Sugar Bean Bakers: {Fondant Ducks & Frogs}

Saturday, February 23, 2013

{Fondant Ducks & Frogs}

Today was my friend Stephanie's baby shower. Steph and I met because she taught at the Bean's elementary school. She was a 6th grade teacher, but we found out long before he made it to her class that we were destined to be friends. Once he made it to her class, she had to keep reminding the other students that he didn't get any special treatment because we were friends. Haha.

Over the last several years, I've watched a lot of things happen in Steph's life. Dating. Bad dates, ok dates, and finally, finally The One. Her engagement. Her bridal shower. Her wedding (which I have claimed to be the only wedding I'll ever be the photographer at. My nieces probably have an opinion on that matter though!). In the last 2 years, since they've been married, I've seen her sadness as another month passed and no baby. Last June we decided to book a trip to Disney World & The Wizarding World of Harry Potter together. Plans were finalized in July, and can you guess what happened next? YES! Baby. As you can tell by this post & this post, we still made it to Florida. Steph just couldn't ride all of the rides. We still had an awesome time!

So, now we are in the final countdown. Baby Zeke will be here in a month and there are just so many people awaiting his arrival!

Today, as I said, was the shower. I asked to make the cupcakes for the event. I knew right away I wanted to make Blue Velvet cupcakes! The recipe is by my friend Heather of Sprinkle Bakes.

My personal favorite cupcake is the French Toast cuppies by my friend Darla of Bakingdom, so I decided I must make those as well.

I wanted to make something adorable for the tops though. I came up with the idea of duckies pretty quickly, but it wasn't until this very morning that I decided to add frogs and lily pads. Hey, I'm a planner. (Ok, normally, I am, seriously).

This is only about my 4th time working with fondant. (I use the Marshmallow Fondant recipe, also by Darla. It's easy and while still very, VERY sweet, it's much tastier than regular fondant.)

So, I'm still a noob too. When I tell you these ducks, frogs, and lily pads are easy, I'm being serious.

For one duck you'll need:

1 large (size of a quarter) yellow ball of fondant

1 medium (size of a dime) yellow ball of fondant

1 tiny (size of pin head) orange ball*

paintbrush (used for food purposes ONLY)

water

food writer

*what I have pictured is actually too big

roll into an oval, flatten the bottom, and then pinch the back to make the tail.

dab on a bit of water and then attach the head

Now, you can kind of reshape his body as needed

Dab on a bit more water and attach his beak. This is the most tedious part.

As you attach it, pinch the ball so it becomes more beak shaped.

Now, I very highly recommend the Americolor Gourmet Writer. I've had other writers that aren't good at all. Food writers are just food coloring in pen form.

Dot on his little eyes, and... that's it! Allow them to sit out and dry a bit so they are sturdier.

For one frog you will need:

1 large green ball of fondant (the size of a bouncy ball)

2 small white balls of fondant (the size of peas)

paintbrush (used for food purposes ONLY)

water

food writer

just dab water in two places on the top and attach. WAY easy.

draw in his pupils, nose, and mouth and you are done!

For the lily pads, I didn't even take process photos. They are just a green ball, smashed. Cut out a tiny pie shaped section with a knife, and then add flowers. You can shape little guys by hand, but I used a teeny tiny fondant cutter for mine.

To get rid of excess powered sugar, simply brush away with a dry paintbrush (used for food purposes ONLY).

Want to see them on top of the cupcakes?

Okay!

As you can see by this photo, all of my ducks are different sizes. I think they are cute that way.
On the ducky cupcakes, I also added sugar pearls to look like a bubble bath :)