How To Use Tappit Cutters, Letters and Numbers. - Fondant Decorating DIY

Tappit Cutters! Pros... I love the font, some cake designs look better overall with the tappit cutters lowercase or upper case.  Cons... they can be intimidating to use, many times I hear of bakers (from all sorts of skill levels) have trouble using them. I remember wanting to pull my hair out the first time I tried to use them. It happens to all of us!

What makes tappit cutters challenging to use, is how skinny the fondant letters and numbers are.  They can be easily twisted and deformed by the slightest touch.  Tweezers, exacto knives and toothpicks don't seem to help.

I've tried many different methods of getting fondant letters out, here I'm gonna show you the best, easiest, fastest way in getting the fondant letters out.

The trick is to have your fondant rolled very thin and air dry it a bit.  So roll it as thin as you can, and then let it sit for a few minutes.  It won't work if your fondant is too soft or sticky.  So if you just colored your fondant, let it air out for a few minutes.

I find the more stiff and dry the fondant is, the easier it is for me to get the fondant letters and numbers out.

I've made a tutorial video showing you how I do it, watch it here:

How to get fondant letters out of tappit cutters

1. Roll out the fondant as thin is you can, it needs to be thinner than the height of the cutter (which isn't very high of course).

2. Dust the cutter with cornstarch and powder sugar mix.
(While working with fondant, I have a bowl with half powder sugar and half cornstarch mixed together. I use it to powder the area/cutters/rolling pin to prevent fondant from sticking.)

3. Press the letter cutter firmly into the fondant, then press onto it and 'rub' it back and forth a bit, this would ensure it's pressed all the way through and the extra fondant is cut off.

4. If there's any extra fondant, for example, the negative spaces in a letter B or O, or P etc.. use a toothpick or exacto knife to pick it out.

5. Form a fist with your hand, place the fist behind the cutter and tap the cutter against the edge of a table.

6. The letter or number should pop right out.

If you like this tutorial, share it on pinterest!

More Despicable Me Cakes!

Hello :)

If anyone had noticed, I am no longer TheCakingGirl.com :(... I lost the domain and been trying to gain it back, I made an offer, hopefully they (whoever the new owner is) will be understanding and give the name back to me.  I'm still TheCakingGirl.  But it's no longer dot com. it's dot ca.

Why did I call myself TheCakingGirl anyways.. well, about 4 years ago, when I first started making cakes, I was pretty bad at it but I wanted to get better, and I really enjoyed it, so I made as many cakes as I can for free for people, so I can practice.  My friends were calling/texting me asking why I can't go out, what am I so busy doing.  I got tired of typing that I'm busy making a cake, learning how to decorate etc, I simply replied, "I'm caking,". I made cake into a verb lol. Cause that's what I was doing, I was Caking.

So I called myself  The Caking Girl.
I see that term being used in other cake forums now :) yes, it's a verb, it's a hobby, it's a career, it's a life.
I'm also aware that Caking has another urban dictionary meaning. Haha. ;)

Anyways, now that I sorta sorted out the domain name situation, I want to blog more. I hope you enjoy my blogs, altho I don't write as much, and it's mainly visuals. I plan to write more.

Take care, talk soon!


Making another despicable me cake...

My edible gumpaste figurines lying out to dry.

One of many gumpaste minions I've made the past couple of years.  I love making minions, now that I'm familiar with which circle cutters to use for the eyes, and how to make the overalls, I'm pretty fast at it now!

Here's the cake put together! Each character are to represent someone, that's why there's a Michelin man, a cat, initial letters and benz logo.

How to make Gumpaste Figurines

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One of my fave caking thing to do is mould gumpaste figurines! 

I still haven't tried using sculpting chocolate yet (it's more pricey), but I've heard great things about it, so far gumpaste work well for me :). I'm sticking with gumpaste.

One thing that bugs me most about custom cakes, is when the figurine doesn't look like the real thing.  If it doesn't look right, I rip the parts off and remake it over, and over again until I get the ratios and scales right :) I am quite obsessed with getting my figurines spot on. 

Sometimes even without having to remake any parts, one figurine can take up to an hour to make or longer. 

Here are some of my tips on making gumpaste figurines:

1. Don't rush it. Make it a few days before your cake is due, if you're rushing the figurine, it won't look good! I used to save the figurine making for last, and it would stress me out as that's all I'm thinking about when I'm making the rest of the cake. Never again. I always make my figurines first, and on a day I have a few hours to dedicate myself to it.

2. Get a good reference.  Go online, go on google or other search engines, and find a good picture to use as reference.  Print it onto paper and have it with you when you work.  It's best to get a front view and a profile view of the figurine.  If it's a 2D cartoon character, and you have trouble envisioning it as 3D, try to google the keyword with "doll" after it.  That way, you can find pictures of it in a 3D doll form, that helps a lot! Sometimes I borrow my daughter's toys, when I make Mickey Mouse gumpaste figurines.. or Winnie the Pooh gumpaste figurines.. Dora, Cat in the Hat, etc.

3. Detail is everything.  Get an exacto knife, you'll need it to make the small details.  Notice all the small details, even if it's a very thin black line over the top eyelid of the character, include it. It makes a difference in the result.  I also bought sculpting tools, clay tools and plastercine tools from fine art stores as well.

4. Give it time to dry.  Sometimes the figurine will have to take a break.  If it needs to dry over night, let it.  Structure is everything!

5. Accuracy.  Try your best to examine the proportions and scales.  I use my fingers or the blade of my exacto knife to measure parts of the figurine.  You can also compare parts of the figurine to itself.  For example, width of eye = half of the nose width, distance between eye and nose = same distance as eye to eyebrow.   

6. Don't forget colors.  Even if you get all your proportions/scales of the parts right, if the color is slightly off, it affects the entire outcome.  Don't be afraid to mix the food colors a bit.  For example, I never use Wilton's Rose Pink color on it's own, I always add a bit of Wilton's Burgundy, even if it's a tiny micro amount.  It 'normalizes' the rose pink for me, with it on it's own, the hue is too strong.

Here are some of the gumpaste figurines I made this year.

Stewie Cake! 

 

Three Stewie gumpaste figurines... cause one is not enough :)

Meet Mike the Knight, this guy's funny proportions gave me a headache lol...

Sorry for the phone picture quality! This is from my Instagram :)

 

Here's the Despicable Me Cake!

This was probably the cake that required the most gumpaste figurine labor! :D

Happy Moulding Everyone!!

and here are some pictures from my recent trip to Paris :)