Welcome back for Part 2 of my cake design process, specifically this Lego Ninjago Mini-Fig cake crafted especially for my son's 8th Birthday. (To see the Part 1 of this tutorial, go here.)
Yesterday, we left off at this photo - the head and torso frosted.
To add more realistic dimension to the mini figs feet, I cut two rectangular pieces to place on the end of the legs to create his "feet."
I frosted those just like I would were they pieces of cake. No crumbing!
NOTE: I added a small disc of rice krispy treat to "C" shape hands as the mini fig's wrist.
To frost the hands, I softened some premade dark chocolate frosting (my prefered brand is Duncan Hines) a few seconds in the microwave in a glass measuring cup until it was the thickness of heavy cream. I skewered the mini fig hands (see photo above with rice krispy treat "C" shape) with a wooden skewer and immersed them in the melted frosting until they were fully covered.
As you can see in the photo above, I left them to set on a metal cooling rack over a piece of waxed paper.
For the ninja mask, I wanted something that would look somewhat like fabric. Until this cake, I had never used anything else besides cake & frosting to decorate my cakes & cupcakes, but after 13+ years of practice, I thought it was time to EXPERIMENT (one of my intentions for this year) & get adventurous.
And as I mentioned before, our family is not a big fan of Marzipan or Fondant, so I decided I would try candy clay (which I am guessing might be molding chocolate though I am not entirely certain). I first saw it in the book Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My!
They have never let me down before (I am a huge fan of all of their books), so I knew I couldn't go wrong, but I was nervous nonetheless.
They did not disappoint! Making the clay was SOOOOO easy. And I loved working with it. It was as simple as melting some white chocolate (or melting chocolate) & blending it with corn syrup! After letting it sit for a few hours, you knead in some food coloring and you have yourself some very easy to work with edible clay!
Meanwhile as my clay was sitting for a few hours at room temperature, I continued the decorating process.
I frosted my rice crispy treat arms and placed them next to Ninjago Mini-fits torso.
To transfer my decorations from the template (again excuse the butter marks!), I cut along the detail lines and use my sharp wooden skewer to draw the decorations into the frosting. This has to be done very carefully so when the template is removed, it doesn't stick to the frosting and ruin your frosting job.
Next I take my dark brown frosting, put it in a Ziploc freezer bag with one corner snipped off and add the detailing.
Additional detailing and fruit roll ups cut into thin strips as a belt with more frosting details for belt buckles.
And more metalic gold decorator sugar to edge the Ninjago Mini-fig's robe.
When the candy clay was ready to work with, I formed some of it into a ball and then sandwiched it between two pieces of waxed paper and rolled it thin with a rolling pin.
I used the face/helmet template to give me an idea of how to shape the mask scarf. Hopefully, you can tell which part of the template I used as my guide. I wanted to add in some folds but I was too nervous not knowing what to expect from the maleability of the candy clay.
To add a little depth, I put some small pieces of left over rice crispy treat undernead. If I were to do this again, I would give myself some slack and try to add in some folds. As I mentioned earlier, the candy clay was extremely easy to work with.
I used the same Ziplock bag of dark chocolate frosting to outline the helmet decoration as well as the eye space in the helmet. The eyes are brown mini M&Ms with dots of yellow frosting for pupils. The eyebrows are more dark chocolate frosting.
Next I added the hands & wrists by pressing them into the arms.
Then I added more detailing with yellow gold frosting also using a Ziploc freezer bag with a hole snipped from the corner.
And our Ninjago Mini-fig is complete!
Please let me know if you have any questions. Do not hesitate to leave a question in the comments or email me. I'm happy to clarify any details or explain my process in further detail.
And if you attempt this cake or any variation (or just use my cake design process for a completely different design), please let me know! I would love to see it and share it on my blog.
Soon I will be sharing my best tips & tricks for baking and decorating cakes & cupcakes. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I will do my best to respond in that post.
Thanks for stopping by! To see all of my Decorative Cakes & Cupcakes shared on my blog, please click here.
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My best recomendation to get started on cupcake decorating (and for some very cute ideas) are these three great books, all by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson. Look for the easy ones and start with those. The instructions are fantastic - don't skim over all the wonderful information as it will really help!
Wow! What a lucky boy you have! My most "spectacular" cake was a soccer pitch and it made me realize my fortes is BAKING the cakes - not decorating them! LOL! :) You have inspired me though. I've got two more birthdays coming up so I may have to get a bit adventurous. Unless they want cupcakes again. :)
Posted by: Alison Day | March 09, 2013 at 08:01
Thanks!Ive had my share of disasters too! If you decide to get adventurous, let me know, Id love to come see. Even if you get adventurous with cupcakes.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | March 09, 2013 at 15:37
Wow, that is amazing. I'm thoroughly impressed!
Ronnie xo
Posted by: Pink Ronnie | March 09, 2013 at 22:23
Thanks! Glad you stopped by.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | March 10, 2013 at 09:33