How to make a pretty bow to go on a cake

A bow is a great way to finish off a cake, whether it’s for a birthday, Christening or anything else, and it is very easy to make. It helps to have a couple of specific pieces of equipment but you don’t need to buy them if you don’t want to.

 

  

A while ago I took a Saturday course at the Sutton College of Learning for Adults, which was described as a class in making sugarpaste figures. First we made this teddy bear which was good, though the skills involved were quite basic and I had done this sort of thing before. Then we moved onto making a bow – not a figure, in my book, but it was something I hadn’t done before – and then finally, very simple and easy roses, which I have done at least three times before. I was quite disappointed because several people who I asked agreed that sugarpaste figures should mean people, or possibly animals – but certainly not bows and roses!

 

Still, so that I got something out of the day I thought I would share with you the technique to make this pretty bow. We made it purely from sugarpaste (also called fondant, or roll-out icing) but you could also use flowerpaste for a thinner, stiffer bow.

 

I coloured my sugarpaste with a little lilac colouring, and kneaded it in. You can also buy ready made colours.

 

Knead until pliable, break off a large ball and roll out into a long rectangle. Using either a knife and something with a straight edge to follow, or a cutting wheel, cut out two long strips.

 

We used a stitching tool to mark a stitch pattern along both edges of each strip; you could also prick the fondant with a cocktail stick but this would take quite a while (or leave it plain).

 

Roll up two pieces of baking paper so you have tubes. Take one of your strips of fondant and lay it out in front of you horizontally. Take one end and bring it to the middle, leaving a large loop. Insert the rolled up paper so it keeps the shape of the loop supported. Do the same with the other side, and use a little edible glue to stick both pieces of ribbon in the middle.

 

 

Take the other fondant strip and cut in half, then cut a small triangle out of each end so you have two points. When the other part of the bow is dry, place it on top of the two tails and arrange at whatever angle you wish. When you are happy with it, stick together with edible glue.

 

 

Leave to harden and then place on top of your cake. I will show you what I did with mine soon!

 

How to make a Sugarpaste Teddy Bear

Making a cake for someone who is expecting or just had a baby is a lovely thing to do – and this teddy cake topper is really easy to make.  

This teddy was the result of a half-day course I took one Saturday at the Sutton College of Learning for Adults. The class was aimed at all levels, though everyone but me was an absolute beginner! Luckily, while I knew the techniques to make sugarpaste animals (you’ll see from this cow and this sheep that it is basically the same approach)

I hadn’t actually made a teddy bear before, so it was quite fun.

I made mine lilac as I thought that was fairly gender neutral, using the lilac Sugarflair paste, while most other people did pink or blue. A light caramel brown would also work nicely with darker brown perhaps on the ears and face.

You can either buy ready-coloured sugarpaste or colour your own (which is more cost-efficient), kneading a few drops of colour into the paste.

To make the teddy bear, take a ball of sugarpaste (also called fondant or roll-out icing) about the size of an egg, and roll in the palms of your hands to make it roughly the same shape as an egg. This is your body.

Take a smaller ball and roll into a circle – this is your head. To fix the head to the body, we used both edible glue and a cocktail stick – insert the stick into the body and if desired paint a little edible glue around it, and place the head on top so it is secure. If you use a cocktail stick you need to make sure the teddy bear isn’t eaten, or that it is dismantled first by someone who knows there is a cocktail stick in it! Personally I prefer to use the slight stickiness of the sugarpaste itself and a little edible glue to stick on parts, and do without cocktail sticks – but if you are worried about transporting it, then perhaps go for the added stability.

Roll two short sausages for the legs, and press one end together so it’s flat, and stick that to the side or underside of the body depending on where you want the legs to be placed.

Do the same with smaller sausages for the arms.

Using a small balling tool make an indentation in each paw. Using a cocktail stick or a cone modelling tool, make some small dots around the larger indentation for the marks on the bear’s paws. You can also flatten a tiny ball of white fondant, add this to the end of the paws and make the marks as described.

Make two small balls, press to flatten and shape so they are broadly triangular – fix to the head with edible glue for the ears. You can use the same small balling tool to make indentations in the ears.

Make a small ball of white fondant, flatten and stick onto the face to make the nose and mouth area. Make a tiny ball from black fondant or use a black edible ink pen to mark on the nose and mouth. You can also use the scallop modelling tool for the mouth.

Finally make two tiny balls from white, flatten them and stick to the head with edible glue for the eyes. Repeat with even tinier pieces of black for the pupils, or use the edible ink pen.

I gave my teddy bear a bow tie made by rolling thin sausages of fondant and shaping. You could also give your bear a hat, or a flower behind one ear, or anything you like!

Bertie Bassett Liquorice Allsorts Cake

 

 

This Bertie Bassett Liquorice Allsorts cake was made for my boyfriend's dad's birthday last summer. I asked his family what his favourite candy bar or sweet was, thinking it would be a good basis for a cake. They told me he doesn't really eat sweets but does like liquorice allsorts - unfortunately, a lot of people don't like the taste of liquorice! I decided instead to decorate the cake with liquorice allsorts and to make a model of the Bertie Bassett character that is used to advertise Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts.

 

 

I baked a simple chocolate cake in a large square tin - as it was quite a few months ago I can't remember the recipe, but you can make any flavour cake that you like. If you are brave you could even flavour the cake with liquorice!

 

 I sandwiched two layers of cake together with chocolate buttercream and placed it on a cake board.

 

Carefully cover the cake with fondant (white roll-out icing)

 



 

To make Bertie Bassett I used Renshaw ready-to-roll icing; this multi-pack had most of the colours I needed and I also had a separate pack of pink icing.

 I used the picture on the box of liquorice allsorts as a guide. First  made the feet and hat, which was the most time consuming part, as this particular sweet is made up of what looks like tiny little sprinkles. I made a flattened ball for the base and then lots of tiny balls which I rolled between my fingers, mainly blue but some white (if you look at the picture there is a mixture of both). I then used a little water to stick them all over the base.

Next I made a square of white for the body with a thin layer of black and yellow on the bottom; a pink ball for the head, then made eyes, nose and mouth; two thick yellow cylinders for the trousers and thinner black cylinders for the legs and arms, and finally some pink hands. It was pretty easy to assemble though I made Bertie sitting down so he could sit on the cake and also to give him more stability as I'm not sure his legs could have held him up!

I sat Bertie on the cake and then placed a few liquorice allsorts sweets in the corners for decoration.

Here you can see the finished cake. I was really pleased with the way it looked, and it tasted good too!

 

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the blog challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter she has chosen this month is L.

 

 

 

How to make a fondant cow

Similarly to the post I did a while back on how to make a fondant sheep,  I'm going to show you how to make a fondant cow. You may have seen the cow already as it was sitting on top of my boyfriend's birthday cake back in April!

As I said in the sheep post, all animals can be made from three basic shapes - the cone, the ball and the sausage.

To begin making the cow, make a large ball of white fondant and roll it between the palms of your hands so that one end becomes narrower and it forms a cone shape.

Make two sausages and cut to equal lengths and use to form the legs. Here, I placed the legs crossing over. You'll need to flatten them slightly under the body.

 A few steps in one in this next photo. Make another cone and use as the head; make a smaller cone from pink fondant and stick on the end as the nose. Make two arms from smaller sausage shapes.

Use some more pink fondant to make the hooves, and use the flat side of a cocktail stick to make an indentation in each one.

Roll out some small, thin sausage shapes from yellow fondant. Take two of them and pinch the ends to make a point, and curve them in slightly. Stick on top of the cow's head with a dab of water to make the horns. Take three straight sausage shapes and place along the top to make hair.

Make two small balls of pink fondant, flatten them slightly then press into them - with either a round modelling tool or perhaps the end of a ballpoint pen - to make ears. Make similar indentations in the nose for nostrils (not sure why this photo is sideways, sorry!)

Finally make a tail from a long thin sausage of black fondant, and use a small craft knife to cut into the end to give a fringed effect. 

Roll tiny balls of black fondant and squash them with your finger, then stick on with a dab of water in a haphazard fashion all over the cow's body.

And there you have it! You can easily make a cow sitting or even standing in a different position, and you could use the same basic elements of the body shape to make several other kinds of animal.

How to make a fondant sheep

Isn't he cute?

I recently took a class to learn how to make some animals from fondant for decorating cakes. It's actually pretty straightforward once you know how!

The main thing you need to know is that all animals/people models are made from three basic shapes - the cone, the ball and the sausage. Once you've made these three basic shapes, you can build up pretty much anything. If you look at the picture above, you can probably break it down in your mind and work out which piece is which shape. Once you bear in mind that the sheep is made out of several pieces, it looks a lot more manageable!

We actually used regular fondant for these animals - I was a little surprised we weren't using Mexican paste or modelling paste but it seemed to work out OK (though several weeks on, the odd tail/ leg did fall off my creations!)

We began by making a cone from white fondant and several little balls - too many to count! Then we made sausage shapes from brown fondant which would form the arms and legs. See, it's easy!

Stick the body cone onto two of the legs and flatten the legs slightly so it sits straight

We used this modelling tool- I don't know what it's called - to make an indentation on the feet. They do look like sheep hooves, don't they?
I also stuck on the arms

Next take all the little white balls and use a dab of water on a paintbrush to stick them all over the sheep's body. It would never have occured to me to make the sheep's wool this way, but I think it looks really good!

I made another brown cone and flattened it slightly in the middle to form the head.Break a cocktail stick in half and use it to secure the head onto the body. Continue covering with 'wool'.

I used another modelling tool with a curved edge to make an indentation for a smile, and also poked small holes for eyes. The ears were small balls of brown fondant flattened then stuck on with a dab of water. I think he looks like a proper sheep, and pretty cute too! Stay tuned for a forthcoming post to see the cake I used this on.....

Cake decorating class #3 - Shoe cake topper

I made a pair of shoes to go on top of my birthday cake :-)

I was very pleased to hear from Lorna that in our third cake decorating class we were going to make a pair of shoes from Mexican paste. That was perfect because I had already decided to have a shoe-themed birthday party a month later and was planning to make a cake with a shoe on top. Once when I was browsing on Amazon - which I seem to do a lot - I came across something called a Jem shoe cutter and bought it, then never got around to using it. So I was really pleased when Lorna said we would need this specific cutter set for our class - given it cost about £15 I was quite pleased I already had it! Also, it was good that Lorna showed us how to use the set - it did come with instructions of course, but they are not the easiest to understand and as you can see below, the kit has some prety random bits in it!

The two pieces on the right are the ones we used first; they clip together to make a mould for the heel. Take a small piece of Mexican paste and roll between your palms into a cone shape, then place in the heel mould and clip it together.

Use a craft knife to trim off any excess and ta da! You have a heel. It's upside down of course.

Next we made the sole of the shoe. I had already decided my birthday cake would be black and pink, so I decided to make the shoes to match. I rolled out a small piece of Mexican paste that I had coloured black, and used the largest piece of the shoe cutter to cut out the sole.

As you can see the cutter also embosses a pattern in it.

If you go back to the picture of the cutter set, you'll see a couple of pieces of foam. They're about the same size and shape as makeup sponges, but are designed specifically to fit with the pieces of the shoe. You place the heel against one foam pad and use a little sugar glue to stick the end of the sole to the top of the heel. Then, using the foam, lay the sole at an angle and leave it to harden.

I decided to go for a two-tone effect so used the cutter to cut out pieces to fit inside the inner markings on the sole. It was hard to make it neat though and the edges look a bit ragged, never mind!

Next using a different cutter to make the top part of the shoe.

There was a second cutter in the set that was actually an embosser rather than a cutter, and I used this to mark out the pattern you can see below.

There was another, differently shaped, foam pad to allow this piece to remain curved as it dries:

Finally I used some sugar glue to stick the curved top part onto the sole of the shoe. Don't these look cute?

Finally I stuck a sugar flower from a Dr Oetker tub onto the top of the shoe. I wouldn't mind a pair like this in real life!