***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
Hello ladies and Hapoy Holidays! I recognize we are in the midst of the holiday season, but is it possible that I can get an answer to my question above? Normally you guys are super fast with responses, but I haven’t heard a word since I wrote you on Dec 15th. It is almost time for me to start working on the cake so I would like to get as much help as possible. If Imyou could respond to me, I would be truly grateful. Thank you so much and I truly appreciate it!
Hi Terri, I'm so sorry- This completely fell off of our radar and so I'm glad that you followed up.
I would model the body of the plane either with straight gum paste, or using rice cereal treats compressed into the shape that you need, covered with fondant. Before it dries, you can create a hole that would be large enough for it to slide onto the wire.
For the wings, I would use gum paste. If the wings are small, you could attach them with bits of gum paste with water kneaded into it to make it tacky...or you can push small floral wire anchors or toothpicks into the wing before it dries, and then after dyring insert it into the body of the plane.
I would keep the plane simple and fairly small- it sounds like a really cute cake!