Sloth Cake

So as you all have probably gathered from my instructables is I love making elaborate cakes. It's gone from a hobby to a part time job. I am self taught so maybe you'll find better skills in other instructables but for now this is what I've got :)

For this cake you will need

- fondant
- grey and black food dye
- vodka
- cornstarch
- small wooden dowel
- plate or cake board
- clean paint brush
- favorite cake and icing recipes
- rice krispies

I used "6 round dishes and baked off 5 cakes. Cut the rounded tops off but don't throw these out. Use your scraps to build out in areas and make arms and legs.

Stack your cakes with icing between the layers and stick your dowel through it. You don't always need a dowel for cakes like this but I would rather be safe than sorry. Nothing would be more crushing than the downfall of your creation being a tiny piece of wood.

I used the round tops from the cake to give the sloth a pot belly and pretty large thighs. I secured them with a touch of icing. Use your remaining scraps to stick on in the shape of arms and legs. Give everything a thin coat of icing and stick in the fridge for about a half hour to firm up.

Sloth's have long kind of stringy fur. For obvious reasons I didn't do every individual hair. I ended up rolling out thin pieces of fondant dyed with black food colouring for the fur. I cut it into "jagged" edges to resemble pieces of fur. The key here is layers and layers of fondant built up to look like thick coat of fur. I used darker fur near the bottom of his body and worked my way up to lighter layers. I covered his entire body like this.

Sloths also have very long finger and toe nails
I uses white fondant roller into long logs for nails, stick 3 on each limb.

I balled up about 8 premade rice krispies squares for the sloth's head. I stuck the head on the little bit of remaining dowel sticking out of his body. I mixed a very tiny touch of brown food dye into white fondant for his face and stuck a bit onto his face.

Add some more brown to the fondant and make two comma shaped pieces that will be the stripes on his face. I then stuck those on. I mixed up some black fondant and make more of a rounded rectangle shape to stick on for his nice. With the back of a knife you can indent a smile onto his face.

Its the little details in things that make it extra special. Use the back of a paintbrush and give him little nostrils. I also used some food dye mixed with vodka and brushed it on to add extra shadows and fur. Little details that would be too hard to create from just fondant can be brushed on and just add that finishing touch to your cake! :)