Thursday, December 16, 2010

Making a Dragonfly

While all of you are making the most beautiful Christmas cookies and yummy treats I am still stuck in the last cake orders of the year, this weekend I will finish the last orders and then I am off for a long break.
Last weekend I made a Baby Shower cake with a ladybug and dragonfly theme, and I thought the dragonflies would look really nice "flying" on top of the cake. And when I say flying... please don't think  some how I put  a motor under the cake the would spin around the dragonflies, my cake skills are not there yet. But I did use some wire, which I have seeing  in other cake designs requiring some type of "flying" look.

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For the dragonflies I used a mix of fondant and gumpaste 50%-50%
  • I rolled the fondant thin and using a dragonfly cookie cutter I cut the shape of the dragonfly.
  • Using an exacto knife I removed the body and the head because I wanted  to do a more 3 D shape with the body.
  • To bring some texture to the wings I rolled a piece of white fondant and using a knife I cut a tear drop  shape, if you have a tear drop cutter feel free to use it, I just don't have it.
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  • I cut a square piece of cardboard and parchment paper to lay the dragonfly on it and give the wings some movement.
  • Using a paintbrush  with a dab of water I attached the white mini wing details on top of the pink wings.

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  •  For the dragonfly body, I just rolled a piece of fondant in a long sausage shape making sure I was forming a head and a little round belly (yes, dragonflies also have love handles)
  • I used a toothpick to make  indentations in the top of the body

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  •  I attached the body to the wings with a dab of water and then I inserted an 18 gauge wire under the dragonfly body (ouch!)
  • At this point the dragonfly figure was very soft, so I set it aside to dry for one day on top of my kitchen cart

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I always like to dust my sugar figures with pear dust, for this one I used a shimmering pink. Well I hope you find this tutorial useful to use in one of your future cakes.
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Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend.

15 comments:

  1. Very nice effect! I hope you enjoy your break! :)

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  2. This is one for the ideas book. Maybe some bumble bees for Monk's cake for his bday coming up! Nothing like bumble bees and monkeys on a cake!

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  3. They do look nice on top of the cake. I have tried butterflies, but dragonflies look nice too!

    Just gave an idea for my daughter's bday.

    Un saludo

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  4. Very cute... thank you for the excellent tutorial.

    :)
    ButterYum

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  5. Qué bonito Kathia! muchas gracias por el tutorial!
    Gracias por colaborar también con María.
    Besitos!

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  6. Great tutorial!....easy to follow instructions :)
    ________________
    cakewhiz

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  7. You deserve a break! What a busy year this has been for you. The dragon flies are adorable! I always appreciate your step by step photo tutorials! Have a great Christmas with your family Kathia!

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  8. Oh how cute! Thanks for putting together the tutorial!

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  9. Yayy a tutorial! Thanks :) The dragonfly is adorable, now I know how to make it too :)

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  10. These are great! We are a dragonfly-loving family here so maybe I can make some of these soon!

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  11. So cute!!! Gracias, Great tutorial. Will be making one soon :D

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  12. Beautiful! Thank you for the tutorial. Can't wait to make these for my mom's cake.

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