Teddy Bear Cake

 Happy New Year to all you dear readers!  After a relaxing Christmas holiday 2011 has begun in a whirlwind of activity.  The dishwasher and the oven are repaired and the cake orders are rolling in.  This teddy bear cake was so much fun to make, even more so when I know the little birthday girl.  Not surprisingly the teddy bear itself proved to be the biggest (and only) challenge.  This one is my second attempt in fact.  The first one was not really the right colour and I made the mistake of trying to model him out of marshmallow fondant with cmc powder mixed in.  Not a good idea!  After a couple of hours, instead of setting and hardening, teddy had sagged and collapsed into an amorphous lump.  All my attempts of reviving him just made things worse.

So, having slept on it I started again the following day by mixing a 50-50 mixture of mmf and gum paste.    This time the teddy kept his shape!  OK, so I made his belly a bit too big, but no matter, he still definitely looked like a teddy.  Once teddy had dried completely, I covered him with royal icing to make him look fuzzy.

I did the blanket by laying a waffle-weave dishtowel over the rolled out fondant and gently rolling over the towel to imprint the weave.  Then I took a pairing knife and hand-cut all the tassles.  I was surprised it worked so well and was very pleased with the end result.

I just had to include this photo because the way the colours arranged themselves is so cool!  My kitchen elves made two cakes for the teddy cake; one in blue, green and purple and the other in red, orange and yellow.  Then I torted both cakes and layered them alternately.  the edge looks burnt, but it is in fact the way the dark purple baked.

Next in line are a dinosaur cake and a fairy and butterfly cake.  I do so enjoy making children's cakes; probably because in most cases I can let my imagination run wild! :D  The fairy will be a challenge, but as serendipity would have it, I managed to enroll in a Lorraine McKay figure modelling course to be held in Maastricht, Holland next weekend.  To see the amazing work she has become famous for, see her website at http://www.extraicing.co.uk.  This is a great opportunity for me and a rare one at that.  Most of the cake decorating courses on offer are held during the week and my full-time job effectively prevents me from being able to attend.  Working in a high school my vacations are restricted to the school holidays, which make things even trickier.  Anyway, I look forward to learning all I can from Lorraine next weekend.