What a happy hedgehog?! We love this cute cake topper and it’s so easy to make with this step-by-step tutorial!
The tutorial is an extract from the Woodland Creatures Tutorial by Agnes Jagiello, Crumb Avenue, from our October 2015 issue. In the project, Agnes also shows you how to create a little fox and squirrel.
Equipment Required:
- Scalpel
- Frilling tool
- Bone tool
- Dresden tool
- Ball tool
- #22 wire (two 3cm pieces and one additional/leftover piece to make insertions in the body)
- Cocktail stick
- Brush, to apply glue
- Edible glue
- 108g of ivory flower paste
- 45g of brown flower paste
- 12g of red flower paste
- 1g (1cm ball) of dusky pink flower paste (mix pink with a little bit of black)
- 1g (1cm ball) of black flower paste
- 4mm ball of dark green flower paste
Roll a 100g ball of ivory flower paste. Press the ball gently in the middle and rotate, creating an eight shaped body. Gradually pinch and pull out some paste (slightly above the centre of the body) to create a nose. Press softly above the nose to make the face a little more flat.
Use the frilling tool to make holes for eyes. Use the smaller side of the dresden tool to mark the smile and the bigger side to create the hedgehog’s mouth. Roll two 3mm balls of black flower paste and stick them in the previously made holes. Deepen the smile lines with a sharp scalpel. Make an oval shape out of a 4mm ball of black flower paste and stick it as a nose. Roll a 2mm ball of black flower paste and put it in the figure’s mouth. Using the bigger side of the dresden tool, flatten the black paste.
To create the hedgehog’s spines, form teardrop shapes from brown flower paste. Start with the first row of longer spines on top of the head, using 7mm-1cm balls formed in to 2-2.5 cm teardrops. Curve them a little. It’s best to form them one at a time and stick them right away so that they don’t dry. If you want to make more at a time, cover them, for example, with a plastic box. Move down along the sides to complete the first row. Make spines from smaller balls of about 5mm.
Using the smaller side of the bone tool, mark places where you will stick the arms (middle of the body, next to the first row of spines).
Roll a 12g ball of red flower paste. Use the bigger side of the bone tool to make a hollow on top of it. Round the edge of the created hollow with your finger. By pressing gently and rotating, make the bottom part of the apple narrower. Use a cocktail stick to make a hole for the stalk. Glue a few flattened spines and insert a piece of a cocktail stick into the head. Place the apple on top, as shown on the photo. Continue by adding the next rows of spines. You might want to leave a small blank space at the back without spines until placing the figure on the cake. It will make it easier to move the figure without damaging the back spines.
Roll a 3g ivory ball and create a shape as shown on the photo. Press it with your finger. Use the smaller side of the dresden tool to mark two lines on the thicker side of the element. You want the lines to end where the hollowing starts. Begin with shallow lines then deepen them a little. Mark three curved lines where the indentation starts to create toes.
Use a sharp scalpel to make a cut along the two lines shown in Step 20. Use a ball tool to make shallow holes in the centre of the foot. Repeat for the second foot. Roll two 5mm balls of dusky pink flower paste and press them in to the holes made in the previous step. Stick the feet to the body.
For each arm, you will need 1g (1cm ball) of ivory flower paste. Dip the wire in glue and wipe off the excess. Roll a 2cm sausage and insert the wire in about ⅔. Hold the sausage in between your fingers and roll it softly to make a narrowing and to lengthen the arm a little. Flatten the top part. Use a scalpel to make cuts as shown on the photo. Round the fingers. Cut the end of the arm at an angle (the hedgehog will hold the arms up).
Bring the arms close to the figure and check at what angle they are going to be inserted. Use an additional/leftover piece of wire to make an insertion at a proper angle for each arm (this way, you will avoid damaging the arm while pushing it in). Stick the arms on.
Make a flattened teardrop shape out of the green flower paste to create a leaf. Make a stalk out of a 2mm ball of brown flower paste. If in Step 17 you have decided to leave the back blank, remember to keep the brown flower paste leftovers to fill the gap later. Glue the stalk and the leaf to the apple.
Roll two tiny teardrop shapes out of the black flower paste to make eyebrows.
