Lindy's Bayside Confections: How to Make Fondant Scarecrows

I by no means claim to be an expert on making fondant scarecrows. I'm sure there are some cuter examples out in the world. However, I do think these turned out pretty cute and make for fun and unique cupcake toppers! After all, fall isn't just about leaves and pumpkins! I thought I would share with you how you can easily make some of your own, although you can make them look however you would prefer, of course. :)

By the way I apologize, I was working on more than one project that weekend so I forgot to take photos from the beginning of the process. Oops.

Basically, start with any color "face" and "shirt" fondants that you want. I added Tylose powder to all of my fondant to make it more pliable to work with. Roll the face fondant into a ball and shape as you wish. I always use lollipop sticks to hold my fondant people together, you can use floral wire or whatever else you want. I just feel the lollipop sticks are far more stable and durable. I dipped my stick into egg whites, since that's what I prefer to use as a glue, and put the head on. Be sure to push the lollipop stick only halfway into the head, in case it settles or moves while you're making the rest of the body you don't want the stick to pop out of the top of your head! Pinch the bottom of your head to secure it around the stick.

Your "body" fondant should roll out long, be about the same width as the head. The head should be about 1/3 the length of the body, although I made them about half the length for these particular scarecrows. Put some egg whites onto the lollipop stick and push the body on. In this case I added a "collar," or a separate piece of fondant, in between the head and neck. I wanted this "turtleneck" look for my design. When making fondant people I would use a piece the same color at the face for a neck. Remember to pinch the base of the body around the lollipop stick for more security.

You can let these set for a few minutes just to let the glue take hold before assembling the rest of the body. I let mine sit overnight just to be sure the pieces wouldn't move while I assembled the rest of the components.

The next day, I painted on some goofy face. You can use edible food color pens, although I prefer to paint them using food color gels and with a paintbrush. You can mix it with lemon juice or vodka, although I just use the colors straight generally. I also painted some "hair," just enough that would be visible under their hats. I know, they look a little "old man-ish" right here.

Next I assembled the hats. I cut out some scraggly orange pieces by hand from fondant and glued them as a brim around the scarecrows' heads. I also rolled a ball and formed it into a triangular shape for the top if the hat. Then I added a trim. You can see the pieces below. I assembled them on by one straight onto the head.

Then voila! We have a hat! I like details so I also added patches on to my hats, which are also cut by hand.

I also because I am overly obsessive about the details, I added a black bird onto the hats as well. I rolled them out and used tiny bird cutters that I had.

Ta-da!

The lollipop sticks also help to stabilize and secure the scarecrows to whatever base/cake you choose to put them on. In this case I wanted them to sit on pumpkins, and those would serve as the base that would sit on top of the cupcakes. So to make the pumpkins I rolled some orange fondant balls and added grooves into the sides with toothpicks.

Once the pumpkins were formed I let them dry for several minutes. The next step is to roll some fondant out for the legs. It's best to roll out a long piece, at whatever thickness you would like your legs to be, that will wrap around the lollipop stick. To me this gives more surface area to glue the legs to the body AND give the body a larger space that it can sit on that will support its weight. Add the legs and body to the pumpkin (i.e. the base) as so below. Remember to use your eggs whites to glue everything together as you add it to the body!

Now the scarecrow needs some arms. Roll out two balls using the same color at the body fondant, you will probably need to roll them out and play with the thickness and length a little to get the proportional size you want. I shaped mine like below.

Then glue them to the shoulders of your scarecrow. You may need to reshape your pumpkins a little and redefine your lines, since adding the weight of the scarecrows will alter them some. I feel, though, that adding the scarecrows on top of the pumpkins while the pumpkins are still wet is actually better than waiting until they are completely dry. It's easier to mold and glue things together like this while all the fondant is still soft.

This is what they end up looking like. I let them dry overnight before adding them to my cupcakes.