What I've been up to:

This is my first real stab at fondant! Some of you remember last August I got 2 cupcake books for my birthday and declared this "The Year of The Cupcake." Well, I got off to a good start, but then during the holidays I kinda backed off. Partly because of my little secret: I don't really like cupcakes.

I'll usually eat them because I eat just about anything with that much sugar, but I'd take an iced sugar cookie over a cupcake any day of the week. BUT, a friend of mine stumbled on some old blog posts about cupcakes (that I'm too lazy to find and link you to), and offered to pay me to make some cupcakes for her daughter's birthday party. My first paying gig! This deserved a new challenge, so, befitting her Build-a-Bear party, I found my goal and went for it.

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Unfortunately, no one in town had regular old bricks of fondant, so I had to make my own. Time consuming and SO MESSY, but it's made from marshmallows, so it tastes better than bakery fondant. Then I bought some special coloring and kneaded it into the fondant to make the colors I needed. I didn't think to take pictures of any of that. Sorry.

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THEN:

I rolled out the fondant like play-doh. Fun! This is the dark brown, base circles for Ted.
Then I added light brown for ears and muzzle.

Then black for nose, eyes, and mouth was done with toothpick dipped in coloring.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I baked red velvet cupcakes, specially requested.

Yada, yada, yada....finished product! There's always room for improvement, but I'm not embarassed by them. I'll definitely do fondant again. It really wasn't that bad. Not sure I'm ready for a full cake, though. :)