Pokemon Cake Pokeball Topper

I will admit to catching the odd Pokemon - purely for research purposes, of course!
It's hard to make a themed-cake if you know nothing about the subject, right?!

So, if you don't know much about Pokemon or the game, Pokemon Go...
 that's a Pokeball on top of the cake (essential for catching Pokemon) and that's Snorlax, my son's favourite, sleeping on top of the ball, with Pikachu on his back.
The night sky background is inspired by the game icon's background.
(Lots of research, I tell you!)

Jack had drawn a design of the cake that he wanted...

...which as you can see wasn't quite like the end product. But I included all the elements he'd requested - interpreting them in a way that worked for me. And he was very happy with the result. Thank goodness!

This is how I made the Pokeball topper:

• Smear a thin layer of  Holsum / Crisco over the polystyrene ball. 
• Drape and mould red paste over the ball  - using a modelling chocolate/ fondant blend really helps with pliability. Support the ball in a teacup. 
• Use nylon string/ dental floss to mark off an indentation where you're going to trim. 
• Allow the paste to firm up, then invert the ball in an appropriately sized bowl and repeat with the white paste.  
• Make sure that the gap between the red and white paste is as even and neat as possible. Use a strip of paper cut to size as a template/ guide if necessary. 
• Cut out a strip of black paste and secure it in the gap. 
• Finish with circles of black and white paste. 

 I like to use Holsum as my "glue" when working with modelling chocolate/ fondant blends like this, because if you need to remove the paste and re-do or re-position, the Holsum kneads easily in and doesn't leave any residual tackiness/ bleeding of colours.

With the 2D appliqué above, I used Holsum to initially place it and check positioning, then stuck it down securely with melted chocolate.  

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have successfully navigated through a Pokemon themed party! 

I am going to start priming Jack now with a theme I can get my head around a little easier for next year! 

Happy decorating!

xxM