Jakob turned 16 (!!) this week, so I thought it was high time to share another one of his past birthday cakes.
Made for his 9th birthday, this Pikachu fondant cake topper is a quick and easy DIY that you can copy on your own cakes, cupcakes or cookies.
As always when making a topper for a known character I like to start with a template. After measuring my cake pan I resize an image of the character to fit and then print it out. For cartoon characters like Pikachu you can search for coloring pages to find black and white outline-based images.
For this cake I tinted some white fondant with yellow Americolor gel colors to get Pikachu’s signature yellow shade. I rolled it out on a silicon measuring mat using a fondant roller with the medium levels as I wanted to make sure I had enough fondant for a two-layer figure. I usually use the thickest level for fondant toppers and I would suggest that you prep enough fondant so you can do the same – as you’ve probably noticed above my topper was a little thin and wound up cracking.
I started by cutting out the base layer of the full image by tracing the entire template with a fondant cutter.
Then I cut out Pikachu’s head alone so I could layer the pieces similar to a 3D paper decoupage technique.
Carefully stack the head cut out on top of the fondant base using a little bit of water to secure it in place.
I always like to prepare my toppers in advance so they can dry out for a few days before I begin coloring/painting on them. As mentioned above I’d made Pikachu a bit too thin and he wound up cracking across his face and left arm.
I used edible ink markers to draw on Pikachu’s face and details. I’m glad I had a reference image as I was about to color the tip of his tail black. Have you heard of that Mandela effect? It totally got me!
While the fondant was drying I baked a vanilla cake and prepped it as per my “how to bake a cake and prep it for decorating” post. To finish things off I decorated the base with yellow and red Smarties to match the colors of the topper.
This was a really quick and easy DIY that you can use to make your own Pikachu treats!
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.
Most popular during the height of the pandemic, Among Us is back in the spotlight again thanks to one of the opening scenes in Glass Onion – the fantastic sequel to 2019’s Knives Out. Even Game Theory is “amongst thou”* with the trend so I thought it was the perfect time to share this easy fondant DIY on how to make your own set of colorful crewmates.
As I’ve said so often before I love to start with a template. It’s best to know exactly what size you’re working with so I measured the diameter of my cupcake tin and made sure to fit my crewmate sketch into the available space.
The crewmates are distinguished by their distinct colors so this is a great opportunity to use up leftover bits of tinted fondant from previous projects! With the exception of black which I’d purchased pre-tinted, all my other colors started as white fondant and were tinted with either Wilton gel pots or Americolor squeeze gel colors.
Each piece was cut out with my fondant knife, making sure to flip the template halfway through so some crewmates would be facing the other way.
Yes- you can cut them all the same way and then flip some later. I find that there’s a slight bevel on the cut edge whereas the table-side edge is usually more sharp. Both edges are equally good as the “up” side and so I wanted to be able to use either, depending on how they looked once dried.
After cutting out all the crewmates I made a second template for the visor and cut out one for each little guy. I also cut out a little yellow Post-It to copy one of the game’s “hats”.
After the fondant pieces had air-dried for a day or so I traced the outlines with an edible-ink black marker.
This is how they all looked once traced. I let the ink dry down for a few hours so it wouldn’t smear during handling and then assembled the crewmates using a bit of water and a food-use-only paintbrush as “glue”.
Here’s how they looked complete with my hand for scale.
The little guys are now ready to go on a cake, on cupcakes, or anywhere you’d like! Henri’s 12th birthday was during the pandemic so I went the cupcake route for easy, non-shareable portions for a lunch with our family bubble at the time.
I prefer to add my toppers after the icing has crusted slightly so they won’t leech color from the fondant and risk bleeding edges. If you find the toppers won’t stay put a drop of water in the center will do the trick!
Today’s post will walk you through step-by-step on how to make this cake featuring the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda video game series.
I’m a huge Zelda fan and the love for the series has been passed down to Henri with a vengeance! In addition to dressing as Link on Halloween and poring over game art collections he plays all the games from Link’s Awakening on my old Gameboy Color straight through to Breath of the Wild on the Switch. It’s on the BotW Master Sword specifically that he requested I use as the theme for his 11th birthday cake.
This is the Master Sword:
And this is the sword in the game:
I decided to use this image as the inspiration for my cake. The sword itself would be sculpted out of fondant and I’d expand the stone base so there would be enough cake for his birthday guests.
The cake took a total of 3 days to make. On Day 1 I sculpted the sword so it could have time to dry out to lessen the chances of the fondant dissolving under paint application. On Day 2 I baked the cakes for the base and set them aside using the methods I outline in my How to Bake a Cake and Prepare it for Decorating post. On Day 3 I painted the sword and the base. Note: you can absolutely merge Days 1 and 2 into one evening if you’d like.
Keep the excess scrap as you’ll need it to sculpt the details.
As a long, skinny piece of fondant this size would be fragile I used a clean, splinter-free wooden dowel as a support, leaving enough at the base to secure it into the cake.
Then I used the excess fondant and began blocking in the sword’s details. As you saw in the finished cake it would remain flat so I only had to sculpt the front half.
I used the template for the basic shapes and then referred to a clear online image to get the details right.
At this point I set the sword aside to air-dry.
Here’s how it looked the next day.
Here it is alongside the template. It did grow a bit as I sculpted additively but I knew the slight size increase wouldn’t matter with the final cake.
Pleased with it, and deciding it didn’t need any adjustments, I let it continue to harden and baked the confetti cakes Henri had asked for.
On Day 3 it was time to assemble and decorate!
I had 2 8″ square cake layers to work with. To achieve the triangular base I cut the first layer into two triangles by removing the center strip, ensuring that one triangle was slightly shorter than the other. I repeated the process with the second cake making each subsequent triangle shorter than the previous one. This design does leave extra cake that you can eat or make into cake balls with any leftover icing.
Note: always check your transport method! In my case I couldn’t simply cut the first square diagonally to achieve my largest pieces as the resulting triangle would have been too high to fit into my cake carrier!
I used a bit of icing to “glue” the cake to the carry board and then began to stack the cakes horizontally, icing in between to keep the layers together.
Yes- that IS Betty Crocker icing in the background. And yup- this is totally a Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip box cake. There is zero reason why a box cake can’t be done up the same way scratch cakes can. Whether you’re short on time, find the mixes cheaper or easier, or if you’re simply baking for a bunch of 11yo boys who won’t know or care about the difference then by all means go for it! I do generally doctor my cakes so the cake mix winds up more as an ingredient vs the main staple, but that’s absolutely not necessary to get great-tasting, great-looking results.
Once stacked I protected the board surface with parchment paper strips and dirty iced the cake, then covered it with more white fondant. Then came the fun part- poking, scratching and dinging it with an assortment of knives and sculpting tools to give it the texture of an old weather-beaten rock.
I put some wax paper strips down to protect the board again and then painted the “rock” with custom icing gel colors. I have a large collection of Wilton gel pots and a kit of Americolor icing colors and I like them both equally as they fill in color shades I don’t have in the other. The gel pots of the Wilton kind are great for dipping in a toothpick for a really tiny amount, while the Americolor ones are in squeeze bottles that make adding precise drops really easy – perfect for when you need to replicate a color you’d already mixed up.
I used an assortment of browns and yellow thinned with vodka for the main color, adding darker touches for shadows and age. I also dry brushed green shades around the base and edge as if grass or moss had started to encroach similar to how I indicated forest-y age on the fondant bricks in the Pitfall: the Lost Expedition cake.
Bringing up another reference on my iPad, I used the same supplies to paint the sword, adding in a bit of silver luster dust for the metallic portion.
The luster dust mixes nicely with a bit of vodka to become a metallic “paint” that dries down well once the vodka evaporates.
I used gold pearl dust in a similar manner for the gold accents and completed the rest with blues and green gel colors.
The last bit of prep is to cut out a small bit of the fondant so the sword fits nicely into place and then the cake is done!
Here’s a closeup of the cake “rock”. I love how the texture came out!
My only regret is not having smoothed the underlying cake surface better, as you can see the ridges of where the fondant curves around the cake layers…but the kids sure didn’t mind. It was a huge hit for the birthday boy and his friends.
In my last post I shared my second Angry Birds cake, where Red was applied as a fondant topper (unlike the first one where the cake itself was carved and iced into his distinct shape). This style of fondant cake topper is one of my go-to methods of easy cake DIY. This demo is using Red as an example but you can use this method to create almost any basic character.
You’ll want to start by printing an image of your character to use as your template. I resize my image so it is scaled appropriately for my cake and then print it in grayscale to save on color ink. In this example I also included a mini version to use as a color reference.
Starting with my main color, which was red, I rolled out some white fondant I’d tinted with gel colors. The levels that come with my fondant rolling pin ensure that each piece will be the same thickness so in the final image every layer will have the same height and the silicon mat guarantees that the fondant won’t stick to my work surface. Tip: if you find your fondant mat slides around, dampen a few spots underneath with a bit of water and it will “stick” to your table or countertop. Make sure the piece you roll out is large enough for the area you want to cut out.
Lay your template directly onto the fondant. If your fondant is really sticky you can lightly grease the back of your paper with shortening but I always let my fondant rest for a few minutes to make it easier to cut, and so have never needed to do this. Trace the image by poking little dots at regular intervals right through the paper and into the fondant.
Note: you’ll need to take a moment and figure out if your finished piece will be flat or multilayered. For mine I decided that the face portion (eyebrows, eyes, and beak) and the red gem would be a raised layer, whereas the body, belly and crown would be the bottom layer. Finally, his pupils would be a third layer. You can see in the image above that I traced the red body right around the white belly, ignoring the beak. If you wanted to make only one layer you would have traced the red around the beak, eyes and brows.
You can use anything with a small, fine point for this step. I used the needle tool that came in my fondant/gum paste starter tool set but have also used sewing pins or the end of a clean paperclip.
Next, cut out your shape using the dotted line as a cutting guide. I used the knife blade that’s on the other side of my needle tool linked above, but you can use a regular kitchen knife.
Here you can see that the piece of fondant is exactly the same size as the template.
I like to transfer the fondant to a stiff transparent sheet before setting it aside. I’m a huge fan of flexible clear cutting boards like these and use them in almost every cake I make. They’re fantastic for toppers like these because you can lay your work in progress right over the template and repeatedly check that things are fitting as they should.
I repeated the same steps to cut the crown and beak out of yellow-tinted fondant, and then the eyes and belly out of white. The cut side edges of the fondant should be moist enough for it to stick together (like when insetting the crown, above) but if not you can lightly dampen them with a bit of water on a brush or cotton swab.
Repeat the process for all required pieces to make up your character. For King Red that meant the red body and gem, white belly and eyes, yellow crown and beak, black brows and pupils, and a maroon-ish inner beak area. I assembled each layer as I went, consistently checking that everything was aligning correctly by placing the clear board over my template.
Depending on your character you could be done at this point. To give mine a finished cartoon look and to fully match my sample image I used edible markers to outline the shapes and detail the crown.
My last step was to use leftover red fondant for the birthday boy’s name. I always make these toppers in advance and so was able to set them aside for a few days so they could air dry.
A great thing about using the pin technique (vs cutting up and tracing your template) is that the template is reusable. You can either re-dot in the same holes or simply press your paper onto the fondant and transfer the hole marks that are already there. Because I let my fondant set up slightly before piercing I had no transfer of fondant or tint onto my paper.
You now have a custom fondant topper ready to use for any decorative purpose! I like to prep a cake using my tutorial and then finish it with this style topper. You can also make mini versions for cupcakes using the same method.
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.
A few months ago I posted a version of an Angry Birds cake where Red was created by shaping the cake and using icing for the different colors. Yesterday was Rovio’s Bird Day so it’s a perfect time to share this alternate version where the character is created using fondant.
This is an easier method for those who aren’t comfortable cake sculpting. I also find fondant is more forgiving and easier in fixing mistakes than icing, though that’s a personal preference.
Step one is to make the cake topper out of fondant. I use fondant toppers on a lot of my cakes (ie: Elmo, CARS, Charlie & Lola, Neko Atsume, Super Smash Bros) because I love the flexibility of being able to prep the topper in advance so I’m not rushing the day before the cake is due.
This cake uses a template to make a cut fondant topper. You can find my full tutorial here.
Once the cake is ready all that’s left is to place the pre-made fondant pieces onto the cake.
I love how simple character-topped cakes can have a big impact by giving the birthday child exactly what they want without breaking the bank on supplies or causing unnecessary stress.
This award-winning horror movie came out in 2017 and featured a 90s-style game played by a gang of unassuming teens. Unlike Jumanji the consequences of playing this game are a LOT more gruesome and bloody. It also happened to be produced by one of my dear cousins, and he asked if I could make the cake for their wrap party.
This is the “Game of Death” gameboard as seen in the movie:
And this is my cake replica:
With Halloween just around the corner I thought it was the perfect time to share exactly how I made it!
The first step was to get a few good quality images of the prop that I could use for reference.
I was also asked if I could make a gluten-free option so there’d be something for those with intolerances. I was given a few reference images of the deaths and other props being used and when I saw that one character met an untimely end with a broken baseball bat I knew that would be something I could easily sculpt out of gluten-free puffed rice cereal.
While there were a lot of steps in making this cake it only took 3 days from start to finish. I’m going to break down everything but to avoid this being incredibly photo-heavy I’ve grouped the images of each step together.
The first step for all of my cakes is to sketch out an idea. Knowing I needed to transport the cake I went out and bought the largest cake board that would fit in a cake box I could find locally. That let me know what total dimensions I had to work with. That allowed me to size out my cake pans and figure out what would work best for the game cake. I then scaled a clear, top-down view of the game board to the appropriate size and traced it out so I could have an accurately-sized template.
I tried to do as much in advance as I could, as some of the parts would need time to dry or cool. The next task for day 1 was to make the gameboard’s window pane. I’d been asked to write a congratulatory message to the cast underneath, and while I could have simply written the image on a slab of fondant and set it in place I was determined to see if I could make the “glass” too. While browsing my local bulk store I noticed these clear candy mints and thought they’d be perfect!
I crushed the candies in a plastic bag using a meat mallet and then slowly melted the candy powder in the microwave until they reached a soft, pliable stage. Since I had a scale template I was able to test my cookie-cutters to find the right size and then trim off the excess with a kitchen knife. Once my “glass screen” was ready I set it aside to cool and harden.
Still on day 1 I rolled out some white fondant and made the center skull, all the minis, and the curved bits that line each player spot. I also cut out a base to put under the glass screen so I would have somewhere to write the message. Using a fondant roller and mat was really convenient as the roller has level guides so the pieces were all of equal thickness and the mat has measurements built right in.
I then made a large batch of gluten-free puffed rice treats and sculpted them into the two halves of a baseball bat, ensuring they would fit properly on my cake board. (Another benefit of having a scale template!).
The final thing I did on day 1 (not shown) was to bake the actual cake. I was given free reign on flavor and picked vanilla as it would work best with a special request I’d been asked – could I make the cake bleed when cut. I followed my usual methods and baked a bit of extra batter in a mini cake pan as I wanted to test the bleeding effect. I didn’t want to take a chance on the actual cake just in case it didn’t work so this little tester would be perfect.
Day 2 began with making edible fake blood. The best recipe I’ve found is to mix up chocolate syrup (like for chocolate milk) with clear corn syrup and a bit of red food coloring. Adjust the ratios until you get a consistency you like. In a subsequent cake I made a thicker version that is more realistic but for this cake I deliberately thinned it a touch so it would be able to be runny when cut.
I cut a well into my test cake’s bottom layer and iced it carefully so the “blood” wouldn’t soak into the cake itself. I then added the top layer and iced the whole thing and waited a few hours to be sure no red tint seeped through to the exterior. Then my kids helped me cut it and test if it worked:
It did! I was really excited knowing I could add additional wells into the real cake for an even more horrific effect.
I then painted the baseball bat treats with chocolate candy melts. Using a mug warmer was the perfect way to keep the candy warm long enough for me to get both pieces fully coated.
Then I wrapped each half with white fondant leaving the matching edges broken and torn to simulate where the wood would have splintered when the bat snapped in half. I used my fondant detail cutter to fray the edges further and add more realism, and then painted the fondant to look like wood. I’ve used this technique before and have a full tutorial on how to do it here.
With all the accessories and add-ons ready, day 3 was where it all came together!
I leveled my cake and torted it into 3 layers. These cake levelrs make it so easy to divide a cake into multiple levels evenly! The first layer was placed down on a round cake board and then iced, and the second layer was applied. I used a cupcake filler to cut a well in the center as well as add additional little surprise blood spots around the resulting ring. I was careful to not put them too close together so the cake would still have structural integrity, as I knew there would be a lot of fondant on top and I didn’t want it to collapse.
I also made sure to keep the cake bits from the corer as they’d come in handy in a minute.
I iced the middle layer, being careful to not disturb the cut edges too much while still evenly coating them in icing to provide a barrier between the blood fill and the cake itself. Then I carefully filled each well with the blood mixture leaving about a half-inch of space and then plugged the gaps with the cake pieces I’d saved. Finally, I iced the underside side of the remaining tier so when it was flipped onto the cake, the icing completely covered the plugs. This will prevent any of the blood from potentially bleeding into the upper tier.
Now that the cake was fully stacked I was able to use my scaled template to trim it to shape.
I then set the cake into place on the cake board, using a dollop of icing to “glue” it down. It was iced and then covered with gray fondant to match the game in the movie.
Then I used my template to cut out a slab of white fondant and used one of the fondant detail tools to trace each of the sections of the board, leaving imprints on the fondant that I could use as guides. I used edible food markers to color in each section, blending them with water when necessary to avoid too many streaks.
The topper was set into place and the edge trimmed with a border of white fondant. I “glued” each of the pre-made bits in place with a bit of water and then finally wrote the game’s logo on the front edge. (It went on all sides in the movie but I didn’t trust myself to write it evenly 8 times!)
The last step was to use a bit of watered-down fondant to “glue” the bats into place and then drizzle them with the fake blood mixture. I added in a few bits of fondant “gore” as an added touch. 😉
With that the Game of Death cake was complete! We delivered it to set on the final day and from the feedback I received it was a big hit!
(And it oozed “blood” perfectly when cut!)
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.
In today’s post I’m going to show you how to make these fast and easy ghost cupcakes, perfect for Hallowe’en!
The sweet treats can be prepped in advance and top homemade cupcakes or you can pick up store-bought cupcakes and throw the whole thing together last-minute.
I’d seen versions of this style topper on various sites around the internet and put mine together using the features I liked from various ones, plus added my own twist. These and these have fondant over marshmallows but I didn’t like the square look it gave the ghosts. These and these achieve a more rounded look by draping fondant over lollipops, but as my cupcakes were for a party for adults I didn’t think the lollipops would end up eaten. After browsing my local bulk shop I came up with the idea of topping the marshmallows with rounded gumdrop candies.
You can place each ghost in a treat bag and hand out as-is or use them to top homemade or store-bought cake or cupcakes.
Step 1: Assemble your marshmallows, gumdrops and sticks to prepare the ghost bases
Push the lollipop stick up through a marshmallow and halfway into a gumdrop. You can wet the top of the marshmallow first with a thin smear of icing, clear piping gel or light brush of water to help the marshmallow and gumdrop adhere together, however I found that the tackiness on the stick from being shoved through the marshmallow did not make this necessary.
Repeat until you have as many ghost bases as you need, then set them upright by pressing into foam, flower foam, egg cartons, etc…
Roll out your fondant and cut out a circle with your cutter. I topped each gumdrop with a small dollop of icing so the fondant would stick, but you can also use clear piping gel or water. Apply the fondant over the ghost base, centering the circle over the gumdrop and smooth into place. Use your fingers to crease the excess into ghostly folds. Note: don’t apply too much icing/water/gel or the fondant can thin and tear if it gets too wet.
Repeat for each ghost and set them aside in your chosen support so the fondant can set up a bit. If desired prep a cake or cupcakes to be ready for the toppers. I’d baked up some chocolate cupcakes and gave them a thin layer of vanilla icing.
Once the fondant is no longer pliable you can finish off your ghosties by adding black eyes with a black edible marker. You can play around with the eye shape to give them all unique expressions!
Repeat until all your ghosts can see and then set them into your cake/cupcakes (if using). If you are placing them into treat bags to give out as Hallowe’en favors, allow them to air-dry until the fondant sets up.
These were served along with the Paint Nite cake and cookies from my last post, and made for a really fun Hallowe’en party treat table!
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.
Over the years I’ve made a couple Angry Birds-themed cakes. Two of them were for members of the same family, and even though they were made years apart I wanted them to each feel unique. For this first one I used minimal fondant and worked with an iced base.
Cakes like this are pretty easy to do, and while I don’t have full step-by-step pics I’ll outline the process.
The top layer also started as a 9″x13″ cake which was cut into the shape needed. As for most of my shaped cakes I started with a paper template scaled to the proper size on my computer.
The template serves two purposes. First I used it to trace out fondant pieces for the eyes, brows and beak. As I didn’t want to cut into the template I used a straight pin (that I keep for food use only) to pierce the shapes’ outlines into rolled fondant. The resulted dotted line is easy to cut out with a knife or fondant cutter and the individual pieces can be attached to each other with a bit of water or fondant glue. The eyebrows and pupils were cut from pre-tinted black fondant, the beak was cut from white fondant tinted yellow with icing gels, and the eyes were cut from white fondant later outlined with a black food marker. Before putting away my fondant supplies I also cut out the birthday boy’s name from red-tinted fondant with alphabet-shaped cookie cutters.
Then I used the same paper template on top of the cooled cake and cut around it to cut the cake itself to the proper shape. (You can do these steps in the reverse order but sometimes cake will stick to the underside of the paper and that can discolor your fondant. Another option is to trace the cake shape onto wax paper or parchment paper which won’t stick as easily)
The second cake was then iced with red and white icing to match Red’s proportions and finally the fondant topper was added.
The fondant pieces give the cake a polished look while requiring minimal shaping or sculpting ability, making this a great way for beginners to try out fondant for the first time.
This post may contain affiliate links. This means I might make a small commission on purchases made through the links, at no cost to you.
As mentioned in my last Adventure Time cake post, Jakob’s obsession with the show covered both his 6th and 7th birthdays. For this year he had both Gunter cupcakes for school AND Gunter & BMO cakes for his birthday party.
Both cakes started with doctored box mix and store-bought icing that I adjusted even further by mixing in crushed Oreo cookies to either the cake batter or the icing.
The Gunter cake was Oreo cake with plain vanilla icing, and the BMO cake was plain white cake with Oreo icing.
To make Gunter I carved the cake to give it a rounded top and then covered it with black fondant (the only color I sometimes buy pre-tinted). All the other colors used started as white fondant which was then tinted with gel colors.
I then layered on a white piece for the face/body, a faux-parchment birthday message, black wings and black and white eyes, with a yellow beak.
It was a similar process to make BMO. I started with a thicker, rectangular cake and covered it with a pale teal layer of fondant.
Small bits of blue, green, yellow, black and an even paler teal were used for the details, and then I rolled snakes of the body color to create BMO’s arms and legs.
I decorated the base cover of each cake separately then transferred them to the serving tray before applying the finishing details.
Jakob was obsessed with Adventure Time when his 6th birthday rolled around* so of course I HAD to make him an Adventure Time-themed birthday cake. (The obsession lasted so long that he had 2 Adventure Time cakes AND Gunter-themed cupcakes for his birthday the following year as well!)
Step 1 was to make a fondant BMO. Luckily I’d already made myself a plastic canvas BMO that I could use for easy reference.
BMO was made out of white fondant tinted with gel colors, and had long toothpick inserted underneath while the fondant cube was still soft. After letting the pieces harden for a few days I drew on them with edible markers for the finer details.
I made the fondant toppers by tinting small amounts of fondant into the appropriate colors then cutting out scaled paper templates of each character. I used a fondant knife to trace and cut the appropriate sections of each color then adhered them with water and a clean food-only paintbrush. The last step was to draw on any fine details with the food markers. I then repeated the same process for the logo/sword, substituting Jakob’s name for the word “TIME” in the title.
I baked, stacked and decorated a cake to look like a lovely day in the land of Ooo then applied all the toppers (except BMO) to the sides of the cake, using the moisture of the fresh icing to adhere them. The pieces were juuuust soft enough to form slightly to the cake’s curves so they wouldn’t pop off.
Because of the weight factor, I waited until just before serving to add BMO on top and insert the number candle.
jeloca.com 