Hello everybody! I decided to take a little break from Valentine’s Day posts and instead do a fun birthday tutorial. This is one of my favorite themes for milestone birthdays…and it involves chickens!
I’ve always favored fun, upbeat themes for over-the-hill cakes—and when the time comes for me, I’ll take chickens over a tombstone themed cake any day ;0) — Why chickens? Aside from the fact that they are very cute, I’m playing off of the phrase “She’s no Spring Chicken”. A funny phrase, but not something I’d like to see on any cake of mine, –so we’re twisting it to say “Forever a Spring Chicken”. Much better!
Ready to get started?
First, you’ll want to use gum paste or fondant to shape a head, body, & wings. Round head, slightly elongated round body, and teardrop shaped wings. Use a toothpick to poke holes where the body and head will come together after they are dry. Its not a bad idea to let the body dry with a little piece of dry pasta poking out. It provides extra support later when you slide the head onto the body.
Once the head and body were dry (I dried overnight), I assembled them. (It’s good to lightly brush tylose glue, piping gel, or your “glue” of choice on the top of the body before twisting on the head.) I added eyes with my food coloring pen. The wings, beak & comb can be added while still soft, or you can dry in advance and glue on later.
Then, I made another one…
And now it’s time to work on our star. She’s going to be laying on her side, so this is how I shaped the body. Notice the angle of the noodle…  Let the head and neck and wings dry in advance. I poked holes where the legs will go too.
Once dry, it’s time to start assembling! ~
One pair of legs coming up! (You could make fondant or gum paste legs, but floral wire is so easy.)
I made a pink fondant bikini top and skirt for our chicken of honor. I changed the circles to trinangles later..– she had a last minute outfit change. I glued the outfit to the bird while the pink fondant was still soft.
I added accents with my black food coloring pen, gave her a little fondant flower with a Wilton daisy cutter….and glittered her up with some disco dust!
So that’s pretty much it—the toppers are done! But I wanted to show you a design idea for how to tie it all together ;0) —
For today’s cake, I covered two tiers in fondant. One 8″ tier and one 4″ tier. Then, I painted on a foxy mama leopard print pattern using “paint” that I created from coloring gel and a little bit of vodka. Lemon extract is a good alternative to vodka if you’d rather go that route—
Next, the black. The chicken is watching… :0)
I added a cocktail umbrella to the top, used black ribbon for borders, & made fun little signs for the chickens. I used a Wilton tip 2 to pipe my message in a crusting buttercream (although royal icing would work well too!)
FUN!
I hope that you enjoyed this idea— if nothing else, you now know how to make a foxy chicken ;0) — By the way, in the past I’ve made some other funny signs for the chickens to hold like “Best Breasts in Town” & “Those Legs look Grade A to me!”. I’m sure that you could think of some good ones! If you ever try this cake, you must send me a picture!
Thanks for swinging by the blog–see you next time!
Oh my goodness this is so darlin’. I love it..
I adore this idea! Have a client order for a 50th birthday in May so I may take a spin on this…thank you for sharing! Much sweeter than the buzzards and grim reapers associated with those milestone birthdays :)
That is just an all out adorable cake…I love your chickens…they are so cute! I can’t get enough of all your fun ideas…and if you’re not even 40 yet, *which is probably the case as you look about 25!* I’m definitely a candidate for this cake on my next birthday, as 40 was many moons ago for me! :) Thank you so much for all that you do for us, Melissa. You are amazing!
Oh My! I love the chicken on the top. I really want to try this cake. Thanks Melissa!
This is so fab! Thank you for sharing. :)
This is so fab! Thank you for sharing :)
What a Great Idea …you are so creative …wish I had this a few years back for my sister ….but now may use it for my daughter in a few years ….she’s a 38 whoo hoo ..think she will crack up…lol
Melissa, this is so cute. You sure come up with such cute ideas :)
this is way cute! thank you for another awesome inspiration! :)
This is the cutest cake I have ever seen !! What a fantastic job you did on this, it makes me happy just looking at it ! Thank you so much for sharing this adorable cake :)
This is adorable! I love it!! I really try to only use butter cream icing on my cakes. I have never tried to “paint” on the food coloring/vodka on butter cream. Does this work the same as on the fondant? I know it won’t be as perfectly smooth as a fondant cake…… This is one I have to try!!
I love this!!!!. Such a fresh approach to an over the hill cake!!!!
That Foxy chicken is adorable! Id like to try it as one of my cake toppers. Thank You!
For the life of me i can never be as creative as i want to be. Im just no artist for sure. Im glad i come across creative cake pros like yourself to give me some ideas. Thanks much!
Melissa those chickies are the cutest things EVER!! I have no need to make them but I think that doesn’t matter, I am going to have to anyway. Adorable!!
I love this! Any age would love this!!! Thanks Melissa!!! Your the best!
Soooooooooo cute! I have to try this one!!!
This is adorable! Love it!!
This is just too cute, I love it!
This would have been great for my birthday this past Friday!! Alas< too late. ..maybe next year. I love the cake that you put with the chickens…just perfect!!
Im not sure how many times you will hear this but the cake topper is truly adorable!
I think the disco dust makes a big difference. Fantastic chickies! Just love them!
This is the CUTEST thing that I have ever seen!!
What lovely chickies! My daughter would love these on her cake! Thanks for sharing.
Just adorable! Please come make a cake for us:)
I love the disco dust. Makes me feel like dancing! Great cake! Congrats!
So So So cute! My daughter would love this cake. Can i eat the chick?…lol
soooooo cute! love the bikini idea!!
I like the “Shake your tail feathers” sign! Really cute cake.
Cute cake. Wish i could make this for my little girl. Thanks for showing us. maybe i will try it. Wish me luck!
This cake is wonderful. Will you make any different ones sometime soon? Looking forward to new ones. Thank you.
Hi Aubergine–we are working on a new blog tutorial this week– (our giveaway was our “blog” for last week) ;0) — If you happen to be a member, we just posted a new monster truck video yesterday. Stop back by again soon to see what’s new!
Thank You Melissa! Appreciate it! Will do!
Did you adhere the signs to the chickens with Tylose glue or a another substance?
Yes, im wondering the same thing as Tami. How did you adhere the sign in the chickens hand?
Hi– yes, I forgot all about that step. You can add the wing while still soft and place the sign right into it (with a little sugar glue to adhere). The sign is so lightweight that it will stay.
In my case, since I hadn’t planned for the bird to hold the sign initially, I just extended the wing with a little bit of soft white gum paste and nestled the sign into it.
I just finished making two of these hotties for my aunt’s cake this weekend. I can’t stop laughing. These are hysterical! Thanks for the great idea. :)
I’ve been doing cakes for awhile, but been afraid of trying fondant. You make everything look so easy! I’m going to make a batch and try this cake this week! LOVE IT!
Thank you Tama Sue!!
So glad that you are going to give it a try! ;0) —
@Cakelady38~ I’m sorry that I missed your comment so long ago. Love that you made them!! ;0) They make me smile too!