Fondant Camo Hat

Camouflage: No easy way out.

Raise your hand if your arms and wrists start to ache the minute you get a camouflage cake order.

Yep, I am seeing quite a few hands going up. Doing camo in buttercream is a rather tedious process. Piping blobs of icing in alternating colors, smoothing, repeat, repeat, repeat.... till either you finish your cake or your arm falls off. Whichever comes first.

A while back I got an order for a camo fishing hat for a little boy's birthday. I wanted it to look very realistic; like a real hat. I did not think buttercream camo would give me the look I wanted. So I started to brainstorm about a way to do it in fondant. An easier and less painful way than buttercream.

Guess what. It wast not easier nor less painful. It was more so. It took for-ev-er. My children had birthdays that I missed in the time it took to do this hat. It was very tedious and labor intensive.

BUT..... it looked friggin' awesome man! It looked like a real fabric hat! People were amazed that it was cake. The press came to my house to report about it. The President called to congratulate me. They put up a plaque in my honor at the Wildlife and Fisheries Museum here in New Orleans. Yes folks, it looked just that good.

Oh wait, none of that happened. That was the exhaustion induced dream I had that night.

Anyway, let me show you guys how to do this technique if you ever lose your mind enough to give it a try:

First I carved 2 layers of round cake to have a slight taper up the sides. I also carved some small indentations into the sides to give the look of rumpled fabric, like a truly worn hat. That was crumb coated and covered with a very thin layer of white fondant.

The camouflage layer was made by putting "puzzle pieces" of the colored fondant together side by side. First I penciled the camo pattern onto a piece of paper, marked them the color I wanted each to be, and then cut those pieces out. Each piece was used as a template to cut out the corresponding color of fondant.

Each piece of colored fondant was stuck to a thin layer of white fondant underneath with a little water. This under layer of fondant was there to ensure that the pieces stayed together and did not fall apart when I picked up the larger finished piece. I kept the whole piece under plastic while I was working on it to prevent it from drying out.

When I got one piece big enough to cover the top of the hat, I used a slightly fabric textured mat on it to give a little bit more of a fabric look. That piece was then glued to the top of the hat with water. And the excess hanging over the sides of the top of the hat was cut off with an exacto knife.

The same process was followed to make a piece to apply to the sides. I used two pieces to wrap around the sides, and covered the side seems later.

Here is one side piece in place and the top edge trimmed flush with the top of the cake.

Here is the 2nd side piece in place, about to be trimmed on top.

The same process was done to cover a cardboard cake circle, which served as the brim of the hat. The cake part was put on top of this cake circle.

Then I used strips of green fondant, and some strings from the clay gun to finish off the cake and hide all of the seems. My stitching tool was used to put a stitching effect on the wider strips of green fondant.

The fishing lures and dog tags were made of gumpaste and painted silver.

I doweled the base cake and put the camo hat on top.

And here is the finished product:

Ta dah! Pretty cool huh? It really did come out great and had a very realistic and clean look. My client and I were both very happy.

Give it a try if you have a chance. If you are like me, you will do it once because the cake artist in you must conquer it. Then you will never do it again. LOL

Seriously, I hope you guys try this. It was time consuming, but very fun to watch it all come together. Be sure to send me pics if you do!

Happy caking,

Sharon

http://www.sugaredproductions.com>
 

The photography and tutorial by Sharon Zambito, SugarEd Productions, all rights reserved- 2009
The preceding tutorial was used with the permission of Sharon Zambito and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the author.

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Stucco Finish

Want to know a secret? You can cover flaws in your fondant by giving it a stucco look!!

I was making a cake for a bridal show and for some darn reason the fondant wasn't working for me. It was just one of those days and you know we all have them.

So I sat there thinking "How can I cover this up without putting too much on it?" Then I remembered this stucco finish that I saw in one of the Wilton books. Can't remember which one though!!

All you need is some thinned down Royal Icing (RI) and a wad of wax paper. Make sure that you scrunch the wax paper a lot so that it is somewhat on the soft side instead of stiff, but not too soft or you won't get any definition.

Next, dip the wax paper into the RI and dab a little onto a paper towel or paper plate to remove excess RI and then start dabbing onto the fondant. Keep going over the fondant until you achieve the look you want. I also used a very small piece to get into the edges. Let dry and then decorate with a border you wish!! Very easy!

Tutorial and photos by Rhonda Christensen. 2009. All rights reserved.
This material may not be reproduced without permission from the author.

Marbled fondant

You can achieve this marbled look very quickly and easily!

INSTRUCTIONS:

In order to marble the fondant, you need 2 colors to mix. I started with this pink and added the blue to it for my marble on this cake.

Start by getting the fondant very pliable.

Then I roll out strips, generally the same length, but not precisely.

Twist them together and stretch, repeating a few times, but not too many!

Lay out the fondant for rolling.

Roll the fondant out, careful not to stretch it too much, you don't want to have to knead again, or you will lose the marbling.

If you don't have 2 colors, you can add colors this way. Add a dab of your usual cake colors in several places, folding as you go.

Knead and twist as I showed with the 2 color option.

Again, not too much, or you will lose your marbled look.

Roll out and place on cake.

This is an easy way to add a different look, a little fun with an otherwise simple, elegant design.

I forgot to take a picture of this blue cake, but I've included a picture of another marbled cake I did.

photos and tutorial by Brenda Donner 2009

All rights reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Fondant Made Easier with a Lifter

STRUGGLING WITH FONDANT?

Another tool to make the cake decorators life easier to manage is the Fondant Lifter from ChocoPan.

The rings link together forming a flat surface to roll out the fondant. When the fondant is rolled to the desired diameter, simply lift the outer ring.

The inner rings detach, but the fondant is held intact on the outer ring, which is easily lifted and centered over the cake. Lower the ring down over the cake, and now the fondant is ready to smooth.

This fondant lifter is easy to order from ChocoPan online. I have personally found their service to be friendly, helpful and have quick delivery.

Check it out!

Click here

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