How to dry fondant quickly!

It is a problem we all have some or other time when working with fondant. You have a last minute cake or you live in a place with high humidity or you just can't seem to get your fondant figurines to dry quick enough. What do you do? How do you dry your fondant figurines quickly?

Well search no more, here is my tips.

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Five ways how to dry fondant quickly

1. Mix some CMC Powder with your store bought or homemade fondant. I usually do not mix the CMC Powder into the whole batch of fondant because it can dry very fast and leave you with dry, crumbly fondant. I dip the piece of fondant that I am working with into a bit of CMC Powder and mix it through well. The more CMC you use the harder it will be. I suggest using only a tiny bit.
There are many different brands out there!

2. I use a hairdryer! Yes I know it sounds crazy but it really works. Put the hair dryer on the lowest heat setting. Hold it about 12 inches (30cm) 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! You can repeat if needed. There are many different brands out there!

3. You can mix some Tylose Powder with your store bought or homemade fondant. I basically use it the same way as I would use the CMC Powder. I don't really see much of a difference.
I usually do not mix the Tylose Powder into the whole batch of fondant because it can dry very fast and leave you with dry, crumbly fondant. I dip the piece of fondant that I am working with into a bit of Tylose Powder and mix it through well. The more Tylose you use the harder it will be. I suggest using only a tiny bit.

4. You can put your fondant figurine in the oven to dry it faster. Yes the oven, but please do not put the heat on! You only need the oven light on. You can put it in the oven with only the oven light on overnight. I have also heard that if you have a convectional oven you can put it in the oven with only the fan on. I have not tried this method so I am not sure if it does work!

5. Use an old fashioned reading lamp to quickly dry your fondant. Put the light on and place figurines under the lamp. The light will dry it out.



Honestly if you are desperate you would try them all together, but one or two of these methods will usually do the trick. I almost always use CMC or Tylose Powder and then on of the other methods.

These methods work very well when you have to deal with high humidity!

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How to make Slugterra's Eli Shane from Fondant and How to make Slugterra Slugs from Fondant

It was my son's 9th Birthday on Saturday and I could not resist giving you all a sneak peek of the Fondant Eli Shane figurine and the Fondant Slugterra Slugs Burpy, Joules and Doc that I made for his cake.

Making figurines and fondant details for cakes are my favourite part of cake making that is why I decided to share them first. I will share the whole Slugterra Cake with Fondant Eli Shane and Slugs with you in my next post...but beware the cake has a twist (my son has a wonderful imagination). Keep checking back.

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I believe this is the first totally edible Eli Shane that you will find on the Internet. Unfortunately I did not take photos as I was making him, so there is no step for step photo tutorial on how to make a fondant Eli Shane and his slugs, but I will explain how I made them. I hope it will help some mommy or cake decorator out there and give you some inspiration and ideas.

Here they are---->
What do you think of them?
My son and his friends all loved them and could not tell some of them apart from the real toys @mymissionaccomplished

How to make Eli Shane from Slugterra and his slugs

HOW TO MAKE ELI SHANE OUT OF FONDANT

You will need:

• Fondant or sugar paste in the following colours: Flesh tone, black, light blue, grey, white and orange. You can buy pre coloured fondant or colour your own. If you are using fondant, I usually add some CMC powder in the fondant to make it dry harder.
• Fondant Tools
• Lollipop sticks
• Edible glue
• Edible markers

How to make Eli Shane from Fondant:

Form his head out of skin tone fondant. I modelled his head around a lollipop stick. The lollipop stick helps for structure and to anchor him onto the cake.
Make hollows for his eyes with your tools and form a nose. Now make his eyes with the light blue fondant and some white. Stick to head with edible glue.

TIP: Keep a picture of Eli Shane handy that you can use as a guide.

I made a slit for his mouth opening and added some teeth (white fondant).
Add some eye brows in black.

Let the head dry. This does not take long if you use sugar paste or fondant with CMC or Tylose powder in it. I would say leave it about 30 minutes.

Then you can add some hair. I made my hair black. Stick with edible glue.

You can now add some detail to the eyes and around they eyes with edible markers. Look at your picture reference and see what you want to do.

I then formed his shirt out of black fondant and added all the details in grey and orange. I made his Slug Slinger with light blue, black and orange star. I stuck it to his body with edible glue.
Make his black sleeves and add some arms from flesh tone fondant. Let dry.
Attach arms to body with edible glue. You can put a toothpick in if you feel your arms need more support. Please remember to tell the people who will eat the cake that you did that!
Add some details on shoulders.

For his legs I mixed some blue, grey and black fondant to make denim colour. I think I could have made it even more blue, but I liked it darker. I put the legs in a crouching position and let it dry like that. Once dry I added some shoes. I know Eli Shane wears boots, but honestly I thought the shoes looked better for the position he was in. The boots made him look like he had no legs at all!

Once the legs and shoes were dry I attached his bottom half to the top half. I kept the lollipop stick a bit longer so it can stick into the cake for support and to keep him up.

To finish him off I made his blaster. I could have made it bigger...Maybe next time!

And that is  How you make Eli Shane from fondant!

 

HOW TO MAKE SLUGTERRA SLUGS FROM FONDANT

How to make Burpy of Slugterra from Fondant:

How to make a Slugterra slug - Burpy

You will need:

• Fondant in the following colours: orange, yellow, red, white and black.
• Edible  glue
• Edible markers

Form a slug from orange fondant. Add eyes in red and white fondant. Black pupil is drawn on with edible black marker. Add yellow details and stick with edible glue. Add mouth in black and white teeth. Make his little "feelers" in advance and let dry, once dry stick to head with edible glue.
TIP: Use a toy or picture as guidance.

How to make Joules of Slugterra from Fondant:

How to make a Slugterra Slug - Joules

You will need:

• Fondant in the following colours: dark blue, light blue, red, pink, white and black.
• Edible  glue
• Edible markers

Form body for Burpy out of the dark blue fondant. Add light blue detail. Stick with edible glue. Add mouth in black and white teeth, add pink for tongue. Make eyes with red and white and add a black dot for pupil with our black edible marker. Make little "feelers" in advance and let dry. Once dry stick to head with edible glue. I did not add the yellow to him,  I liked him just like that and did not want an exact copy of the toys!

How to make Doc of Slugterra from Fondant:

How to make a Slugterra Slug - Doc

You will need:

• Fondant in the following colours: dark green, light green and white.
• Edible  glue
• Edible markers

Form body for Doc out of the dark green fondant. Add light green detail. Stick with edible glue. Add mouth in white. Make little "feelers" in advance and let dry. Once dry stick to head with edible glue. Make a white eye, stick to head and add dark green eyelid. I made his pupil with black edible marker.


 There you go, I hope  you have  as much fun looking at these or making them as I did.

How to make a Slugterra Cake and Decorations

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Monster Smash Cake - First Birthday

I shared my Baby Boy's First Monster Birthday Cake with you so I thought I would show you how his Monster Smash Cake looked like.

It was plain Vanilla Cake. The recipe is all over my blog. I covered it with blue vanilla Buttercream icing. I did not bother to make it extra healthy because it is a smash cake after all and he hardly got any in his mouth! He was actually pretty good with it :) I would have liked to see a lot more MESS!!

Here is my Little Monster with his Monster Smash Cake! Isn't he just THE cutest!!

First Birthday Book Cake - Monster Cake

I wanted to share with you the cute Monster Cake I made for my baby boy's First Birthday! I decided on a Monster Theme for his First Birthday Party and had to come up with a cake that fits into the Monster theme, but also something that suits him and his personality.

I just love my baby boy he is such an adorable little Monster. The cute fluffy kind of course! He is such a bundle of energy and it is hard to keep up with him sometimes, but when he keeps still for a few minutes he loves his cuddles and hugs. He is just a loving, happy, laughing bundle of joy!
He loves books and he is very intelligent. Keeping all of this in mind, I came up with a great idea for his cake.

I decided to make an Open Book Monster Cake but with a little story in it. The story of his First Birthday. The story is about a little Monster's First Birthday and this little cheeky Monster who tried to steel the Birthday cake! Well there is more, there is another little Monster hiding inside the cake and he is also trying to get his hands on the cake!
I also added some other fun little elements. I made his name into six different little Monsters, a different Monster for each letter. All the kids at the party loved that!

I also added an extra surprise to the cake...

Once the cake was cut everyone saw the surprise...pictures inside the cake. Every slice had the same pictures. I just loved adding pictures inside my cake. I learned How to add pictures inside my cakes from a tutorial I bought. I added stars and half moons!

I loved making his cake because it was totally mine. My design, my ideas and my creativity. I did not have to search the net for hours for ideas, I  did not have to make something that has been made a million times before, I just used all the ideas I had in my head and made it my own. My baby loved his cake and so did everyone at his party. What a special, precious day it was!

It was a Happy First Birthday with my little Monster!

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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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.

          

            

Why so quiet?

I can't believe we are already in the second week of March 2013 and I have not even posted anything this year? I blame it on Facebook! Yes we are allowed to blame Facebook for taking our time, time that would be better off spent somewhere else. Don't get me wrong I like Facebook, it is quick and convenient and you can interact with people on a closer level but I have missed my blog and blogging friends.

I have been quite busy this year and have alot to post. I better get on with it. I hope you enjoy it.

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See you soon!