How to Make a Baby from Fondant or Gumpaste

 Making this gum paste or fondant newborn baby is easier than pie. With the use of a silicone baby mold, you will have a perfect miniature, edible baby within minutes--and it makes you look like a pro without being one. You can make this little bubba lifelike with a little pink petal dust to highlight the cheeks and bottom and a tan or light brown petal dust for definition in the creases and to give a more realistic skin tone. Being a very fair person myself, I instantly started creating a Caucasian newborn, but you can darken the skin as desired.
These adorable babies are perfect  for baby shower cakes, cupcakes and Christenings and can be left as is or decorated with bonnets bows and frills, or popped into a little fondant cradle or pram as a cake topper. I am going to use the babies in Anne Geddes inspired baby shower cakes atop large open fondant roses. Pictures to follow!


How to Make a Baby from Fondant or Gum paste

You will need:

Silicone baby mold
Quantity of flesh/ light coloured fondant or gum paste (about the size of a golf ball per baby)
Knife
Greaseproof paper
One or two small paint brushes
Tan or light brown petal dust
Dark brown matte petal dust
Pink matte petal dust


1. Colour fondant as desired. Make sure it is dry to the touch, not tacky. (You may want to add some icing sugar or corn flour at this stage. Tacky fondant can prove problematic.) Take a piece about the size of a golf ball and roll it into a smooth ball. Elongate this ball between the palms of your hand.

 2. Gently but firmly press this fondant into your dry mold, paying special attention to the head and feet areas. (Do not powder or grease these particular silicone molds, as it may take away the definition of the baby.)

 3. Gently cut away any excess overhanging fondant until the fondant of the baby is level with the top of the mold. Brush away any left over excess and smooth the top with your fingers.

 4. Place the mold in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm. To remove the baby, gently ease it out from the mold head first, holding the mold at the front with both thumbs, pushing from the back of the mold with your fingers.

5. Place the baby gently on some greaseproof paper. Because it has been in the freezer, it may get a damp look to it--allow it to dry.

6. Take a small brush with a little tan or light brown petal dust on it. work into the creases and over the baby's body. Build up the colour a little more under the chin, in the arm and leg creases and the sides and underneath of the tummy. If you have a darker brown petal dust, brush this over the crown for soft baby hair.

7.With a smaller brush, use the pink petal dust to touch on the cheeks, bottom, elbows, knees and hands. You can also colour the lips with the pink, or use a stronger colour such as a watered down red food colouring to carefully stain this area.

Finished.

Strawberry Topiary

As a table centre peice for a shabby chic style high tea, I thought a strawberry topiary would work a treat. It stood 40cm tall and stood atop a french provincial style candle stand I purchased from Dusk. It brought out "wows" from the guests and they all enjoyed pulling a couple off each during the afternoon tea I threw. I recommend placing this in the centre of a round table within arms reach of all your guests. I made the mistake of placing this in a place where only one side of a table could reach, and topiary was picked at from one side and the ball ended off overbalancing in the end because one side was all strawberries and the other was bare. If you cant place this in the centre of a small round table, I recommend rotating the topiary every so often, so that the strawberries are taken from all sides.
This would be great on a table at Christmas, for a baby shower, wedding or any sort of girlie or feminine party. It looks decadent and fancy as a table centrepeice while offering your guests a fresh, healthy, gluten free fruit option.

Step by Step Strawberry Topiary How To

You will need:

6x 250g punnets of strawberries
1x 15 cm Styrofoam ball
1x candle holder or similar stand (this must have a metal prong in the centre to secure the ball)
cocktail toothpicks
a small knife

Secure the styrofoam ball in the centre of the candle holder. The stand you choose should have a metal spike in the centre to hold the ball on securely. Glue may be another option if your stand doesn't have a spike in the centre.

Cut the leaves from the strawberries. Cut as closely to the leaves as possible, taking off as little fruit as you can. Keeping a little bit of the "woody" part of the top of the strawberry helps in holding it to the toothpick, so it doesnt just slide off. Reserve the leaves for the final touches of the topiary. These will be used to fill any gaps in the completed topiary.

You will see above that the toothpick is inserted into some of the harder part on the top of the strawberry. This is the goal in the following steps--it doesn't have to be completely centred as long as its well secured in the strawberry. Unlike the picture above, the toothpick goes into the foam ball partway before the strawberry is inserted.

Insert one toothpick partway into the top of the foam ball. Positioning is not very important yet, but it helps if you put the strawberries on the ball evenly so that the ball does not overbalance as you are creating the topiary.

 Push the strawberry onto the toothpick, ensuring that the wood is driven through the thick/woodier part of the strawberry top.

 Carefully push the strawberry downwards to the foam ball. If the toothpick end pops through the top point, ensure you push subsequent toothpicks a little further into the foam ball before topping with the strawberry.

Continue this method over the top of the styrofoam ball.Do not worry to much if there are gaps, as these will be later filled with the strawberry leaves.Try however to limit the size of any gaps, choosing strawberries that are the best size for particular areas.

Continue securing the strawberries until the entire surface is covered in strawberries.

Take the strawberry leaves to fill any gaps (I should have used more but I was in a hurry to snap this photo before guests arrived. Alternatively use clusters of mint leaves for larger gaps--this is also very aromatic and offers a breath freshener to your guests too)

How to Colour Sugar Crystals

I once had the pleasure of spending the afternoon at a fabulous hightea room on Mount Tambouine called Tea and Niceties. It was gorgeously set out in a shabby chic manner with the tables set with ornate silverware, beautiful blooming roses, tea pots, sugar cubes, and to-die-for cakes and pastries stacked on tall high tea stands. Everything was pink and gold and white and absolutely amazing and feminine. It was the perfect place for a bridal shower.
It's easy to make your own afternoon teas with the girls a bit more elegant with the tiniest bit of effort. When you break out the floral teapots that have become ornamental, and lay out some delicious nibblies, topping up the sugar bowl with pink crystals only seems fair. Making your sugar bowl pink is so much easier than you might think, and much less expensive than buying it at the store. You can use it to dust cakes, biscuits and cupcakes too for a little added glamour, and it looks fabulous on the table when you're throwing a high tea or shabby chic party. Makes me think of exotic blends of tea and jam and cream scones. Time to send out the invitations and throw a girly afternoon tea I think!

HOW TO COLOUR SUGAR CRYSTALS

You will need:
A plastic zip lock bag (a regular freezer bag will do the trick too)
Granulated sugar
Food colouring (I used red)

Place the granulated sugar in a zip lock bag. Add a few small drops of food colouring to the bag and close the bag. Using your fingers, move the sugar crystals around in the bag, spreading the colour throughout the entirety of it, until all the crystals are saturated.
Voila!

For the meringue recipe, visit here.

How to Make Basic Rolled Fondant or Gumpaste Roses

My sister-in-law is expecting her first baby in a few months, and the occasion called for a baby shower and I put my hand up with glee. I've got a newborn myself and found that I left everything to the last moment in my disorganization. Running out of time, I set about designing a cake and found that I lacked some of the instruments necessary to go through with the project.
Not knowing the sex of the baby, I decided to go with a Sweetpea Baby Theme with a rolled fondant garden of roses, beans and peas and some other foliage with a wee baby among it all. I had no idea how I was going to make leaves and roses without any tools used to create those perfect petals and serrated edges. So I started researching and found a great tutorial on youtube. It's a very simple process anyone can use, even for those not so artistic and it doesn't require any cutting tools for your fondant. They are basic fondant roses and can be added to if you have the time and patience.
Enjoy the tutorial!

HOW TO MAKE BASIC ROLLED FONDANT OR GUMPASTE  ROSES

To make your own fondant at home, here is a cheaper and more fun alternative to store bought rolled fondant.You can also use gumpaste.

You will need:
Any amount of rolled fondant or gumpaste
A clear, plastic folder pocket

1. Take the plastic pocket and cut off the bottom and the side that usually clips into your folder. You now have a plastic sheet that can open and close as a book would.

2. Take a portion of fondant and roll it into a smooth sausage. Cut four equal portions from the sausage. You want them to be approximately marble sized when rolled into a ball.

3.Roll three of these portions into smooth balls, and the forth into an elongated ball, a bit more oval than the others.

4. Place each of the portions along side each other inside the plastic sheet. Gently smooth each ball with your pointer so that it flattens. Smooth down one side of the ball so that it is thinner than the other side. The end closest to you should be thick, sloping down gradually to be thinner. Ensure the balls are all even in size and thickness, and that the balls keep their aerial view shape.

 5. Gently remove the oblong "ball" from the plastic. Roll the thin end of it first, between your fingers, rolling towards the thick end so that it forms a spiral. This is the centre of the rose.

6. Remove the first ball from the plastic and position it flush against the centre bud, thin side up. Place it so that only the centre of the petal is stuck to the  bud, the sides free. The top of the petal should be at the same height as the bud.

7. Take the second petal and slip it in besides the first, so that the first petal overlaps it by half.  Take the third petal and slip it in half way under the second petal. Gently fold the end of the last petal around to meet the first.

 8. You now have your basic rose. Cut the bottom half off with a knife, as this is quite bulky.
You may also like to shape the petals a little with your fingers before setting is aside to dry.

The baby drying. I use an empty chocolate tray to dry the roses in. They dried in 2 days, but this depends upon the weather.

Baby's Sweetpea Cake