Learn how to make an Autumn squirrel cake with our FREE step by step tutorial from Anjali Tambde!
What you need to know?
Level – Intermediate
Time to make – 5hrs
Retail price – £490
Tools and ingredient lists are provided at the end of the tutorial…
Autumn squirrel cake tutorial with Anjali Tambde
1
Roll some light brown modelling chocolate around the styrofoam ball to form an egg shape
Roll some light brown modelling chocolate around the styrofoam ball to form an egg shape
2
Shape it to look like head by rolling in the centre and then press with your thumb to mark the eye position
3
Mix the light brown modelling chocolate with white sugar paste to get an ivory colour, roll it into a sausage shape and place the pastes as shown
4
Use the dresden tool to create the mouth and blush the cheeks with pink dust
5
Add two white circles for the eye balls,flatten them and shape the lips
6
Make the ears using the leaf tool by gluing two drop shapes (light brown and ivory) on top of each other
7
Roll a very thin strip of black sugar paste to make lashes and cut them with small knife after placing it over the eyeballs
8
Create the nose using dark brown modelling chocolate, make a small triangle and use the ball tool for nostrils, add a small fringe for the squirrels hair
9
Roll a sausage shape of brown chocolate and taper it in the centre, then shape it in a “L” shape for the leg, similarly make the second leg
10
Mark the toe fingers and shape them using the cerart shaping tools
11
For the hands, roll a small log of ivory sugar paste and flatten it on one end, then cut 3 fingers and a thumb, slowly shape them into nice rounded fingers and attach it to the arm, merge well at the joint to give a shaded hairy effect
12
Make an elongated egg shape for the squirrels body, roll out and cut the ivory drop for the front,glue it on the egg shape,merge it with the body well
13Create the apron in two pieces and add orange strip on the waist as well as neck
14For the tail roll both the colours equally and join them, then roll it into a swirl to form the tail,glue it to the back of the body
15
Glue it to the back of the body
16
Add a little fringe to make her look more feminine
17Paint the eyes using edible black paint on the edges as shown below and blending with some white in the center
18
Once dried paint the pupils with black edible paint and add two tiny dots of white. Anjali used squires kitchen edible white paint for this, glaze the eyes and nose to get the sheen on them
19
Roll into a small orange ball, then using the dresden tool place vertically to make each side of the pumpkin press in the centre with the ball tool and add the stem using ochre sugar
Making the Pumpkin
20
Making the table
Use white sugar paste that is tapered from one end and swirled and wire from the other side for stability. Create 4 of these pillars for the table
Use white sugar paste that is tapered from one end and swirled and wire from the other side for stability. Create 4 of these pillars for the table
21
Cut a circle in ochre using the frill cutter and create eyelets around the curves by using a straw to give a lace effect
22
Cut a circle using ochre using the frill cutter and create eyelets around the curves by using a straw to give a lace effect
23
Now cut a white square and slightly frill on the sides. Mark the edges with the quilting tool and place it over the tablecloth
24Place two miniature tiers on top of each other and cut some leaves in ochre sugar paste using the PME maple leaf cutter. Dust them with some cocoa edible dust and arrange them on the bottom
25
Make an hourglass shape with white sugar paste and top with a small white circle. Edge it with the eyelets the same way we did for the tablecloth
26
Using the PME maple leaf cutter, cut a dark brown leaf and dust it with some gold
27
Making the doughnut
For the doughnut, roll a small cream ball in sugarpaste and slightly press from the top to flatten. Pierce a hole using the ball tool and dust it with brown dust. Cover the centre with a white strip
For the doughnut, roll a small cream ball in sugarpaste and slightly press from the top to flatten. Pierce a hole using the ball tool and dust it with brown dust. Cover the centre with a white strip
28
Cut a tiny bit from one side using the scallop tool and then finely carve using the smallest ball tool to get the sponge texture
29
Cover the miniature doughnut with some orange royal icing and paint tiny dots for eyes and mouth in black edible paint, place it on the maple leaf plate we made earlier
30
Miniature layered chocolate cake
Cut circles in dark brown and ivory with a diameter of 2.5cm and layer on top of each other
31
Cover with the dark modelling chocolate just the way you would do to cover a normal cake
32
Make tiny acorns, maple leaves in different colours and some oak leaves using the miniature cutters, dust them with cocoa and moss green edible dust and decorate the cake
33
Slice one piece out to show the layers in the cake and texture it with the smallest ball tool for the realistic cake effect
34
Place it on a miniature dish and make a small spoon with the leaf tool, coat it with silver edible paint for steel finish
35
Roll a small ball of dark modelling chocolate into a cupcake shape and with the veiner tool texture the side of the cupcake and dust it with white to give the effect of cupcake wrapper
Miniature Cupcakes
36
Using the smallest star nozzle and some light and dark orange sugar paste pipe some icing and swirl it on the cupcake
37
Make a miniature cat and a small hat topper for the cupcakes
38
Make the bowl and lid just the way we made the miniature pumpkin and fill it up with tiny bit of isomalt and pepper it with a bit of white and green dust, then glaze the bowl to get the crockery finish
Pumpkin soup bowl and spider
39
Put everything on the table and glue it using a bit of royal icing, then paint a small pattern at equal distance on the table cloth using some black edible paint
40
Make a miniature spider by glueing two small black balls together and then adding thin legs
41
Paint the apron with orange and white shaded roses and add some green leaves,glaze the squirrels eyes and nose
Other details
42
After stacking both the tiers add an edible orange ribbon made with sugar paste on both layers, have covered the base with orange too, then cut different sizes of maple leaves and place all over on the cake leaving the top
Finishing the main cake
43
Start air-brushing with ivory airbrush colour and then with warm brown, remove all the maple leaves carefully once the colours are dry
44
Outline and vein the leaves to show more prominently with black edible paint
45Place the table on the top tier of the cake and glue with some royal icing, while the squirrel on the base, finish with a satin ribbon to cover the edges of the base.
Extra Tips for this cake
- Try mixing some gel colours to get, new shades in your sugar paste,they can create great hues of the same colour.
- Use a craft tweezer to lift miniatures and try not to move them a lot before they are completely dry,I would generally place them on a small piece of strong foil and lift the foil itself without actually touching the miniatures,this prevents getting fingerprints on them too.
Things You will need?
- Ready made cake or dummy cake.
- Top tier: 8” x 4” Round cake
- Bottom tier:10” x 3” Round cake
- Base 12” round
- Each tier is iced in white,dowelled and stacked on the edge of the base to have room for the squirrel to stand.
INGREDIENTS
- Modelling chocolate
- 500 gms Light brown
- 250 gms Dark brown
- Saracino Sugarpaste
- 250 gms White
- 100 gms Orange
- 100 gms Yellow
- 100gms Red
- 50 gms Green
- Edible Dust Colours
- Cocoa
- Moss Green
- Pink
- Mango
- Gold
- White
- Edible Glue or water
Squires Kitchen edible paint in…
- Black
- Blue
- White
- Metallic Silver
- Orange
- Green
- Fuchsia pink
Airbrush colours (Ameri colours)
- Ivory
- Warm Brown
Tools
- Sharp knife
- Rolling pin
- Thin brush
- Superfine ball tool
- Glaze
- Craft Tweezers{optional if you need to pick the small things}
- Edible glue
- Green wires
- Styrofoam ball
- Star nozzle
- PME Tools
- Ball tool
- Dresden tool
- Serrated tool
- Quilting tool
- Scallop tool
- Other
- Cerart modelling Tools
- Airbrush
- Frill cutter
- Royal icing
- Clear Isomalt
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