How to make a turtle cake topper

Who can resist these cute turtle cake toppers? They are very easy to make and you can even scale the size down if you want to use them as a cupcake topper. You can mix the color combination as you like. Cant wait to get started? Here is my tutorial on how to make a turtle cake topper.

This is what I use:
Gum paste
Gel paste color for the turtle + black paste color for the eyes
Tylo glue
Small paint brush
Cocktail stick
Small knife + plastic bag (not showing on the photo)

Step 1:

Color your gum paste in desired colors for the “body”, the shell and the dots. Place the rest of the gum paste in a plastic bag. Take the color that you have chosen for the “body” and roll it into a sausage. Cut 4 pieces in the same size (feets) and save the rest for the head. Take the “feet” parts and roll them into a ball and shape them like a teardrop.
Note: It is possible that you need to adjust the amount of gum paste for the feets and the head.

Step 2:

Glue all 4 feets together with Tylo glue.

Step 3:

Take the gum paste for the shell and roll it into a ball. Form it into a toadstole shape and make it a little hollow at the bottom.

Step 4:

Brush a little tylo glue at the bottom of the shell and place it over the feets.

Step 5:

Take the “head” part and roll it into a little ball. Shape it so that it looks like a “golf club”.

Step 6:

Use the paint brush to make and indentation where the head will be.

Step 7:

Brush a little tylo glue in the indentation.

Step 8:

Attach the head. I have used my cornstarch duster as support for the head while it dries.

Step 9:

Roll very small balls of gum paste. Flatten them slightly and glue them on randomly over the shell.

Step 10:

All you need now is to make the eyes. Do that with a little black gel paste on a cocktail stick. Your cute little turtle cake topper is now ready to be used.

Happy Caking!

Louise

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michelle says:

Apr 29, 2009

oh these are so cute i want to rush out now and make them thanks a million for the brilliant cake tips am also new to cake decorating and up to now have mainly being doing very basic stuff now i want to try the more difficult stuff too!

Louise says:

Apr 12, 2009

Iroma: When you add tylo to fondant it will over the hours “thicken” and harden untill it is rock solid. Also it is best to color the fondant first and then add the tylo. Take a couple of oz. of fondant and sprinkle your work board with tylo around 1/4 of a tsp and knead the tylo into the fondant. After a few minutes you can feel that it is less soft and hold its shape.

The will last for years!!!! I still have the turtle from this tutorial It looks perfect.

Iroma says:

Apr 7, 2009

One more thing! How long will one of these little ones last if I make them out of fondant and mix in some tylo?…Months? Years? Thanks!

Apr 6, 2009

Louise, this little guy is wonderful! I have just got my hands on some tylo powder and was wondering if I should just go ahead and mix the powder with the rolled fondant? Should I knead it? Can you tell me how its done…I’m very new at cake decorating. Thanks!

Feb 14, 2009

elisa: thank you. I have some very old cake toppers saved and some of them are 4 years old. So there should not be problems as long as they are not going to be eaten

elisa says:

hey louise, these are soooo cute! i found the cake toppers that lindy smith makes for wedding cakes on her website and was curious as to how she made those. this seems similar enough. this might as well sound stupid but does the topper need to be thrown away eventually if made with a paste that has eggs or crisco on it? it’s too cute to not keep it forever!

Jan 20, 2009

MILA: I would say that Tylo and Gum tex are pretty much the same. They work the same when added to the fondant making it more stable, thick and dries faster.
I think that the result will be the same if you add it to fondant and MMF.

For your other question… Whenever I see recipes with tartar is because the tartar gives more volume like to royal icing. So I would not use tylo the same way like tartar. Tylo thicken the paste over time not sure I would like that in my cakes, royal icing.