Огромная благодарность Caitie Cox за Мастер-класс
I started by printing out a scale image of the design and taking some measurements to figure out what kind of supports I would need and how much cake and fondant it would take to create. I drilled a hole in the center of a round, wooden base board and secured a threaded rod through the hole with nuts and washers. The main support for the body of the lion was a piece of pegboard that I cut down using a template and then also secured onto the rod with nuts and washers. I bent some pieces of floral wire into the shapes I needed for the hanging legs and passed them through the pegboard. Then, I wrapped everything with plastic wrap so there was no cake or chocolate touching exposed pegboard.
I baked up a batch of cake and made some buttercream and chocolate ganache. I also got all of my fondant and modeling chocolate colored to match the design. Using the same template that I cut the pegboard from, I cut out a piece of foam core board to build my cake on. I carved out the cake and stacked it, filling the layers with buttercream. Once it was all stacked, I carved out the shape of the lion and added an extra wire support for his overhanging face. I mixed a little of my extra cake scraps and buttercream to make a moldable dough to build out his face a bit. After letting my cake chill in the fridge, I covered the whole thing with chocolate ganache. At this point, my lion looked a bit like a cow with his skinny, little legs. So, I built up and shaped his legs with modeling chocolate. I also used modeling chocolate to flesh out the details of his face.
Next, I added fondant to the bulk of his body and his face and really began to work on the fine details. He really started to come to life as I was working on his facial expression. Then, it was time to tackle that mane! I rolled small cones and used a fondant tool to add texture to each curly strand. I also added his ears and a tail, which I built on a small wire.
Then, it was time to start adding the painted details to his face and shading on the rest of his body. I used food coloring and vodka to make an edible paint and used brushes and sponges to get the look I wanted. Finally, I added the saddle and painted on the details. I wrapped the rod with a modeling chocolate rope, and made the poor little kid's shoe, hat, and dropped ice cream cone.