Fondant Pennant on a Baseball Cake

I just put the finishing touches on a baseball-themed birthday cake for a fan of the San Francisco Giants. I was looking for an alternative to writing in cursive with icing, so I decided to try my hand at making a pennant to convey the birthday message. I had some of my fondant from scratch colored with Wilton White White Icing Color left over from making baseballs, so I rolled out a rectangle about 8" long after dusting the counter with powdered sugar:

I cut out a triangle, using the cutting wheel tool that came with the Wilton Deluxe Gum Paste Tool Set:

I used the quilting wheel (at the other end of the same tool) a couple of millimeters in from the edge:

I nudged the ruler up against the edges, just to make sure they really are straight:

Here's the finished triangle…

…which I laid out to firm up overnight on a wave flower former, covered with a piece of waxed paper dusted with powdered sugar:

I colored a small amount of fondant orange, and cut out a small strip to attach along the edge of the pennant…

…with a water brush. I also cut out 2 smaller strips; I folded them in half at "V" angles and trimmed their ends diagonally. 

I didn't attach these to the pennant until I assembled everything on the cake. I put a small amount of Wilton's Ready-To-Use Decorator Icing underneath the pennant in the places where it touched the cake:

The writing on the pennant, incidentally, was accomplished with Wilton FoodWriter Edible Color Markers, as were the "stitches" on the fondant baseballs, one of which is pictured below (alongside a shaggy mum or "pompom flower"):

Drop strings might have been a peculiar choice for a baseball-themed cake, but I'll take any chance I get to practice them, along with shell borders of various sizes (that mostly served to hide the anchors for the drop strings and as "glue" for the fondant baseballs):

Here's the finished cake (which featured chocolate fudge cake, dark chocolate icing, and my chocolate fondant from scratch). I hope the recipient really did like chocolate!

Fondant Baseballs

I just got my first request for a baseball-themed cake! As with the cupcakes for the Super Bowl party, I want to make sure every part of it is edible; I don't want people to choke on tiny plastic sports equipment stuck in the icing. I decided to start relatively easy and make some baseballs out of fondant. To make about a dozen balls, I started with about one-and-a-half golf balls worth of my fondant from scratch. I used clear vanilla and some Wilton White White Icing Color in this batch, just to make sure it's as white as possible: 

I rolled out a log about 1/2" thick on the counter. Don't roll logs between your hands; they won't be as smooth as they are when you roll them out between your fingertips and a flat surface. 

Use a spatula or sharp knife to cut 1/2" pieces (or approximately the length of the width of the log). 

Roll these pieces into balls (you can do this step between your hands) and let them dry on a surface dusted with a 50/50 mixture of powdered sugar and cornstarch. I used the reverse side of my practice board for piping; it has a very good nonstick surface.

To draw the "stitches" the red Wilton FoodWriter Edible Color Marker is perfect. 

It has a very fine tip and is a true red.

I started by making a loose "C" shape of dots…

 …and then turned the ball around and did the same thing opposite it.

 Then I connected these two curved dotted paths with another curved dotted path, and another just like it on the opposite side.

Then I made a column of "V" shapes, with the tip of the "V" on the dot, that went all the way around the ball. Wipe the tip of the pen clean on a paper towel when you're finished.

Here's the final product: a cheap, edible baseball that will look perfect on a cupcake, a cake border; wherever! Watch for more baseball-themed paraphernalia in the coming days; I'm really going to try to make this cake sweet!