Ribs dinner!

It's my dinner!

Errr... actually no, it's cake! Don't believe me? Here, let me show you.
A few weeks in advance, make bones from Satin Ice ivory fondant, score then brush with Americolor airbrush dark brown and tints of red. Leave them to dry, post pic and freak out some FB friends... yes, I'm sick in the head like that.

Next, make crinkle cut fries, again from Satin Ice ivory fondant. Leave to dry for a few days.

 

First time trying a marble cake, torte and cut slits.

Round off square edges.

 

Make buttercream and coz it's hot in summer, I used Nioka's half-half butter and melted copha recipe, whip it real good till it's pale and fluffy, add icing sugar mix. I also threw in some white chocolate ganache, vanilla essence and 1 to 2 teaspoons of pavlova magic. Whip till stiff, and into the fridge to chill. 

Crumb coat the cake with buttercream, and back into the fridge to chill some more.

Remove cake from fridge and wait about 10 to 20 mins for the cake to come back to room temperature. Roll out Satin Ice ivory fondant and cover the cake, make dents on the side for the rib bones.

Now comes the bit I love to do - airbrushing!! Airbrush the fries...

Airbrush the cake, stick in the rib bones, arrange everything on a plate. Sorry, no pics. I always get carried away with airbrushing coz it's so exciting and all...

Make sauce by mixing liquid glucose with some hot water and Americolor airbrush dark brown with a drop of red. Dribble sauce over the ribs and bones. Final touch of dried herbs (which is really green coloured desiccated coconut!)

Get the full instructions and more from Debbie Goard's "Twisted Cakes" book.

Skateboarder

This is how I made a skateboarder from modelling chocolate and fondant.

Start bottom up. Make shoes and socks. Skewer through one shoe and build up the legs. I inserted a toothpick in the other leg just to keep it straight. I used a mix of 50-50 modelling chocolate and fondant. This takes advantage of both worlds - the workability and springiness of fondant and the strength of modelling chocolate. Usually with just fondant, I'll have to leave this to dry at least overnight if not a few days. 

But with modelling chocolate in the mix, I can keep working and build up the pants as well. Would you believe it, this is standing on its own, no propping up. Can't do that with pure fondant. And... no cracking, no elephant skin wrinkling. Gotta be happy with that!

Oh, this is how I made the pants... one leg at a time. Shape a sausage, insert a skewer and roll the skewer around to hollow out the sausage and make a pant leg. Make 2 of these and stick them together to form a pair.

I kept going, no need for drying time, added the t-shirt and neck. Just about complete at this stage. The Mambo name and logo are hand-drawn on white fondant and stuck on the t-shirt.

Next, sleeves were attached. I then made the arms and hands, left l for about 1 minute and attached to the sleeves, again no need to prop up. They basically stayed where I intended them to. Attach head and he's ready to partay!

Complete Bean and Gollum

Mr Bean

Mr Bean step by step...

My first attempt at sculpting a caricature. I chose Mr Bean coz he's one of my favourite characters and his face is full of expression. 

Step 1: Usual stuff, start with an egg-shaped ball of LCM, or RKT (rice krispie treats). I used half a bar of LCM coz I only needed a little. No point making a whole batch of RKT just for a little bit. Squish and shape LCM into an egg. Oh, do you like my new head moulding tool? 

Step 2: Cover LCM egg with fondant. For face sculpting, I find a mix of 50-50 white modelling chocolate and Satin Ice ivory fondant gives me the best texture. The modelling chocolate prolongs the working time of the fondant without drying out too quickly and the fondant prevents the modelling chocolate from getting too greasy from the heat of my fingers. All in all, a great marriage :-) Don't forget to indent two holes for the eye sockets.

Step 3: Make 2 small balls from white fondant for the eye balls. Make sure the eye balls fit in the eye sockets. Before proceeding to Step Four, leave the face and eye balls to dry out and firm up a little. This is a good time to catch up on some housework... or watch TV.... or have a nana nap (I chose the second and third option. Hehehe).

Step 4: Add eye lids. I ended up doubling the size of the eye balls to add a bit of drama and expression to Mr Bean's face.

Step 5: Form a nose and attach to the face with some tylose glue. 

Step 6: Add the cheeks.

Step 7: Blend the cheeks into the face. This is another reason why I add white modelling chocolate to fondant. It's easier to blend and smooth out the seams. Don't forget to etch out the mouth at this stage.

Step 8: Add lips and forehead. At this point I also etched out some details such as wrinkles and skin folds.

Step 9: Add pupils to the eyes. I simply used black non-pareils.

Step 10: Add eyebrows. Remember eyebrows play an integral part in facial expressions so give some thought about how to shape the eyebrows to get that expression you want to achieve. Don't forget to attach the ears!

Step 11: Finally, the hair and here's Mr Bean! A few things I'd like to have done better; make the forehead wider and higher, for example. And make better looking hair. But overall, quite happy with my first attempt. This head is rather large, almost the size of an egg. Next project is to make a smaller head which is more of a challenge to get all the details on a smaller scale. 

Bean! With a dash of colour...