Red Fish Cake for Bow Fisherman

 I made this cake for my cousin who happens to be an avid bow fisherman.

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The cake itself is a 7x11", and I covered it with wood-grained fondant.  I marbled together brown, tan, white, yellow, and black fondant.  Rolled it out flat and used a wood-grain impression mat to give it the pattern.  I used a strip cutter to cut the planks of wood, positioned them on the prepared cake, and dusted with brown and black petal dust.  Easy Peasy.

The fish I made ahead of time so I wouldn't be rushed on decorating day.  I found a picture of an actual Red Fish, printed it, and used that as a pattern.  I tinted some white fondant with red and orange food gel in different ombre shades.  I layered the different shades and rolled them out together so it was darker on one side and lighter on the other.  I then cut out the body of the fish, and used a fish scale embosser to make the scale pattern on the fish.  The other oval shaped blob of white fondant was placed under the main body of the fish to give the fish a puffed/curved look.

At this point I didn't think the Red Fish looked red enough, so I dabbed on some red food gel and spread it around using a damp finger.   I cut out the tail and used a cookie scribe to make all the marks, then I dabbed on more red food gel and placed it on the main body of the fish. 

I went through the same process to make the fins.  I used the paper pattern to cut each piece, used the scribe tool to make the marks, and then added red food gel for accent color.

For the head I again used the paper pattern and cut out the shape.  In the end I thought the head looked a little too brown, but I fixed that later by adding more red to the head and more brown to the body.  As a final touch I spritzed the fish with some Intense Pearl Luster Dust to give it a little shine and shimmer.  The image below is without all the "fixes".

After the cake was covered in fondant, I positioned the fish on top, and speared the fish with a bow (a 12" Lollipop stick embellished with red, green, and black fondant pieces).

Here are some other views of the fish.

So here is my first Red Fish cake.  I hope Tony likes it!

Happy Decorating,

Carol