on her head.

Roll the brown fondant out into long thin strips an attach to Mermaid's head, you can make the hair as long or short as you want.

Little Mermaid made from fondant

How to make a fondant Sea Turtle

Fondant Sea turtle

You will need:

Sugarpaste or fondant
Gel colours in brown, green or precoloured fondant
Circular mold for shell
Tools
Edible glue







I used a silicone chocolate mould for the shell. Take a piece of brown fondant and place in mould. Remove when dry. Form head, arms and flippers from green fondant. Let dry and then attach to shell.

How to make a Fondant Octopus

Fondant Octopus

You will need:

Sugarpaste or fondant
Gel colours in purple and black or precoloured fondant
Tools
Edible glue

 

Make a ball for head, add eyes and form mouth with tool. To make the tentacles roll fondant into thin strips and twist. Add details. Attach to body with edible glue.

 

How to make fondant seaweed, seasponge, starfish and sea anemones

 

You will need:

Sugarpaste or fondant
Gel colours in any colour you want or precoloured fondant
Tools
Edible glue

For the sea anemone I used orange fondant and rolled it into thin strips. Put a little hole on the top and attach a few together. I added sugar pearls on the top for extra "bling".

To make the starfish I used a star cutter and cut one "leg" off and formed the rest with my hands to look more natural. I used the a piping tip to make the pattern on the starfish.

To make the seasponge roll out a piece of fondant and cut into squares. I made random hole in it with the back of a piping tip.

To make the seaweed I took green fondant and cut it into small strips. I then cut a point at the top of the strip and curled it a bit so it looks more realistic and then dried it.

Fondant seashells and seaweed

 

How to make fondant Seashells



Fondant sea urchins

 

You will need:

 

Sugarpaste or fondant
Gel colours in any colour you prefer or precoloured fondant
Tools
Moulds
Edible glue

I made the sea urchins and the seashells with moulds that I made. I made my own moulds with a special mould material and real seashells and sea urchins that I picked up from the beach.
When you make your moulds you must make sure the seashells and urchin shells have been thoroughly cleaned and washed.

I might do a post on how to make your own mould sometime. Let me know if you are interested in a tutorial and I will do one. Leave me a comment.

That is how I made my cake and all the fondant/sugarpaste figurines. Easy...right

Happy creating!

Little Mermaid Cake



 

 

How to make pretty Flower Cupcakes using Candy Corn

I made these pretty flower cupcakes for Easter and I got alot of interest in them. Everyone wanted to know how I got the effect with the petals...well it was pretty easy to do and it did not take long at all.

The big secret...I used Candy Corn for the flower petals!
Now if you are not in the USA then you might not know Candy Corn, but it is a very popular American candy. I got mine send over from the USA. You can get the normal Candy Corn (white, orange and yellow) that is so popular during Halloween, but I used the Easter edition because I just loved the pastel colours.

Here are the two different types. There might be more, but I only know about these. See how pretty the Easter Corn are!

 

 

I started off baking some Vanilla Cupcakes.

 

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 cup (250g) white Sugar

1/2 cup (115g)softened Butter
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 (375g) cups Self Raising Flour
1/2 cup (250ml) Milk

Cream the Butter and Sugar together till light and fluffy. Beat in the Eggs and stir in the Vanilla. Add the Flour to the mixture and mix well. Stir in Milk and beat till smooth.

 

Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners and pour mixture evenly into cupcake liners.

Bake for 20-25 mins at 180 degrees CELCIUS.

 

Decorate your cupcakes to look like flowers

Once your cupcakes are completely cooled down, decorate with a swirl of vanilla buttercream.

 

Now comes the fun part. Take your Candy Corn and place onto the buttercream frosting with the white part facing the middle. The coloured part should face out. Just repeat it all around till it makes a flower. You can make different colour petals or just one colour - be as creative as you like!

 

The middle of the flower I decorated with some edible glitter and some coloured sugar pearls or dragees.

 

 

There you go, a perfect pretty flower for any occassion!

Enjoy and Happy Spring to the other side of the world ;)

 

 



 

How to dry Fondant or Sugarpaste figures and toppers faster!

I recently got the opportunity to make an Under the Sea cake for a little girl who turned 5.
I knew it was going to be a challenge to make but who am I to say no to a challenge? It was February and it is stinking hot on the island in February. We call it suicide month!
All I could think of was that I would have to make a ton of fondant and gumpaste toppers and how on earth will they all dry in this heat and humidity!

I had a week to make the Mermaid topper and all the other gumpaste decorations. Luckilly they all hardened in time and I found a great trick on how to dry them faster! It worked!! What is my tip I hear you ask? It is simple really...

 

How to dry Fondant or Sugarpaste figures or topper faster?

Use a hair dryer! Yes I know it sounds a bit strange, but it really works. Put the hair dryer on the lowest heat setting. Hold it about (30cm) 12 inches away from the figurine that you are drying and moving the hair dryer side to side over the figure. I do it for 3 minutes and then let it rest for 3 minutes, I do it about 3 times and it will dry nicely!


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Click here for more tips to DRY FONDANT QUICKLY


Here is the finished cake, I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?

I will do another post on How to make a fondant Mermaid topper and other sea creatures.

Till then make, eat and love what you do!



Taddy Teddy Cupcakes

I made these cute Rock Star Taddy Teddy cupcakes for a friend who is expecting a baby.
Who does not love a Taddy Teddy? They are absolutely adorable and the light grey and blue colours are definitely my favourite colours at the moment. Just think how cute a whole baby shower would  be in the Taddy Teddy theme!

I think they came out better than expected and mommy to be loved them too!

They are so easy to make. You will  need the following:

Cupcakes (recipe to follow)
Vanilla butter icing
White sugarpaste or fondant
Grey sugarpaste
Baby blue or sky blue sugarpaste
Black sugarpaste
Black edible marker
Edible glue

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup (250g) Sugar
1/2 cup (115g) Salted butter
2 Eggs (large)
5 tbsp (50g) Cocoa powder
1.5 cups (190g) Self Raising Flour
1/2 cup (120ml) Milk

Cream eggs and sugar together till light and fluffy. This is better achieved by using an electric mixer. Beat in eggs one by one. Add flour and cocoa powder to the mixture.
Mix well. Add milk and mix till smooth.

Line muffin pan with cupcake papers. Fill cupcake papers till 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees CELCIUS for 20-25 mins. Test with a test pin, done when pin comes out clean.

Decorating

Decorate cooled cupcakes with a swirl of vanilla buttercream icing. Use piping bag and any big  tip you like. I used a star tip.

Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup (115g) Unsalted butter (softened)
2 cups (500g) Icing sugar
Vanilla extract of pod
Drop of milk

Cream butter and icing sugar together. Add vanilla. Add a drop of milk to give you the right consistency. You be the judge here, add more milk if needed or less. It needs to be firm - for piping

Sugarpaste decorations

How to make a Fondant or Sugarpaste Taddy Teddy

You will need grey, white, back and blue sugarpaste. You can use fondant, but I used sugarpaste because it dries harder. The humidity here is extremely high this time of  the year and I dont want to take a chance.

Form the teddy from the grey, work fast as sugarpaste dries as you use it! Make a little ball for his body and a smaller ball for his head. Roll out some arms and legs. Attach all with edible glue and add a nose, ears and eyes. Add some final touches like his "Me to You" patch on his foot and some detail. I made him a little guitar from the blue sugarpaste. He is sitting on top of a white star, I made it by using a star cookie cutter. Let it dry completely before you stick your taddy teddy on it (with edible glue).

I just had fun with the rest of the decoations. I did the baby's initials with silver dragees on blue stars. I made another little baby Taddy Teddy. I added a dummy (pacifier) and some lettering.

The sky is the limit, here you can personalise it as you like.