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Make-a-Cake Series: Character Figures
August 25, 2010 - By Ashley Johnston 29 Comments
. Did you notice the winner of the Wordy Bird giveaway? Scroll down or click here.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Every kid wants their favorite character on top of their birthday cake, right?
Making characters for the top of a cake can be tricky.
I am going to show you how I made a character figure and hopefully it will give you some steps to and tricks to get started on your little ones favorite character.
Do you know who Foofa is?
Do your kids watch the show Yo Gabba Gabba?
My little girls love that show.
Does anyone know what it is about that show that is so captivating?
I don’t quite get it.
Foofa is the pink character on Yo Gabba Gabba and I’m going to show you how to make her.
She looks like this:
Supplies:
Gumpaste
Gumpaste modeling tools
Picture of your character
**The rest of the supplies for this project will be different for everyone. Unless you are going to make your own Foofa like I am, they will be different. We will talk about what you can use as the post goes on.
I make all my character figures sitting down not standing. I find it so much easier to have the character sitting so I have a large base to set it on not just little feet.
So we start building from the bottom up.
(And I keep the picture out the entire time so that I can constantly refer to it.)
Starting with the legs.
Make two balls about the same size. One for each leg.
Form the foot.
Take your gumpaste tool that looks like this (or the backside of a butter knife) and press down while pushing up with your finger on the end.
Set the feet aside.
Shape the body.
The biggest thing I follow when making a character is to try to follow the shape of each part of the body as close as possible. Just take it one piece at a time.
For the body, I formed this egg shape with my hands.
Set aside with the legs.
Cut out flowers.
We are going to need two flowers for Foofa.
One for the collar that goes around her neck and one for on top of her head.
Cut out 1 larger and thicker flower for the collar.
Cut out a smaller and thinner flower for the head.
Set aside.
Mold arms.
Start out with two balls the same size. Roll them out leaving thicker “balls” at the end for hands.
Using your gumpaste tool or a clean pair of scissors, make thumbs in the hands.
Assemble the body.
Place the legs in the shape of a V with the feet facing out.
Add a small amount of water at the top of the legs and attach the body.
Add water to the back of the arm and place it on the figure, making sure it wraps around to the back of the body. Repeat on the other side with the second arm.
Add the thicker larger flower to the top of the body.
Toothpick
I use a toothpick inserted into the body to hold on the head. It’s extra support just in case.
Form the head.
Foofa has a teardrop shaped head, and I gave her the post on top to attach the flower.
For the mouth, I used my gumpaste tool to make light impressions to where I wanted the mouth.
Next follow your guide and make the mouth bigger until you have it the right shape.
Then I filled it in with red food color marker.
(I use Americolor Food Writer markers. I like this type because the tips are like a paintbrush)
Then, set the head up and start on the eyes.
I rolled out some gumpaste very thin. Then I used the cap from the food color marker and cut out eyes.
I placed the eye on the table and traced it with black food coloring marker to get the outline.
Attach the eyes with water to the head.
Draw pupils and lashes with a food color pen.
Attach small ball for nose.
By this time, the smaller flower will be dry enough to attach.
Draw a center to the flower with a yellow food color marker and attach the flower with a little bit of water.
Attach the head.
Place a small amount of water on the collar around the toothpick.
Slide the head down the toothpick onto the body.
Done.
It’s not perfect…but there is a decent similarity, right?
Here is the cake I topped with Foofa.
And I added some flowers and a “1” on top.
I think it works great!
So now, you can make any sort of figure.
Just break it into parts and start putting it together from the bottom up.
Give it a try!
Next week I am going to continue with another post on figures.
It will be little pandas next time……too cute!
Happy Decorating!
