Help please re my ambitious Hamster Cake plan

[Hassled]

Can anyone give me some handy hints on how I should go about this?.

Especially wrt the icing - how do you think they did that? Re the cake - do you think they've done two round ones, stuck them on top of each other and then sliced into them for the tear-drop shape?

It's for DS3's 7th birthday - can you guess what his present is ?

Cake - I would start with a rectangle and carve it - loads of 'trimmings' but you can always freeze them and use them for trifle.

Icing - you need one of these - the disk with lots of small holes is what you need for fur (see 'flower' cake on my profile - that's what I used for the centre - also for fur on animals on Noah's Ark) although looking at the picture I think they might have used buttercream instead....

looks like buttercream you'd do on christmas logs, though that looks like a hedgehog

Ewww, lol.

Thank you thank you thank you - and yes, it does look more like a hedgehog but I can't see a way past that!

Alternative approach would be a hamster version of this - which is sugarpaste 'textured' with a sharp knife.

stealthsquiggle your cakes are amazing - I especially like R2D2.

God that's good - but way too ambitious for me. I'm not remotely arty/creative, and sugarpaste scares me a bit.

If you go the sugar shaper route you need to add white vegetable fat (trex or equivalent) to the sugarpaste until it is really soft, or it won't go through.

R2D2 comes with warnings as to the damage to the maker's mental health (and the amount of cake involved ) but the others were fairly easy.

Sugarpaste (IMHO) is easier and more forgiving than buttercream.

another top tip (irrespective of icing methodology) - freeze the cake before you try and carve it into shape - that way you won't end up with a pile of crumbs.

You're a star - I will commence operations next week and may well be back, icing-covered and hysterical, pleading for help . But I at least know where to start now, so thank you.

Saw the thread title and was reminded of my dd explaining how to make fairy cakes - first you catch a fairy. Then you deaded it...

Stealthsquiggle, that bunny is uncanny!

The bunny is not one of mine! I do have the book it is from, though, so I can study the instructions if you get stuck, hassled!