Baby cake topper

I made this wee baby cake topper for my nephew Baby Hughie's upcoming baptism. I was inspired by the baby cake in the Wilton Fondant book. I like his hair and pacifier! :) I think his legs are a bit not proportionate though.

I finally found the right fondant recipe for modelling in our humid climate. It was shared with me by the generous ladies from 'resipidotnet', a Yahoo group. It's a recipe from a certain Chef Asma. It dries hard, but I found it a bit too dry and it cracked, so I had to add some warm water to get the right consistency. The texture would be much easier to work with if you add gum tragacanth. It makes fondant more elastic and pliable. I think I'll need that if I plan to make more intricate models in the future. I have already ordered some through the internet but they are out of stock and it will only get to me some time next month. I have had no luck finding it in baking shops here.

I found the hardest part was tinting the fondant. It was pretty messy and tedious. I was afraid I wouldn't get the right shade of beige, but succeeded by mixing lots of brown with a bit of pink and yellow. I found that covering your hands with a bit of shortening not only prevented the fondant from sticking, but also reduced the stains from the food colouring. The modelling part was fun and I definitely want to do more of this soon...

This is the recipe I used for the hard fondant:

Chef Asma's Hard Fondant Recipe

1/4 cup cold water
5 teaspoons gelatine
1 tablespoon glycerine
2 tablespoons liquid glucose
1 tablespoon Crisco (vegetable shortening)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kg icing sugar, sifted

Sprinkle gelatine in cold water. Heat up in a bain marie (a bowl fitted over a pot of simmering water) until gelatine dissolves. Stir in all the other ingredients except for sugar. Cool slightly, then add, bit by bit, to the sugar. Mix until it forms a workable dough. Add more sugar if too wet, and warm water if too dry.

Double wrap with cling film and keep in an airtight container for 12 hours before using. This fondant can be kept this way for weeks in a cool place. Do not refrigerate.