Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Anyone tried a similar shaped figure to the teddy but without the top buttercream layer? I think I can make it work just looking for any tips.

Hi sjd,

Lots of people have used this basic shape and covered with sugar paste – I’ve seen super mario, winnie the poo and various others. I would recommend using ganache rather than buttercream as it will give you a better surface to cover.

Hope that helps! JC x

That does help JC thank you. I know in the tutorial Paul doesn’t dowel the cake. I’ve made the teddy once and it was fine without it but wondering if I should do this to be doubly sure.

I always use a dowel in carved cakes – one plastic dowel through the head and down through the cake is sufficient. Make it a good half an inch shorter than the overall height as you don’t want the head to settle and it to poke at the sugarpaste at the top (if you go to my page on facebook you’ll find a Bertie Bassett cake where I made this mistake!). It also gives you a bit of confidence that the head won’t come tumbling off during delivery.

I find that if you’re wondering about whether you should do something, you always should. Remember that these tutorials give you a foundation and wealth of knowledge that you can apply across all of your cakes and you shouldn’t be afraid to mix it up a bit if that’s what your baking instinct is telling you 🙂

Would really love to see what you come up with! JC x