3D Teddy Bear Cake (with tutorial)

This is my first „sculpted” cake and I made it for my youngest daughter’s name day 🙂 She loves stuffed toys and I thought maybe it’s time for me to move on to the next level in terms of cakes and I dared to make a small cake in the shape of Teddy Bear. Well, I thought it would be a small cake, but it finally had just a little bit over 3 kg. Of course nobody had a problem with that, because the cake was delicious. I chose a white moist sponge cake (made from egg whites) and a raspberry swiss meringue buttercream and for the fur I used a vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. The body parts (legs, ears, tail) were made from cake truffles (cake crumbs mixed with raspberry jam). This cake turned out incredibly cute and yummy 🙂  And it really looks like a toy, isn’t it? ❤ ❤

Ingredients:

► Sponge cake – I made 6x the recipe from the Purple Ombre Lavender Cake and I baked 6 sponge cakes of 16 cm diameter each

► Raspberry filling (raspberry swiss meringue buttercream)

• 200 g egg whites
• 300 g granulated sugar
• 200 g butter (82% fat)
• 120 g raspberry jam

► Fur icing (vanilla swiss meringue buttercream)

• 200 g egg whites
• 300 g granulated sugar
• 200 g butter (82% fat)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

►Plus

• 200 g raspberry jam for making the cake truffles
• about 200 g fondant (or gumpaste)
• bamboo skewers and toothpicks for fixing the cake
• 2-3 piping bags and a #233 Wilton tip (a special tip for grass/fur)

Directions

I baked the sponge cakes and I let them cool completely. I prepared the raspberry swiss meringue buttercream just like I did the icing for the Lemon Poppyseed Cake, except for adding raspberry jam instead of lemon curd.

I used 3 sponge cakes for the head and the other 3 for the body. A real bear has the head much smaller than the body, but this is a toy and the cuteness of a Teddy Bear consists in his big round head, so I made the head about 2/3 from the body size. I overlapped the layers and I carved them. I made the head approximately round and the body slightly conical. I kept the cake scraps to use them for the legs, ears and tail. After carving, I spread evenly raspberry filling and stick the cakes together, assembling the head and the body. I set the body with 3-4 bamboo skewers, I put a little cardboard disc on top and I placed the head onto the cardboard. I also set the head with skewers. It’s important to secure the whole ensemble with a dowel pushed through the center of the cake.

After assembling the body, I spread all over a generous layer of raspberry buttercream.

I prepared cake truffles by crumbling the extras from carving and mixing them with raspberry jam. Be sure to add enough raspberry jam to make the mixture moist and shapable. With this composition I shaped the ears, front legs, hind legs and tail and attached them to the body. I used 2 toothpicks to bind the ears to the head.

I used the remaining raspberry buttercream to carefully frost the whole cake with the last parts attached. From the fondant I shaped the snout and the patches for ears, legs and head and I attached them to the bear. Now it really starts to look like a bear 🙂

I prepared the vanilla buttercream, put it into a decorating bag with a #233 tip attached and I piped the fur, starting from the base towards the top. This step needed lots of patience and attention.

I used 3 piping bags and I put a small amount of buttercream into each bag, because the buttercream warms up and melts when you keep it longer in your hand. Finally I attached the eyes and the stitches.

The cake must be stored into the fridge until served.