Fall has finally flung and in honour of my favourite season I thought I would create a little sugarcraft tutorial for you all.
This tutorial will show you in step by step photographs and instructions, how to create an adorable fondant pumpkin teddy bear to decorate your cakes and cupcakes.
Your finished bear will measure approximately 5cm tall and 3cm at the widest point, making this bear the perfect size for topping cupcakes.
If you would like to make a bear twice the size, simply double all the weights provided.
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 10g of orange sugarpaste per bear.
Approximately 11g brown sugarpaste per bear.
Less than 1g of black sugarpaste per bear.
Less than 1g white sugarpaste per bear.
Less than 1g green 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 sugarpaste and taste unpleasant.
A small clean paintbrush for applying edible glue or vodka.
A couple of toothpicks.
An artists scalpel or a small blade.
1 x Point and Auger Tool.
A point and auger tool 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. Some of the pieces, such as the eyes, ears and leaves are so small I cannot provide weights.
Fondant Pumpkin Teddy Bear
Cake Topper Tutorial
1. Take 9g of orange sugarpaste and roll into a plump pear shape measuring approximately 2.5cm tall. Push the length of a toothpick into the sugarpaste and curve the toothpick around the curve of the base. Repeat all the way around, creating evenly spaced, vertical lines around the entire pear shape.
2. Take 1.5g of brown sugarpaste and roll into a ball. Place your little finger just off centre and roll back and forth to create an indent, you should end up with something that resembles a peanut shape, with one bulbous end slightly larger than the other. Flatten the slightly larger end of each peanut shape, drawing it upwards slightly to create the paw of the leg. Repeat with another 1.5g ball of brown sugarpaste.
3. Attach the legs to the bottom sides of the bears body as shown, using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka. You now need to texture your bears legs, take a toothpick and push the point into the sugarpaste, pull away at the sugarpaste creating a fur like effect.. The more different directions you pull the sugarpaste out in, the fluffier your bear will be. Continue until the bear’s legs are completely textured.
4. Take 2g of brown sugarpaste and split into two equal portions. Roll each piece into a ball and then a small sausage shape. Re-roll one end of each sausage into a slightly thinner point, so that your sausage shapes taper at one end.
5. Attach the tapered end of the bear's arms to the bear's body using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka. I want the bears paws to sit on his cheeks so I have simply affixed the arms curving upwards at this stage. You could also place them at the bears sides or affix the paws together. Texture your bears arms as you did the legs, using a toothpick to pull away at the sugarpaste. Remember the more different directions you pull the sugarpaste out in the fluffier your bear will look.
6. To create the bears head, take 4g of brown sugarpaste and roll into a ball, place your finger approximately one-third of the way down the ball and roll gently to create a slight indent. You should now have a plump pear shape, similar to the shape of the bear’s pumpkin body only shorter (approximately 1.5cm tall) and plumper at the top.
7. Use a small artists scalpel to create the bear's muzzle, push the blade into the sugarpaste creating a vertical line running down the centre of the bottom half of the bear's head. The line needs to stop slightly short of the base of the head as shown. Take a toothpick and insert the point into the sugarpaste at the bottom of the line you have just created. With the point still inserted in the sugarpaste pull the toothpick downward slightly to create a little mouth.
8. Push the point of a toothpick 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 just wide enough apart that they will sit just above and either side of the bears nose.
9. To make the bears ears take two tiny lentil sized pieces of sugarpaste, roll each piece into a ball and then flatten each ball slightly so that you have two small plump discs. Push the length of the blunt point of a point and auger tool into each of the discs around halfway down, as shown. Affix the ears to the top sides of your bears head, as shown.
10. Affix the head to the bears body, using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka. Once again take your toothpick and gently pull away at the sugarpaste, texturing the bears whole head front and back, not forgetting the ears. Affix the bear’s paws to his cheeks using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka.
11. To make the bear’s little pumpkin beret, take 0.3g of orange sugarpaste roll into a ball and flatten into a plump disc. Repeat with 0.2g of white sugar paste. Stack the discs together and turn over so that the orange disc faces upwards, straighten the edges of the stacked disc, making flat edges and corners to create a more jagged look. Draw the orange edges down slightly over the white in a few areas. Use a small artists scalpel to imprint four lines on the orange side of your beret in a star pattern, creating 8 small segments. Do not cut the sugarpaste, just push the blade in gently to imprint the pattern.
12. Affix the little pumpkin beret to the top of the bears head, between his ears, I like to place mine slightly off centre. Take a small piece of brown fondant and roll into a little stalk that tapers slightly at one end. Place the length of the point of a toothpick into the wider end, creating a little indent that runs halfway up the little stalk.
13. Affix the wider end of the stalk to the centre of the pumpkin beret using a small paintbrush dipped in edible glue or vodka.
14. To make the little leaves that decorate the bear’s pumpkin beret, take two tiny pieces of green sugarpaste, shape each into a teardrop and then flatten.
15. Very gently push the blade of an artists scalpel into the little leaf or teardrop shape, creating a vertical line that runs up the entire length of the leaf. Be careful not to cut the leaf, you just want to imprint the line. Add two or three evenly spaced diagonal lines coming off of the central line on each side. Affix the little leaves to the pumpkin beret.
16. Take the smallest piece of black sugarpaste you can, split it into two even smaller pieces and roll each piece into a small ball. You want each ball to be around the size of a poppy seed, each one needs to be small enough to fit inside the bears eye sockets.
17. Take another small piece of black sugarpaste and roll into a small egg shape for the bears nose. Use a small paint brush dipped in vodka and dabbed on a paper towel, to brush the inside of each eye socket. Pick up each tiny black ball with a small paintbrush and insert one into each of the eye holes you created in Step 8. If they are still two big, simply take one of the balls and split it in half and try again. Finally affix the bears nose to the top of the line you made on the bears muzzle in Step 7.
Your Pumpkin Teddy Bear is now finished!
I would absolutely love to see your teddy bears and I am more than happy to help if you need any assistance. You can comment directly on this post and you can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
@AstraldelaMare
@buttercreambakery
@astraldelamare
ButtercreamBakery