Making Fondant Birds for Cake Toppers

 I wanted to try out this bird mold to make cake toppers for Valentine's day. The birds didn't work out to my satisfaction, causing me to change the entire cake design. It was the first time I used this kind of mold where you stuff the fondant inside, and it was trickier than I thought. 

For my first attempt I thought of using white fondant and then painting it. I didn't use enough fondant, though, and the fondant was too soft. The birds head and chest came out misshapen. I tried fixing this with my hands and even though it looked kind of lumpy, the figure definitely still had the shape of a bird. I thought it could still look cute once painted. However, I did make a mess of the painting. I used one drop of Americolor Sky Blue diluted in what I thought was a lot of lemon extract. But the color was still too strong, and it was streaky when painted.  It did not look nice at all.

My next attempt was using primary blue fondant from Wilton. I used most of a small packet that came in a set of four primary colors.  To this I added a significant amount of cellulose - probably two teaspoonfuls.  I kneaded it until the fondant felt firmer, and then I stuffed as much as possible in the mold. I left it in the mold for about a half hour before removing it.  This bird looked much, much better but his beak broke off! I have the beak and might attempt to glue it on at a later date. When kneading the fondant, I was worried that the color would be too dark, being a primary blue. But once the bird came out of the mold and I brushed off all the cornstarch, the blue settled into a super nice color. I really like this bird and plan to keep the figurine just to admire.  

First attempt: Lumpy, streaky bird. It actually looks better in the photo than in real life.

Second bird: A much more handsome fellow! Even without his beak.

I'll definitely make more birds using this mold and hopefully will have a chance to use them as cake toppers.