I’ve wanted to have a go at making things out of fondant icing for a while now, but as I was never very good at Play-Doh when I was a kid, I didn’t expect much success. I was pleasantly surprised though last night when I made these and discovered it was much easier than I had imagined. I see lots of cakes topped with fondant characters in my future! I followed the instructions laid out in this excellent book that I have:
WHAT YOU NEED:
– Fondant, you can buy ready-made (in the UK it is often just called “Ready to roll icing”, or sometimes “Sugarpaste”). Or you can make your own fondant by kneading 500g icing/confectioners sugar with 1 egg white or equivalent amount reconstituted egg white powder, and 2 tablespoons liquid glucose.
– Food colouring. I would suggest getting red, yellow, blue, green and black. Other colours can be made by mixing. For instance, the flesh colour for the man is made by mixing a little red and yellow into the fondant.
– Some water.
– Dried spaghetti (maybe, depending on what you make).
– A few tools. You really don’t need any specialist tools, just a knife and some cocktail sticks really. Oh, and a garlic press to make the man’s hair.
WHAT YOU DO:
1. Knead the fondant icing a little to soften it up. Separate it into batches and knead colours into them as required. Once you’ve prepared the fondant, keep it in individual airtight containers and take each piece out as you need it, otherwise it will dry out.
2. The pictures below show the different shapes that need to be made for each character.
3. Stick the pieces together by dabbing a little water on, this will dissolve the fondant a little to make its own sugar glue.
4. If you want additional structural support use a piece of raw spaghetti pushed through (I did this with the man by pushing it through the bend in the leg part, then threading the body and head on top ). Spaghetti is less dangerous than a cocktail stick if someone bites into it.
The basic shapes are pretty simple…
Man:
Dog:
Elephant:
Crocodile:
See, there’s nothing to it!
You do realize that the dog looks just like Gromit in Wallace and Gromit (The Curse of the Were Rabbit)? Love that movie!
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Oh yes, I thought the dog looked familiar but couldn’t place him!
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You should do a Wallace and Gromit themed cake! I’m sure with a few tweaks (and maybe the addition of a few teeth) you could turn the little man into Wallace! Wouldn’t that make a cute birthday cake?
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That’s a good idea, that would be cute!
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You continually amaze me, Vanessa. These are so cute. Love the garlic press idea for the hair.
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I must admit I kind of amazed myself with these because I’m no good at drawing people and animals, so I assumed I wouldn’t be good at shaping them either! The garlic press idea was in that book, it has lots of neat ideas like that!
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That’s it I can not be your friend any more. You are too talented at everything! Stop the madness. These little creations are ridiculously cute.
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Thanks Sue! But don’t feel bad – when it comes to exiting ice cold water with extreme haste, you have me beat!
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Those are way too darn cute! I watched my cousin make fondant once with marshmellows, I’m not sure how he did it but it came out pretty darn tasty!
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Oh yes marshmallow fondant is a thing – I haven’t tried it myself, but I must! I love marshmallows 🙂
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Out of this WORLD! Wow. This is so awesome. You are soooo good at this, Vanessa. Soon I’ll have to say, “I knew her when…” ❤ ❤ ❤
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Haha, thank you, really it wasn’t hard though, I think it’s one of those things that looks more impressive than it deserves to! 🙂
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It’s the end result that counts no matter how easy it is.
I’m impressed, I am. ❤
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She bought them on eBay ….. ouch!
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I did not!
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I know .. I just think they look so professional!! xx
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Ha! Ok thanks 🙂 xx
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Wow, Vanessa, you’re already a pro with these! And I could easily see you doing a stop-motion video of putting these together and then setting them off on an adventure…. 🙂
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Haha! Hmmmm…..
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Such fun. I’d love to take an afternoon and play with this stuff. And, really, not too difficult, it seems. Nice job!
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Yep, definitely fun and not too difficult at all, as you can see when broken down, the shapes are all quite simple!
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