Time for Tea! A Gravity Defying cake with Suspended Teapot Decoration~ Video

***Hi everyone!  This is our second "Gravity Defying" cake tutorial.  Of the two, this has a more involved structure (to handle the heavier suspended teapot decoration).  If you will be suspending something lightweight (like candy boxes/containers, plastic bottles or cans, gift bags, etc.), then you'll want to check out our quick & easy tutorial HERE!  

In this two part cake video, you will learn how to create teapot and teacup decorations (Part One) and a support structure to give a gravity defying effect (Part Two).

 Materials for Teacup & Teapot (Video Part 1):

5 inch styrofoam ball (or smaller) -- *Our teapot weighed just under one pound.  I wouldn't recommend anything heavier for this type of support structure.

Fondant (we used Liz Marek)

Tylose Powder, for firming up the fondant

Red Fondant

Rice cereal treats (we used 3 22g. Rice Krispies Treat Bars)

Piping Tip 10 (or similar) for creating large & small dots

Bubble Tea Straw

Americolor Coloring Gels - We used Chocolate Brown & Ivory for the tea color

Piping Gel -(for attaching decorations)

Form for teacup shape.  We used a teacup, but any tapered glass or cup would work.

Something to use as a form for saucer (like a saucer or small plate)

Circle Cutters:  These do not need to be exact, but I used a 2 inch circle cutter for the foot of the teacup, & a  2 ½ cutter & 3 ½ cutter for the lid of the teapot.

Extruder: Optional.  We used our Makins Clay Extruder (aff) to extrude strands of fondant for accents.

Small and medium sized heart shape cutters for teapot

Miscellaneous- Toothpicks, small paint brushes, vegetable shortening, plastic wrap

Notes

You will want to prepare the teacup and teapot first, before assembling your cake.  They need a chance to firm up so that handling them will not cause unwanted impressions.

Make sure to make the handles for teapot and teacup in advance, preferably 2 days (and more if you are in a humid area) just to make sure that they will dry in time.  In case of breakage emergency, thread a piece of  strong floral wire through a snake of soft fondant or gum paste and bend into position, leaving the ends of the wire exposed so that you can anchor into your teapot or teacup.

**Helpful Tip:  For the handle of the teapot, draw a circle that is the same diameter of your teapot onto a piece of paper. (In our case, we traced around a 5 inch cookie cutter onto a piece of paper since our styrofoam ball teapot form was 5 inches.)  Lay your soft fondant handle next to the drawn circle and arrange it to fit the curve.  This is optional, but will ensure a better fit whenever it's time to apply handle to the teapot.

Materials for Cake Structure (Video Part 2)

Five 10" cardboard cake circles for the base, + an 8" cardboard for our 8" tier.

34 inches of solid 6 gauge copper wire (found in electrical dept. of home improvement store) -These are sold by the foot in most places. (For us, it was 89 cents a foot at Lowe's).

Sharpened Wooden Dowel (just sharpen with small clean pencil sharpener)-¼ inch thick, 17 inches long

Lineman (heavy duty) Pliers--Optional, but necessary if you do not have your wire pre-cut in the store.

Hot Glue Gun

Frosted or fondant covered Cake Tier- Mine was an 8" tier (4.5 inch height)

Cake base cover of choice (We wrapped ours with a plastic table cloth & stapled into position.)

"Tea Colored" fondant to cover wire- (We used a combination of Americolor Chocolate Brown & Ivory tinted fondant)

Piping Gel

Tape (for joining dowel to wire)

Fondant/tylose or Gum Paste to form spout

Bubble tea straw for barrier/and to join the dowel to the copper wire.

Fondant for "tablecloth" (we used an 8 ½" x 8 ½" square)

Red Polka Dots & hearts for tablecloth

Waxed Paper

Teapot & Teacup from the Part One tutorial