Hi everyone! We’re so excited to share our latest cake video tutorial for a Fairy House Tree Stump Cake. We’ll show you show to create a simple buttercream tree stump cake that can work not only for fairy houses, but for woodland themes too!
Sweet fairy garden cakes continue to be popular in cake decorating, and this simple tree stump design with it’s welcoming entrance and cute modeled fairies would make an adorable birthday cake.
We covered our tree stump in textured buttercream but if you prefer to use fondant, you can easily achieve a textured look by covering the cake and then using gum paste tools, toothpicks, etc. to create realistic lines and impressions.
In Part One, we demonstrate how to build the tree stump and begin to add piped details.
In Part Two, we demonstrate how to model the fairies from gum paste, and also add finishing details to the fairy house tree stump.
Materials:
For our tree stump, we used four 6 inch layers of our White Almond Sour Cream Cake (scratch) recipe. We used 4 bubble tea straws for support in the bottom tier, two cake cardboards cut down to size, and the base was three 12 inch cake cardboards wrapped with a white plastic tablecloth pulled tightly and secured beneath.
Gum Paste (or fondant with tylose kneaded into it)
Classic Vanilla Buttercream (used for accent colors and to lighten the chocolate frosting for the top of the stump)
Templates for Fairy Wings and Door
Coloring Gels- Americolor Copper (skin tone), Warm Brown, Avocado Green+ Mint Green for grass & leaves, Lemon Yellow, Sky Blue, Deep Pink, Super Black
Food Coloring Pens- Black and Pink (If you don’t have this, combine coloring gel with a touch of vodka or lemon extract to create a paint.)
Pink Petal Dust- Optional (for rosy cheeks)
Piping Gel for adhesive
Rice Cereal Treat to create incline for the stone walkway (we used one 22g. bar)
Miscellaneous: I used a bench scraper to smooth & remove excess frosting, a small angled spatula for creating texture in the buttercream, parchment
Wilton small daisy cutter (this was from a set), and small heart cutter for door.
Notes about Modeling
Dry times can vary greatly depending on the humidity in your area, the brand or recipe of gum paste (or fondant) you are using, etc. We used Satin Ice brand gum paste and the fairy wings were firm enough to use after about 24 hours. If you are using fondant with tylose kneaded into it, it may take longer.
*Make an extra set of fairy wings just in case of breakage.
*For the fairy on top of the cake, you may want to make a hole in the bottom with a lollipop stick so that if you need an anchor for stability, you can easily slide one in.
Such a cute cake! I have a friend that would love this cake!
Thanks Susie!! xo
Absolutely loved it. I know my granddaughter and great granddaughter would love it also.
That is just too cute! Love it! :) Simple and spectacular as always!
So very cute… definitely one I will try soon!
I was thinking I would make this with a bird or an owl on top.
Hi Tammy, that would be so cute!!
Beautiful
really cute
I made this cake for my grand daughter’s 7th birthday and everyone including my grand daughter absolutely loved it!
Hi Anita, Your cake is perfection, great work!! Thanks so much for posting your picture!
I really loved this tutorial. I cannot wait to give it a try. Is it possible to replace the fondant portions of this cake with modeling chocolate?
Hi Maria! So glad that you enjoyed the video. I don’t work very often with modeling chocolate but I don’t see why not! If you make the cake, we’d love to see.