Fondant Cake Topper — Go Cougs!

This fondant cake topper was made for my daughter Becca’s college graduation at the beginning of May. She’s the one I was just traveling around the southwest with, and she’s about to start her new job with AmeriCorps! These significant life events need significant celebrations, and she asked me to bring cakes (6 hours across the state!) for her graduation BBQ.

I made fondant cake toppers as a way to have good decorations that could survive the trip. I brought two 8″ double layer cakes — easier to transport in a cooler — and placed the toppers on AFTER the buffet was set up at her house.

I love Love LOVE mixing colors! Finding the right combination of the paste food color I have on hand to represent my vision of the right color is a challenge I greet with glee! The crimson took a few tries in order to get enough brown and red color into the white fondant so it wasn’t pink. A touch of purple along with the black coloring kept the gray from looking dingy.

I must stop here and shout, “GO, COUGS!” Washington State University is known for its school spirit! My husband and I, Sam and her husband, and now Becca have all graduated from there — yay! I also must say, excuse my photo lighting issues ;)

OK, back to the project: I used a computer printout of the school logo, and cut the WSU letters with a small sharp paring knife. The letters went onto parchment where I had traced their shape — they skew a bit when you move them and need to be corrected.  I made the squinty cougar eye and whiskers by hand, obviously.

I transported these 6″ circles on 8″ cake rounds covered in parchment (use a stapler! tape doesn’t stick) and attached everthing with almond extract and smears of frosting. The rounds went into a 9″ cake pan for protection on the trip.

I brought one back home with me, and in a couple newer photos (the lighting is different) you might see clear cake sprinkles, a finger print, frosting stain, or other signs of being used but from a normal distance it still looks really good. It has hardened to concrete now, and so I might just keep it to admire for a while longer.

I call fondant “grown-ups’ playdough” — if you like food crafting, you can’t ignore fondant! It is not just for draping over wedding cakes. Sam and I both learned a lot in a Wilton Cake Decorating course, but that’s not necessary.

Do you play with fondant? Share your successes!

Gail