Tutorial: Fondant Lady Bug

Today we are going to make a special figurine for a special birthday cake!

Because today is Gisele's 1st birthday!
Her mommy asked us to make a special birthday cake. 
And so, we're giving you a tutorial for how to make a ladybug out of fondant or gumpaste. 

And it's so easy, you will surely try it!



For this ladybug I used fondant and tylose, because well, ... they only sell white gumpaste here in Suriname.  

You will need: 
Red fondant
Black fondant
White fondant 
Pink fondant
Tylose (and a teaspoon to take it out of the container)
Some tools (a butter knife, a piping tip)
Water
A small brush or you can use your pinky finger
Some waxed paper (we used a ziplock bag)

The amount of fondant depends on how small or large you want your ladybug to be.

I took about a small fist of fondant. Before you add the tylose, you want to knead it a bit so it becomes pliable. After some time (maybe 3 minutes, depending on how warm your hands are), added the tylose and knead it untill the tylose was incorporated. 

I formed a "ladybug bottom shape" - I know that's not really a shape. But if you read very carefully, you will imagine what it looks like, and form it freehand. 

You should have a form that looks like this next picture.-->

Take the tool (yellow and white tool pictured) and make an indent in the middle of the "bottom shape".
You can also use the back of a knife if you don't have this tool. Or maybe a skewer. But make sure the skewer isnt' rough. Otherwise the threads will go into the fondant. And you really don't want that.


Now take a smaller amount of black fondant, about half the size of the red fondant, knead it, add tylose and form the "head" of the ladybug. 

I found the black fondant to be kind of sticky, so I didn't use any water to "glue" it to the "bottom shape".
You can use the palm of your hand to give it more of an oval form. And make sure you don't leave to much fingermarks on it. 

As you can see, there are some. 
But don't worry. They're gone now.

Take some white and pink fondant (not pictured) and some black fondant (pictured), roll it out with a small rolling pin - I found the big one to be too large for this job - and use a round tip to cut out her eyes. And the dots on her back.

Now take some water, dab it on the back of a dot, and carefully place the dots on her back. Randomly, but still nice enough, so she doesn't look weird. You want her to look her best for the party.

Add her eyes, - first the white and then the black.
And then use the round piping tip to give her a mouth. 

Depending on how happy you want her to look, you can tilt the tip towards the ground (read: table), so her mouth is open.
Now add the pink dots alongside her mouth, and you should have something that looks like this.

For the "antennas" I just rolled 2 small balls of fondant (with tylose) into sausages with pointy ends, and lay them on the table for a while to dry out. Before I added them to her "head" I put a dab of water on the bottom, some paper towel (a small strip) for support and let it try overnight.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you try it out, upload them on Instagram using the #fdsonline, so I can also see them.

Good ladybug luck!