How to Make a Tiny Gumpaste Baby with a Mold


This is great for baby shower cakes or cupcakes. You can create a really adorable life-like tiny gumpaste baby using a First Impressions Baby Mold. This project is also commonly referred to as “fondant babies” or “marzipan baby”

Click here to buy the baby mold used in this tuorial

For the project you will need:

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  • Silicone baby mold (click here to order from GlobalSugar Art.com)
  • White gum paste (fondant works too if used 50/50 with gum paste)
  • X-acto knife/ sharp blade
  • Paint brushes (fine tip and medium tip)
  • Petal dusts (pink, brown)
  • Gel food colors (copper/flesh tone & chocolate brown)
  • Powdered sugar
  • Vodka/lemon extract to dilute the colors

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Get gum paste to a desired skin tone by adding a flesh tone and a touch of brown and kneading well.

Make into a smooth egg shape and dust lightly with powdered sugar.

Note: Please do not dust the mold with powdered sugar as it can take away the definition and shortening is not recommended.

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Press the paste firmly into the mold making sure all the excess paste is pushed in to ensure clean edges.

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Remove any excess fondant till you have the right amount of gum paste to fill the mold without spilling over.

Place the ready mold into the frezer for 20/25 minutes.

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When out of the freezer unmold by pulling the sides of the mold apart gently while pushing the back of the mold.

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And voila! A gumpaste baby baby is born!

NEXT Making the gumpaste baby look real

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Take a tiny bit of pink petal dust (dusting the excess off the brush first) and brush on the baby’s cheeks, nose, ears, heels, and toes.

Take a thin brush loaded a little more with the same dust to get a stronger color for the inside of the lips.

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Brush light brown petal dust into all the creases/ wrinkles. (I didn’t have this so I used light pink petal dust mixed with a tiny bit of cocoa powder)

Also with a very thin brush paint eyebrows and eye lash crease using a diluted brown food color (needs to be very light and barely visible).

You can also paint the hair with desired color. At this point the baby is already looking quite real and cute but you can add more character by adding a diaper/ clothes/ hat/ hair etc.

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Here are some more cakes using this technique

Comments (155)

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Thank you. Appreciate the response to my tutorial. @ tattoomom1...I think people use the baby as a keepsake and not for eating. Gumpaste pretty much lasts forever if stored properly. But it is better on a cake than a plastic or clay baby because it is made from food safe material:-) Also forgot to answer a question that lot of people asked me about the hair on the baby with the blue blanket. It is made by scraping a woolen fabric with a sharp knife. The fibres are then glued on with corn syrup.

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This is available on global sugar art. Click on the word mold highlighted in blue in the tutorial and you'll be directed to the page that sells it. I bought it from the first impressions website.

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@Jazdeezie..I have tried it with just fondant and it was much harder to keep the features while unmolding. It works well if you mix it 50/50 with gumpaste though. You could try freezing it longer and see if just fondant works. I was too impatient to do that :-)

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@nydivagirl: I think dry dusts work better as they give a more subtle color to the creases. I only used really diluted brown food color/wet dusts for very light eyebrows and eyelashes. It is pretty easy if you keep it light and not overdo it (like makeup ;-) ) I used fabric hair only on babies with no hat. For the babies with fondant hats I painted the hair with food color before making the hat and made the hat while the color was still wet (which helped the hat stick) Hope that helps.

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@bmarlow001...I use Satin ice gumpaste too so that's perfect. @Mercia I don't really know where you can buy it in south Africa but I suggest you call/email the company if you are interested (google first impressions mold) and ask if they'll ship to your country. Since it seems to be smallish company they may make exceptions.

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@ Marina: This was an important part I left out of the tutorial. You should let the baby come to room temperature and dry before using the dusts. The condensation will make the dusts gloppy if you do it right away. It takes an hour or 2 for the baby to completely dry.

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I buy my petal dust online from Global sugar art. It is their own brand I believe. I hate wilton products for everything other than their accessibility. I use them only when I'm desperate. Make sure you dust the excess off your brush before aplying so it doesn't clump and also be sure to apply it only once the baby is dry.

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@Janet48 :The hat is made by cutting a fondant circle and molding it around the baby's head. Then you can decorate the hat with a frill or a band etc.

The hair question is answered in this thread somewhere :-)

mom23kids...I use satin ice fondant and gum paste. I used to make my own mmf but now I don't do it very often.

Thanks all. HTH.

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@KATHIESKREATIONS: What brand of colors are you using? I used Americolor (copper/flesh) and it worked out pretty well for me. You have to be careful to not over-color with the copper or it ends up looking peach. Also you need just a dot of brown...if that (for a light skin colored baby). Highlighting is the important part. That is where the brown and pink petal dusts come into the picture. That is what makes the skin color look natural. Keep trying with different variations and don't give up until you've finished highlighting.

@Pinkbox: Thank you for the suggestion...will try it next time :-)

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Katie (kfr33man)...you need to unmold the baby as soon as it comes out of the freezer and then let it dry at room temperature. The missing chunk thing has not happened to me. I'm afraid I am clueless about that. All I can suggest is that you knead the gumpaste mixture very well (till it is soft and pliable) before you push it into the mold.Someone who has had that problem before may be in better position to help.

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The babies are so cute.. I was searching on how to make a baby without a mold for my baby shower :), thats when i came across this tutorial.. Now im so hooked with the fact of using the mold, just one issue and that is the mold is a little expensive for me to buy right now.. anyidea where I can get the mold on less price. Thanks :)

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I have no clue how my id name came out to be my2princesses?? I have a couple of fondant babies in my gallery!

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where can you get this mold at? also, can you make this baby without the mold and still look just as good, if so has anyone done it before?

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I found them on EBay for $11.95 plus shipping...new ones. I had a friend that loaned me hers and I made a dozen, wrapped them each in a paper towel and stored them in a sealable tupperware container. That was over a year ago and they are all still like the day I made them. I made them from gumpaste.

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Do you put the petal dust on the baby right after you take it out of the freezer or do you wait for the baby to dry out?