Tropical Flamingo Cake

Prepare the flamingo, flowers and leaves a week in advance, as they should dry very well.

For the flamingo: colour most of the modelling paste pink, keep a small bit of white aside for the beak. Use the pink modelling paste to make the body of the flamingo as well as the neck and part of the head. Place this in the right shape on a sturdy plate. Roll out a piece of pink modelling paste very thinly and cut out leaves with the rose leaf plunger, these are the feathers. Stick these on the body. Use the remaining white modelling paste to create the beak and stick it to the head.

Let the flamingo dry for a week. This is very important, as the body is a large and thick piece of modelling paste and will therefore need time to harden completely. Once the flamingo has dried well, you can give the edges of the wings some extra colour with the chili red FunColours Dust. Then make edible paint by mixing the black FunColours Dust with a bit of rejuvenator and paint the beak. Use the edible brush food pen to draw an eye.

For the flowers: divide the gum paste into three pieces, two of which have the same size (these are for the flowers) and another smaller one for the leaves. Divide the small pieces again in two parts. Colour the portions pink, yellow and two shades of green. For the flower leaves, cut several of the white flower wires in three parts.

Roll out the pink gum paste to a thickness of 1-2 mm and cut out the largest leaf of the Poppy flower set from Wilton. Press the largest veiner on top of the leaf to create a texture. Insert a piece of wire into the edible glue and then carefully into the leaf and hang it on the flower rack to let it dry. For a natural effect, bend the edges of the flower leaves here and there. Prepare 5 leaves for each flower. Repeat this process for the yellow gum paste.

Take the yellow stamen of the Wilton stamen set and cut them in half. Cut the 20 gauge wire in half as well. Use the white florist tape to wrap the stamen around the wire. Make sure the tops of the stamen turn out to be below each other. Make as many stamen as you’ll be making flowers. Colour the stamens yellow with the yellow FunColours Dust and a brush. Make the flower leaves dry for a couple of days before you use them.

To complete the flowers, take the stamen which you’ve just made and wrap 5 leaves around it with florist tape. Tape all the way down to the bottom to make sure all wires are stuck. Now colour the edge of the flowers pink and yellow with a brush.

Green leaves: roll out the two shades of green gum paste to a thickness of approx. 2 mm and cut out several leaves with the lily plungers and some hearts with the hearts cutter. Use the cutting wheel to make fingerplant leaves. Give them a few veins with the Dresden tool. Let the leaves dry for at least 2-3 days. Once the green leaves have dried well, you can colour them a bit with the Ivy Green FunColours Dust. Sweep the dust to the middle of the leaves for a nice effect.

For the rest of the cake: preheat the oven to 180°C (convection oven 160°C).

Prepare 325 gram of FunCakes Mix for Buttercream and 400 gram of FunCakes Mix for Sponge Cake as indicated on the package. Grease both baking pans with the Bake Release Spray and divide the batter into it. Bake the sponge cakes for approx. 30-35 minutes and release them on a cooling grid right after baking.

Add the Hugo Flavour Paste to taste to the buttercream. Cut the sponge cakes thrice using a cake leveller and fill and cover with the Hugo buttercream. Place in the fridge to let it stiffen.

Roll out the white fondant on a with Magic Roll-Out Powder covered work surface and cover the two cakes with it. Then stack them with dowels and cake cartons.

Stick the flamingo to the cake with a bit of royal icing. The body of the flamingo leans on the edge of the cake. Cut off the remaining wire of the flowers with the cutting tool and attach these with some royal icing to the cake. Finally attach the green leaves to the cake, again using some royal icing. Place in the fridge until further use.