This tutorial will show you in step by step photographs and instructions, how to create adorable fluffy fondant teddy bears to decorate your cakes and cupcakes.
Your finished bear or bears will measure approximately 6cm tall and 4cm at their widest point.
Make sure you knead your sugarpaste before use and keep any sugarpaste you are not working with wrapped and sealed in an airtight container otherwise it will dry out and become difficult to work with.
To make your bear you will need:
Approximately 30g of light brown sugarpaste per bear.
Approximately 1g of black sugarpaste per bear.
Edible glue or vodka.
For a little teddy bear like this edible glue is not really necessary, at Buttercream Bakery we use edible glue for very delicate pieces but mostly we use vodka. The vodka acts as an adhesive and the alcohol will evaporate completely, you will not be able to taste the vodka at all on the finished topper. Vodka can also be used to clean any marks or blemishes off your finished toppers or decorations. Edible glue can leave messy marks on sugar paste and taste unpleasant.
A small clean paintbrush for applying edible glue or vodka.
A couple of toothpicks.
Artists scalpel or a small blade.
1 x Point and Auger Tool.
This is not entirely essential but will make your life easier and your little bear neater. In most cases you can use a toothpick in place of a point and auger tool.
Digital spice scales.
Again scales are not totally necessary, I do not usually use them to measure out pieces of sugarpaste when making toppers and decorations but I have for this tutorial simply to give you all an indication of what size the pieces should be. For example the bears head is approximately two thirds of the size of the bears body. Some of the pieces, such as the eyes are so small I cannot provide weights.
1. Take 14g of light brown sugarpaste and roll into a plump pear shape, as shown, to create the body of your bear.
2. Take 8g of sugarpaste and split into two equal 4g portions. Roll each portion into a thick sausage shape. Place your index finger onto the centre of each sausage and roll once again, to create an indent in the centre of the sausage so that you end up with a peanut shape. Flatten one end of each peanut shape upwards to create the bears paws and then squeeze the opposite end between your index finger and thumb in the opposite direction to create the flattened upper leg that joins to the bears body.
3. Attach the legs to the bottom sides of the bears body as shown, using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka.
4. To texture your bear, take a toothpick and use it to pull away at the sugarpaste to create fur. The more different directions you pull the sugarpaste out in, the fluffy your bear will be. Continue until the bears entire body, front and back and legs are textured.
5. Take 5g of light brown sugarpaste and split into two 2.5g portions. Roll each piece into a ball and then a sausage shape. Re-roll one end of each sausage into a slightly thinner point, so that your sausage shapes taper at one end. Attach the arms to the bears body as shown, using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka.
6. Texture your bears arms as you did the body and legs, using a toothpick to pull away at the sugarpaste to create fur. Remember the more different directions you pull the sugarpaste out in the fluffy your bear will be. You need to texture the bear at each stage rather than waiting until the bear is complete because the sugarpaste will dry as you work and become increasingly difficult to texture. Once the arms are completely textured you should have a little headless teddy, that looks like the last picture above.
7. To create the bears head, take 10g of sugarpaste and shape into a pear shape as you did with the body, only this time make the pear shape shorter, (around two-thirds of the height of the body) and plumper. Use a small artists scalpel to create the bears muzzle, push the blade into the sugarpaste creating a vertical line down the bottom half of the bears head, as shown.
8. To make the bears ears take approx. 0.5g of fondant and split in half. Roll each piece into a small ball and flatten slightly into small discs. Push the length of the blunt point of a point and auger tool into each of the discs around halfway down, as shown. Taper the open end of each ear and affix to the top sides of your bears head, as shown.
9. Using the same blunt point of a point and auger tool, push the blunt point into the sugarpaste to create two eye holes. How big the eye holes are, how high or low they sit on the bears face or how close together or far apart they are will all affect your bears character, so have a play around. I like to place mine half way down the bears face and just wide enough apart that they will sit just above and either side of the bears nose. Affix the head to the bears body, using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka.
10. Once again take your toothpick and gently pull away at the sugarpaste, texturing the bears whole head and ears.
11. Take the smallest piece of black sugarpaste you can, split it into two even smaller pieces and roll each piece into a small ball. Take another 0.1-0.2g of black sugarpaste and roll into a small egg shape for the bears nose.
12. Use a small paint brush dipped in vodka and dabbed on a paper towel, to brush the inside of each eye socket. Insert one of your tiny black balls into each of the eye holes you have created. If they are still two big, simply take one of the balls and split it in half once again.
13. Affix the bears nose to the top of the line you made on the bears face with your scalpel, using edible glue or a little dab of vodka. Position the nose so that it sits just underneath and right in between the bear’s eyes.
Your fondant teddy bear is now finished!
I recommend allowing your bear to dry for a minimum of two hours before placing him on top of a cake or cupcake.
To make a fondant teddy bear with an open mouth, you simply need to make a few changes during step 7. The bears head is created in exactly the same way, only the vertical line of the muzzle is changed and a little mouth added. To create your open mouthed bear please replace step 7 with the following:
14. To create the bear’s head, take 10g of sugarpaste and shape into a pear shape as you did with the body, only this time make the pear shape shorter, (around two-thirds of the height of the body) and plumper. Use a small artists scalpel to create the bears muzzle, push the blade into the fondant creating a vertical line from the centre of the bears face to just half way down the bottom half of the bears face. The line should not reach the base of the head. Take the blunt point of a point and auger tool and push it directly into the sugarpaste just below the line you have made, pull the sugarpaste down and out slightly with the blunt point to create the bears mouth.
You can now continue with steps 8-13 above.
Now that you can make a basic teddy bear, you can start to experiment. I have already talked a little bit about how the size and positioning of the bear’s eyes will affect the bear’s character but there are many more small alterations you can make that will completely change your little bear’s personality. The size and shape of the nose or ears for example or the positioning of the head and arms. Try affixing one of both of the bear’s paws to his face with a little vodka or edible glue, hold the arms in place for a minute of so until the glue sets, try tilting the bear’s head to one side, upwards or downwards. Experiment with different colours making your little bears in various shades of brown, grey, pink and blue.
We hope you have enjoyed our little teddy bear tutorial! We would absolutely love to hear from you and see your creations, so please do get in touch. You can comment directly on this post, find us on Facebook or use #buttercreambakery on your fondant teddy bear photographs on Twitter and Instagram.
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