Birthday Cake Topper: TOM & JERRY

For the birthday of a little boy, Eric, we were  asked to make a Tom and Jerry themed cake with fondant  figures, just before the summer.

My daughter was baked and decorating the cake itself.
 So  once we decided upon the colours, I set to work!

It was a first for me , so I spent some time looking at photos and prints  for a bit of inspiration. 

I often print out an image to make sure  I keep to the estimated size.
Then I can reduce or enlarge on future occasions.
 This is always helpful for expressions too.

Here are some stages in the making, although I don't always remember  to take photos until Ive stuck on  several parts!!( mental note to myself).

As I made fairly large figures I used coctail sticks with a dab of food glue to add limbs and head.
 Of course, we always advise of this when it is the case. 

Sometimes I use spaghetti or just a little edible glue, then support the part in question with kitchen paper or bobble plastic  and generally position to allow for drying.

Here along the coast in Spain, it can be very humid, and Summer months can be  complicated to get fondant to dry.

 I sometimes use gum paste which I colour or otherwise, fondant mixed with tragacanth gum or
tylose powder.

Fixing limbs on: these were quite light,so I just glued with a dab of edible glue and supported the limbs with lightly rolled kitchen paper overnight.

                     limbs in place.

I used cocktail sticks to fix the arms in the position I wanted and a dab of edible glue.

You can see the roll of kitchen paper supporting and positioning one arm. 

The cheese also was placed as it had to go on the cake,to get the right height.

Tom's other arm was to be waving,so I used a tall glass with rounded bottom that I could rest the hand on without deforming the hand or arm. I had glued the hand(paw) to the arms the day before.

You can see the tail and white tip which I did at the same time.

Here you can see  the hand positioned a bit better. I also rolled out(very finely rolled) the whiskers and tufts of hair from black and gray gum paste and left these at least 2 days, making extras,as there's always ONE that snaps off! I make the holes with the end of my cocktail stick or a pointed shaping tool. 

Tom and Jerry about ready for going on the cake! The cheeses look good and are very simple to make,As long as you use different sized flat ended tools to make them more realistic, You could do a big round one,with a bit cut out or whatever.
I also punched out a circle of white gum paste and stamped T and J with a little heart in the centre! Then I fixed it to the end of a wooden skewer(kebab stick).

My daughter made a lovely job of the cake.
 I love that light turquoise blue  with the yellow and red name and age!

Thank you for looking at my photos.
 I hope they will be of use when you need  Tom and Jerry figures!
Have a crafty day!!