Octopus cupcake topper tutorial

Today's fun octopus tutorial comes to Kiwicakes with special thanks to The Whole Cake & Caboodle for creating it for us. (look for the fish tutorial next week.)

Roll a ball of fondant or gumpaste about the size of a large marble. If using plain fondant with no stiffener it can be done but will be very soft. We reccomend adding tylose to your fondant

Squeeze the end drawing it out into a teardrop shape around this shape and length 

Cut the tail of the teardrop straight down the middle about 3-4 cm along 

Open up the cut 

Cut each leg in half again

So it looks like this 

Then cut each of the four legs again in half so there are 8. The knife needs to be clean or legs can stick to it and tear off as you cut these thinner ones.

It will then look like this

Give the top of the cuts a little roll/squeeze to make more of a head/neck

Flick each leg into a nice curl

Or twist and drape them in a direction you are happy with.

Use a smile tool to add a smile...or a frown

Use a medium sized ball or dog bone tool to add holes for eyeballs. A paintbrush end or even a clean earbud can make impressions.

Use a small piece of fondant and roll into a oval shape then halve it. This gets you two eyes the same size. Its easier to half an oval shape than a ball. If the ball is to large start again with a smaller piece.

Use a touch of glue or water to stick the eyeballs in then either dot a pupil with gel. If you use a toothpick you get an even dot instead of trying to paint a circle. 

Or use a slightly damp paintbrush to pick up small non-pariels and stick with a touch of glue.