I have received many requests on the race car cake toppers that was on my sons birthday cake last year. So here is my tutorial on how to make a race car cake topper.

It is made out of gum paste, but I have used store bought black rolled fondant for the wheels and the helmet.

TIP:
The “body” of the race car, starts with a smooth round ball!

This is what I use:
White gum paste
Black rolled fondant
Small amount of white rolled fondant
Gel paste color
Rolling pin
Cake smoothers
Tylo glue
Cornstarch (to prevent the fondant from sticking to your work board)
Small knife
Piping tips or small circle cutters in various sizes
Small paint brush
Ball tool (JEM)
Strip cutter (JEM) If you dont have a strip cutter, then you can use a ruler.
1 small plastic bag (not showing on the photo)

Step 1:
Start coloring the gum paste in your chosen color. Roll the “ball” into a cone, making sure that you keep one of the ends a little thicker (and the other end a little thinner). I try to keep the lenght of the race car to about 3″ (8cm).

Step 2:
Flatten the sides of the race car, using a pair of cake smoothers. Place the car inside a plastic bag and set aside. This will preventing it from drying out.

Step 3:
Roll out some gum paste about 2mm in the same color as the race car. Cut out the spoiler with the small knife. I cut out mine by hand, but you can of course use a ruler if you like. Make sure that the spoiler is a little wider than the race car. Set aside to dry completely.
TIP! Make extra spoilers. If the first one should break.

Step 4:
Roll out some of the black rolled fondant about 5mm thick. Find 2 different sizes of piping tips or circle cutters and cut out 1 large pair and 1 small pair of wheels. I have used round piping tips to emboss the center of the wheels. Set aside to dry.

Step 5:
Take some white rolled fondant and roll it out thinly. Use the strip cutter or a ruler to cut out 1 fondant strip.
Note: Do not cut out the fondant circle before step 9

Step 6:
Take out the race car from the plastic bag. Brush a very thin coat of tylo glue on the back of the white strip and attach it down the middle of the race car. Trimming of any excess of the fondant strip with the knife. Use the ball tool and make an indentation in the middle of the car, where the “driver” will be sitting.

Step 7:
Take a little black rolled fondant and roll it into a little ball/helmet. Make sure that it fits into the indentation of the race car. Brush a little glue and place the ball/helmet in the indentation. Cut a small strip of white fondant for the face shield and glue it on the ball/helmet. Set a side to dry.

Step 8:
When the wheels are almost dry, glue them on the race car with tylo glue. Small wheels at the front and large wheels at the back.

Step 9:
Roll two small oblong balls and glue them on each side on the white fondant stripe on the back of the race car. Brush again a very thin coat of glue and carefully attach the spoiler. Finish off by cutting out a small circle out of white rolled fondant and glue it on the front of the car.
TIP! It is easier to write the number of the race car, when the white fondant is all dry!

You now have a race car cake topper!

Please visit my tutorial page if you want to learn how to make other gum paste decorations.

Happy Caking!

Louise