Looking good Garfield
All the eyes, ears, and mouths before they went on the cupcake tops
before the faces went on
I felt like they were watching me!
Do you think they knew they were going to be eaten?
Long time no blog! I know I have been terrible. I hope that you all can forgive me, I have been traveling once again for work and with that and the holidays things just got away from me. The good news is that I have been baking I just haven't been blogging so we have lots to catch up on.
Starting today with Garfield cupcakes! I was asked to make these for a little boys birthday this weekend which I thought was so fun. The mom sent me some pictures of other Garfield cupcakes and I gravitated toward the version that Bakerella had created. The only issue is that the adorable faces are all made out of fondant... uh oh. I have a pretty strict policy about not making things just to look good but they also have to taste good and fondant goes against that policy in a big way. However, after much back and forth I realized I couldn't get the level of detail I wanted to achieve with anything other than fondant so I decided to give it a go. I also figured that these were for kids and kids tend to not be bothered by the sugary taste of fondant since kids love anything sweet. So I decided to go with it, I promised myself that the cupcake itself and the buttercream under the fondant would be amazing to make up for the use of the fondant on top.
This was my first time ever using fondant so lets just say I was a little nervous but honestly once you get used to working with the texture it really can be pretty fun.You might be wondering how I pulled this off. My answer would be with a lot of planning.
First I created a template on the computer in Illustrator (if you don't have illustrator you can always draw it out by hand) I made the pieces of his face how I thought they should be, so two oval eyes, two eye lids, and a cute curled up mouth. The ears and nose I created just with my eye. I then printed the paper out - cut each shape, and traced those on to a thicker piece of card stock. I then cut out the pieces of card stock and used them as stencils when I was cutting out my fondant. I know this sounds like a lot to do but it only takes a few min and is worth the time. This way each cupcake looked the same and I could breeze right through all the fondant cuts.
For the fondant I used plain white fondant that you can find at any craft store in the baking section or at a baking supply store. To get the colors right to match the true Garfield I recommend using Wilton's gel coloring so that you don't water down the fondant. The colors are also much more vibrant - here is a link to Wiltons color chart, very helpful.
Once I had all my pieces cut out I dabbed a little water on each piece to get them to stick to the fondant rounds on each cupcake. One thing I did learn is that fondant dries quickly! So you kinda have to work fast. I used edible ink pens for the eyes and details on the edge.
Now I feel confident enough to try and take on any fun character only next time I think I will dry my fondant round out for a few hours and place them on top of the decorated cupcakes so that people can easily remove them if they prefer not to eat the fondant. I hope Jim Davis would be proud.
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