Haylie's baby shower cupcakes + a tutorial for you

It's hard to believe that my colleague Haylie is just about to have her baby. It seems like only yesterday that we were out at a Greek restaurant for a work function when she suddenly, with a look of panic on her face, stopped eating the fish. Since I was eating the fish at the time I was a tad concerned there was something wrong with it. A few confused glances between Ange (another colleague) and myself, and we had it figured out - Haylie was pregnant! God help me if I ever get pregnant...I would forget what I was 'allowed' too!

Haylie is having a boy, so I created some blue cupcakes for her baby shower. Haylie had left the design completely up to me, so I thought I'd model some little ducks to adorn her cupcakes.

To make the ducks, you'll need:

A black edible ink marker

Small heart shaped cutter

White fondant

Orange gel colour

Icing sugar (I keep mine in a shaker for ease of use)

Knife (not pictured)

Small rolling pin (not pictured)

Cake decorator's glue or water, and a small paintbrush (not pictured)

Sprinkle some icing sugar out on your workbench. With very clean hands, take a small piece of fondant and roll into a ball. This will form the duck's head. Take another and roll into a ball about 3-4 times the size of the first ball. This will form the duck's body. Add icing sugar in to the fondant as required (it starts off quite soft, so you may need to add a little to get a firmer consistency).

Slightly flatten the larger ball and curl the flat end up. This will form the duck's tail.

Attach the head to the body. If you work quickly your fondant will still be tacky enough to stick easily. If you need to, you can use cake decorator's glue or water to stick the pieces together.

Take some fondant and roll out thinly. Using your small heart shaped cutter, cut some hearts and allow to dry for about 10-15 minutes (this will preserve their shape when you lift them off your workbench).

Using a sharp knife, cut the hearts lengthways. These will form the wings for your duck.

Attach the wings to the body of the duck.

Take a small piece of fondant and colour it using your orange gel colour. Roll tiny cone shapes. These will form the beaks for your ducks. Using your paintbrush and decorator's glue/water, attach the beak to the head.

Using your black edible ink marker, draw eyes on the duck. You could also use a tiny paintbrush and black gel colouring if you don't have edible ink markers.

There you have it - your own 3D duck toppers.

I sat these on top of vanilla bean cupcakes topped with blue vanilla buttercream and tiny white sprinkles.

Too cute!