Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi, I made the teddy bear cake yesterday using Pauls chocolate cake. It looked great at first then it started to lean back and in the car on the way its head completely fell back off its body. I had put three skewers in for support too. I was so sad it happened – can anyone shed any light? thanks,xx

Hi, It’s the fact that the head and body are covered as one, firstly with ganache and then with fondant that gives the whole structure support (although I also stick a dowel straight down through the middle of the head and body to be on the safe side!). When constructing the bear its really important that the body and the underside of the head are perfectly level and that the weight of the head is centred when it is stacked.

The giraffe sounds like a lovely idea but if I’m imagining it correctly then the head is not going to be centered over the body? I think this might give you a problem because I think the nose end will need to be supported whilst your glue (ganache or royal icing?) dries. Even then its going to be fragile, it might just pull the icing off the body, would it be possible to make the head from Rice Krispies? Or maybe make the back of the head from cake but make the nose from krispies (stick them together with ganache then cover with ganache and sugarpaste as one)? Others may have a better idea!

I have a general rule, which is if the cake is taller than it is wide then it has to be made using dark chocolate ganache. Often the customer doesn’t want chocolate cake though in which case I use ganache with vanilla cake, which is really yummy! A Madeira cake becomes more moist and I think they are at there best about a week after being baked but a lovely recipe that you can carve is Jane Hornby’s easy vanilla cake from the BBC Good Food website.

Good luck kimstreak!

Hi Gillian

What a sad thing to have happened! The only thing I can think that went wrong is perhaps the chocolate wasn’t strong enough to hold the head in position and of course it has been very warm too. Since you posted I’ve looked at the tutorial again to see how a weakness could have occurred. The head is virtually the same width across as the top of the body so should sit comfortably without wobbling and, once ganached should have been stable enough not to move. I can’t understand how it fell off since you put skewers in it as well. Paul does say in the tutorial to make sure the head is properly balanced. Is it at all possible there may have been a gap between the head the top of the body which may have worked the head loose? Even then, one would think with all the fudge fur icing it all should have been stable. I’m doing the teddy this coming week and it would be good to work out why this happened. You must have been totally gutted, was it for a client or for family? were you able to salvage it at all? xx (:

Hi,
Thanks for the reply you are so helpful. I used buttercream instead of ganache I wonder if this had anything to do with it?
I finished it at night and when I got up the next morning the whole bear had begun to lean back a bit not just the head. Then as I travelled this continued until it rolled back.
It was or family thankfully and I was able to attach it back on but it didn’t look brilliant. I am doing the 3d mickey mouse and iggle piggle this week and am so nervous now in case it happens again. I will use rkt treats this time for the heads hope this will be ok

I think you may be right about the butter cream, I will be using ganache but a bit nervous so will keep a strict eye on it. The bear is for my friend’s 50th birthday present and I’d like it to be perfect (well almost!). It might be better if you use ganache for MM’s head. Ganache sets much harder than butter cream for attaching things. You could still use butter cream for the filling. I really hope all goes well, pleeese post the result, keeping everything crossed for you! xx

Hi,

I had problems with the chocolate cake recipe and the teddy bear. Luckily (or not?) my bear started to break up once I started assembling, I think it was just too soft. I made my usual oil based sponge instead for round two, and it held up absolutely fine.

I did, however, ganache the body and legs, refrigerate, and then add the head. I worried it would be a bit shaky but once the fondant was on he was fine.

I feel your pain!

Hello

I was just reviewing your questions and I am about to make the teddy bear cake. I have a great chocolate sponge recipe that is good for carving but no good vanilla sponge recipe. Does anyone have a good vanilla sponge that would work well for carving? I used Madeira but do not feel it keeps moist.

Also I have just stacked a cake with buttercream and I placed the cake in the fridge for about 1
Hr before covering and it made it more solid.

Thanks

Hi I’ve made the teddy bear cake twice now and not had a problem with it. I covered mine with ganache and didn’t use any dowels. seemed really sturdy

hi! I am attempting this on Friday but turning it into a giraffe beanie baby type thing.. I was thinking as I have to drive 45minutes to deliver it I would attach head once I got there. I am not doing the buttercream over the fondant so thought I would cover the head & body separately in fondant place a dowel down centre of body with enough sticking out the top to attach the head… Praying this is a good idea… also I am turning the head around so it is diagonal to body due to shape of giraffe head so didn’t want it to topple over while driving. Anyone have any other ideas? thank you 🙂

Hi Doodlecake, I think you may have a good idea about the head.. I will create it out of rice krispies treats rather. Clever you!! Thank you for the advise! I will definitely be using it..
Kim

hi can sameone tell me what size tim did he use to make the teddy bear thank u

hi can same one tell me what size tin did he use to make the teddy bear thank u

Hi lisa1975

For the teddy Paul used a 10 x 8 inch cake tin although in subsequent tutorials for the reindeer cake and the horny devil which use the same template, he used 10″ square. tin. I think the 10″ square is better, there’s more room for the template.

just thought I would let u know my giraffe worked 🙂 WOO HOO!!!

Hi miwl how did your teddy cake go at the weekend? Did the head stay on?

Hi JustJennys Cakes

This is an old post which is being added to. I’ve made the teddy several times since I first posted here. It always comes out great., no problems. I think the dark ganache is brilliant at sticking all the pieces together, sometimes I worry because it all feels too hard but there’s never any complaints. I’m making it again soon, baby’s first Christmas cake for my friend’s brand new baby girl who was born while I was in Birmingham at the show. My friend is like a daughter to me, she’s just a baby herself.

thank you for the replay just wanted to know how thick should I cut the template of head and body and feet I didn’t pay for the month but I will do it next month but will like to make this teddy for xmas and where should I put the dowels to make the head stay any help you could give it will be great ,, ty

Hello lisa 1975

If you go on Paul Bradford channel in youtube and search ‘teddy bear cake’ you see Paul making the ivory teddy. It isn’t a full tutorial but will give you an idea how he does the feet. The dowel goes through the centre of the cake. Measure to see how far up into the head it will go without poking out of the top. Cut the excess dowel off, put a fair bit of ganache around the dowel and centre the head on. Ganache the whole cake and pop it in the fridge to set., once set proceed with the fondant. It’s difficult to explain but I hope this makes sense. If you’ve missed your payment it can still be done in the normal way, you don’t want to miss out on all the lovely Christmas tutorials. Good luck with teddy. x

That’s brilliant Kimstreak! Make sure you post a photo on Paul’s Facebook page if you can x