Ninjago On The Prowl  

Posted by: Audrey in

Here's my other project! I've been a bit more vigilant in taking photos as this one took me quite a long time to finish, so I wanted to commemorate it with more photos =P


If you can guess by now, it's a Ninjago theme! I've actually not heard of this Ninjago thing until my friend asked me if I could do a Lego themed cake for her. She showed me some photos for ideas and I told her I could definitely try. Then she asked for this Ninjago, coz her nephew LOVES Ninjago and she wanted to get him a cake with that theme. So, I Googled and then came up with these little fellas. They were so freaking hard to make. Let's not mention that they were small. Eep! The actual figurines were definitely much smaller, but my clumsy hands couldn't even begin to work with these guys. Hence, the fugly arms and weird drawings. LOL! 

I did the paintings on the figurines after letting it out to dry for a day or so. Who knew that painting (even though mine was a sorry excuse of a painting) could be quite therapeutic? I certainly had fun, though I was no Picasso. =P

And the piece de resistance (if I could even call it that! LOL!)...the 'setting' for where the ninjas are supposed to stand. Took me ages to do this (again because I wasn't smart enough to think out of the box and did everything manually) and they were far from perfect still (some were not as straight or as angled as I'd like it to be), but I guess for a first attempt, it's okay? *consoling self* Here I stacked it onto my baking tray to gauge how it would look like on the cake itself after it was done.


Another fun thing that I tried...I attempted the Lego logo font =P Found a tutorial online that demonstrated how to do it, so I went crazy and did this huge Happy Birthday sign...only to realize that my piece was on the mat and needed to dry out before I could put it on the board. I needed the mat to continue my other pieces! So I shifted it to a piece of parchment paper...and subsequently there were cracks in the fondant when it was handled..*sighhhhh*


'Funny' thing happened when I had rolled the fondant out and placed it on the cake. It covered 3 sides of the cake nicely, but the fourth one had about half a side come up short! Eep! I was panicking coz it was the night before I had to deliver the cake & I couldn't possibly lift it off and try again (buttercream is all over the cake and the fondant will never be reusable). So I did the next best I could...cover it up! Hope it wasn't too visible =/ This was right after I had placed all the 'Lego' pieces on the cake. I stuck them on using corn syrup brushed on it. 


 
And this was right after I had placed the cake onto the bigger board, placed the 'Happy Birthday' sign, stuck the figurines on and stuck Ethan's name on too (the name was hand cut using a Karate font). I thought I had it in the ball park....until the 3-tier 'gate' keeps falling off the cake! *sigh* I tried all sorts of ways to stick it on...corn syrup, water, toothpicks, bits of fondant, even using a knife to prop it up straight in order to it still upright till everything dries, but it seems that gravity has a way of pulling it down. =/ It probably also didn't really help much when I had so 'cleverly' iced the cake without making it level. The surface turned out to be a little  'domed' so it was pretty uneven for this gate piece to hold up. I even had a hard time keeping the figurines up! *sigh* Note to self: Go get some lessons on how to level cakes and ice them! 

Anyways, the gate eventually fell off enough times for the bottom black 'roof' to give way and break. Again tried all sorts of ways to keep it together, but in the end, I didn't want the cake to look horrific, so...


I settled for a 2-tier gate. THIS time...it stayed perfectly! YAY! Not as nice as I'd like it, but I guess practicality wins over prettiness =/ And I've also added little stars to this (thanks to a star fondant cutter I found in the baking supply shop after finishing the Angry Birds cupcakes) in the hopes of making it not too plain.


Close up on the figurines...as you can see, I still need to work on my moulding / sculpting skills. The edges are still not as sharp or clean as I'd like it to be. And I guess there could be more decorations on the 'floor' of this 'building....it would have made a better contrast and visually more appealing. But oh well...it's already 3am by the time I was done with this, so I couldn't keep my eyes open. LOL!


Here are the little details on the figurines...I kinda like this black cutie...some how I don't remember sticking him together to be slightly bowing, but he seems to be doing just so on top of the cake. LOL! That little guy in blue was also a little botched...my fingers happened to touch the painted areas when I handled him, and I dirtied his outfit a little bit =/ But oh well, I guess ninjas do also get dirty once in a while right? Hehehe! *consoling self*


My very first attempt at the figurines...he was the hardest to get right (probably coz it was the first time making it...the others were considerably easier in a way). I tried to hold him up together with bits of toothpick but it didn't really do the trick =/ So everybody else got the same treatment to hold together: brushes of water then left them propped on the tray to dry naturally...it seemed to work! LOL!


And my most favorite one (probably my most successful one too!)...the white ninja. His was the most proportionate and closest looking of all 4 to the original Ninjago toys. Some how the arms seem to be able to hold up at different angles too...yayy!


Final one...a collage =P

So there you go...my other forays into fondant cakes. Hopefully there'll be more chances to do this. It's been fun! Challenging yes and very much time consuming but after seeing it come together, it's quite satisfying, even though the final result wasn't as pretty as other professional bakers. I shall work to improve on it =)

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