Fondant Cake/Cupcake toppers: Little Yellow Ducks

I love working with fondant! If you are new to fondant read the primer below, if not skip the primer and jump to the next paragraph. See below for my fondant yellow duck cake/cupcake topper. They make ordinary cupcakes looks super cute - perfect for a birthday party or baby shower!

Primer on Fondant: For those who are new to fondant, it's basically edible play doh! It is so fun to use for decorating baked goods; anything from cakes, cupcakes and cookies. It is moldable, sticky and sweet! Basic fondant is basically made up of sugar, gelatin, corn syrup, glycerin, and flavoring but there are slight variations to the ingredients used. You can make homemade fondant but I would highly recommend buying premade fondant. There are a number of brands to choose from. They are also offered in a huge palette of colors and flavors. I prefer to use Satin Ice fondant because of its taste and color offerings. For molding purposes only, I don't mind using easily accessible Wilton fondant (the taste is less desirable). You can find Wilton fondant in any Michael's or AC Moore store. With the weekly 40-50% coupons at these stores, you can get a great deal on them! Buy the biggest package you can find (usually the 24oz box) as it is a better value and the fondant has a shelf life of 12 months if you store it properly.

Fondant can easily transform cakes, cookies or cupcakes to glamorous works of arts - let your imagination run wild! My latest project will be working on a monkey cake topper for my youngest sister's upcoming wedding. Since the wedding is not for another two months, I still have some time before I need to start it...be on the look out for a future posting on my monkey cake topper. In the meantime I have been inspired to play with some yellow fondant I had left over from a Homer Simpson cake I made for a friend. I've decided to make a family of yellow ducks. BTW fondant has a shelf life for a year as long as it is stored in a cool place in an air tight container (although I wouldn't recommend eating fondant figurines after it has been left out to dry - it becomes super hard!). Most people don't eat fondant decorations even though they are edible.

See below for my Homer Simpson cake (inspired by a USB). The ducks were fun to make and if anyone is interested in them, I'll probably sell them on Etsy once I have time to open an account with them. If not, shoot me an e-mail and we can figure something out! If you want to make your own ducks, I'll be adding a new post on how to make fondant ducks.

Weddings: Fondant Cake Topper

My youngest sister is getting married in a couple of months and I've been recruited to help her make a monkey cake topper......MONTHS LATER.....

The cake topper was finished with the help of my sister. It took about a week to make the cake topper and I believe the bride and groom were satisfied with the results.

My sister's wedding was in Puerto Rico and therefore we had to make sure the cake topper made it there in one piece. The tail on one of the monkeys did fall off during the flight but we were able to glue it back on with crazy glue (normally I would not recommend this as all of my creations are 100% edible). But since I didn't have any of my cake tools with me to fix the problem, we decided to use glue.

The cake topper held up but melted a bit due to the humidity down there - or as we think, got a bit emotional during the ceremony!

I think the cake topper looked great, despite its tears.

ps. I can't take credit for the cake and cupcakes - they were provided by a local baker. I wished I could have made the cake/cupcakes but that wasn't possible.

Introduction to Simply Whimsical: Hobbies that tickle me pink

The touch and feel of textured paper, the taste of deliciously decorated cupcakes, the presentation of the perfectly wrapped present, the sound of soothing chords from an old favorite song, the smile and laugh from my 15 month old son, finding a bargain at 80% below retail when I was ready to pay full price...do I need to say more. These are a few small things in life that tickle me PINK.

I am sure there are others out there that can appreciate these small pleasures in life. My hobbies for baking, crafting and bargain hunting are surely hobbies shared by many. I wanted to start blogging to exchange and share ideas, and unleash the creative side in all of us. As a side note, hobbies can be expensive but they don't necessarily have to be. In light of the recession, I will post my bargain finds for crafting and baking projects and of course anything else that tickles me PINK! :)

I hope you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. My only wish is that you leave with a smile and return with one too!