Hi everyone!  I hope that you’ve had a great week!  Today I thought that it would be fun to do a little figure modeling.  Modeling cake toppers from gum paste is my favorite part of cake decorating–and if you’ve never tried it, what are you waiting for?  There’s no better way to personalize a cake or to give it that extra burst of personality!  Even the most unlikely cake toppers….like frogs for instance, are sure to bring smiles  :0) –I hope you’re in a froggy kind of mood—because you are about to learn how to make some really cute ones!~  Let’s go!

Okay, so today I used Satin Ice gum paste tinted with Leaf Green Americolor coloring gel.   I prefer to do all of my modeling with gum paste—and if I don’t have any on hand, I use fondant with a good amount of tylose or CMC powder kneaded in (you’ll be able to feel the elasticity increase as you work it in.)  I don’t like to use straight fondant because it is too soft for my taste–the figures are prone to sagging a little as they sit.  (We don’t want saggy frogs.)–

First, I rolled my gum paste into two balls–one slightly larger than the other.  I shaped the larger ball into somewhat of an egg shape.  This will be the body.  The smaller ball I shaped into an oval.  This will be the head.  While the gum paste is still soft, go ahead and give your frog a smile—I used a toothpick, but use whatever you’d like.  Sometimes I use my scribing needle for this–or even a “real” needle would work.  Anything sharp with a fine point.

Notice that I used my toothpick to make two holes.  One in the top of the body, and one at the bottom of the head.  These will be lined up later, and joined with a piece of  dried pasta.  But first, we’re going to let the two pieces dry overnight (along with the tongue–we’ll get to that soon.)

Soon after forming the head and body, I used a small piece of floral wire to create a hole in the center of the mouth.   You only need to do this step if your frog will have a tongue like mine.

The tongue is a strip of gum paste tinted with Americolor Deep Pink.  The tongue is optional, but it’s too cute for me not to share with you…

The next day (or after several hours), when your pieces are nice and firm, add a little piece of dry pasta or toothpick into the hole that you made earlier.  I like to dip the toothpick in a little sugar glue before inserting.  Next, brush the bottom of the head with a little more sugar glue, and twist the hole that you made earlier onto the dried pasta.  You’re just piecing these together like a puzzle.  The pasta/toothpick is optional, but I like the added bit of support.

To make the eyes, I formed two circles of gum paste and flattened slightly on the bottom.  When the surface feels nice and dry (after 5-10 minutes), you can safely draw on your black dots with a food coloring pen.  Then, glue them to the top of the frog’s head with a little sugar glue.

Next, I made four froggy legs and each leg started with a ball of gum paste.  Here’s what I did for each leg….

Once finished with the legs, I just attached to my frog with a little sugar glue.  The gum paste legs were still soft when I attached them.

My frog’s tongue was nice and firm after a night of drying, so I went ahead and inserted the tongue/floral wire anchor into the hole that we made in the mouth yesterday.  I used just a tiny bit of sugar glue around that hole before inserting the tongue.

Hey there little fella~

I made a little party hat for our frog–Just a  thick triangle of yellow gum paste (or fondant) with blue accents & pink food coloring pen polka dots.  It was sturdy enough to place right on after only a few minutes.  I brushed the bottom with a little sugar glue before placing on our frog~

Have I even mentioned that I love Disco Dust?  ;0) Frogs love it too.

In the same way that we made frog #1, we made a frogette!  The only difference is that instead of the tongue, I gave her pink lips as you see here :0) .  Just a flattened piece of pink gum paste placed over the mouth (once the head and body had a chance to dry).  I used my toothpick to re-form the line of the mouth that we lost when we placed on the pink fondant.

I gave her some pink blush with a little pink petal dust (applied with a dry brush).  I also gave her some eyelids with little slivers of green gum paste (applied while still soft)–and drew on some eye lashes!

Just a few more final touches…..a cake (this is a 6″ frosted in buttercream & tinted with Americolor Sky Blue), a fondant lily pad….a little fondant cake with buttercream borders..and somewhere along the way, Frogette found a pearl necklace! :0)

And that’s all there is to it!

I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial!  Some day, sometime when you least expect it,  you will need to know how to make a frog–and when you do, this tutorial will be here waiting for you  — and I want to see pictures!  ;0)

Have a great weekend!