Woodland Cake

1Copyright © 2015 SugarEd Productions. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the prior written permission of the author.

WOODLAND CAKE TUTORIALThis cake is perfect for a nature lover’s birthday or a woodland themed baby shower. The cake pictured is a 6” cake, but it can be easily adjusted to any size round cake.

YOU WILL NEED:

Materials:

•A 6” round buttercream-covered cake, or a cake dummy

•Fondant and gum paste, tinted various colours (brown, grey, beige and black fondant for the cake, and small amounts of blue, orange, brown, green, and light beige gum paste for the accents)

•A cake board or stand

•Vegetable shortening for rolling out gumpaste and fondant

•Gel Food Colors : Brown, yellow, and purple

•Petal Dusts : Brown, green and blue

•Edible glue

Tools:•A very sharp craft knife•Fondant roller, small and large•Thin-tipped paintbrush and fan paintbrush•Leaf cutter•Ball tool•Foam pad•Leaf veiner (optional)•Tinfoil to shape leaves•Sharp-pointed kitchen knife•Skewers or toothpicks•Brown floral tape•Small pair of scissors

2Copyright © 2015 SugarEd Productions. All rights reserved. All text and images contained within the tutorial are the sole property of SugarEd Productions and may not be used, republished, reproduced or unlawfully circulated without express written permission.

Woodland Cake Tutorial http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

INSTRUCTIONS:The day before: Make the bird, acorn, leaves and mushrooms:*!

1) Wrap two wooden skewers or toothpicks in brown floral tape to make the bird’s legs. It is only necessary to wrap them halfway because the other half of the skewer will be hidden in the cake.

2) With blue gum paste, make a teardrop shape about 2” long. Flatten the point of the teardrop to form the bird’s tail and bend upwards slightly. Form two flattened teardrop shapes for the wings and point ends upward slightly. Form a small orange gumpaste cone for the beak. Make a small indent on each side of the head for the eyes and place a small ball of brown fondant in each, securing with a tiny amount of edible glue.



3) Attach the wings and beak to the bird using a small amount of edible glue. Form an egg shape from light beige fondant.

4) Insert skewers into the bird at the bottom to form his legs, securing with a small amount of edible glue. Leave bird overnight to dry.



5) To create acorn, shape a small amount of pale greenish-beige fondant or into a teardrop shape with a flattened top. Shape a slightly smaller amount of light brown fondant into a thick flattened disc. Using a small pair of scissors, cut little v-shapes in the fondant, pointing outwards, to create the texture of the acorn “cap”. Secure the two pieces together with a small amount of edible glue and let dry overnight.

6) Using a small amount of very light beige gum paste, form the mushrooms. For the stems, roll varying lengths of gum paste into tubes with a flattened base at one end. For the caps, shape into a disc with a rounded point on one side, then insert a dowel or the end of a paintbrush into the other side to create a small hole. The stem will be inserted into the hole.



7) Once the gum paste has had a chance to harden for about an hour, apply a small amount of edible glue in the hole of the cap, and insert the stem. Leave overnight to dry.

8) Roll out and cut however many leaves are desired (I used 7) with any kind of leaf cutter (I used a small rose leaf cutter). Thin edges with a ball tool and place in veiner if desired; shape with tinfoil to achieve a slightly curved effect. Leave overnight to dry.



9) When all fondant and gum paste accents are dry, add a little petal dust to each for depth and extra colour. (I used a bit of brown on the mushrooms and acorn, a deeper green on the leaves and a bit of blue on the bird). Add small dots of brown gel food colour to the egg to create a speckled effect.

* The acorn and leaves may be made with fondant but the mushrooms and bird must be made from gum paste to ensure stability

10) Start with a round cake filled and smoothly covered with buttercream (cake should be thoroughly chilled).

FOR THE CAKE:



11) Roll a strip of black fondant as thinly as possible and place on the cake, starting in the middle and reaching all the way down to the bottom edge. Trim excess from the bottom.

12) Roll out a circle of light beige fondant a bit larger than the diameter of the cake. Let dry slightly, about 10-15 minutes. Using a sharp craft knife, cut the shape of a “crack” in the fondant starting in the middle and going out towards the edge, getting slightly wider as you get nearer the edge. Lift the circle of fondant and place on top of the cake, with the center of the crack aligning with the center of the cake, making sure the black strip of fondant is underneath. Smooth over top edges of cake, creating a sharp corner.



14) Use the point and blade of a knife to create both smooth and rough lines and cracks in the bark.

13) To create bark, combine brown and grey fondant in a marble effect. The fondant does not have to be smooth; holes and imperfections add to the effect. Roll out the fondant in a strip at least 4” high and as long as needed to cover the size of cake you are using; for a 6” cake you’ll need it to be about 22” in length. Roll to a thickness of about 1/4” and then create dents with a small rolling pin to simulate bark.



16) Apply bark to the outer edges of your cake, leaving a crack to expose the black fondant where it runs down the side of the cake.

15) Trim bark to the height of your cake and create little notches every inch or two on each edge with the point of a knife.



18) Start by painting very light yellow circles on the surface of the cake with a very thin brush. The circles do not need to be perfect!

17) Now comes the really fun part - painting the cake! I used tiny amounts of brown, yellow and purple gel food colouring diluted with water to achieve the “rings” effect. The secret to painting a cake is to start small and add colour slowly. The more water added, the less bright the colour will be.



20) Finally, use a bit of diluted purple mixed with a bit of brown on the tip of the thin brush and draw very narrow lines outward from the center of the cake to the outer edges, emphasizing the cracks in the wood. If you think you’ve made a mistake, you probably have only increased the realistic effect of the wood! Finish by adding tiny dots in purple and brown.

19) With a fan brush, start adding small amounts of diluted brown colour to the cake. Sweep the brush around the cake to achieve the ring effect, making some areas darker than others.



Enjoy!!Catherine BeddallCatherine’s Cakerycatherinescakery.cahttps://www.facebook.com/catherinescakery

21) Transfer cake to the plate it will be presented on and add the fondant accents; secure with a bit of edible glue. Insert the bird into the cake up to where the floral tape starts; for a final effect, create three little toes from brown fondant and add to the end of the skewer to create feet for the bird.



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Woodland Cake

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