How to Make Edible Angry Birds

Making the Red Bird I asked the makers of the hit game "Angry Birds" if I could make some toppers for a few cake orders I had been getting. They encouraged me to go nuts and send photos! I've been making a ton ever since. You can see them on my Etsy http://www.etsy.com/people/artisancakecompany and if you love the game, you've probably seen some photos floating around the net! The have really taken off! I thought I would share the love and teach you how to make the two most popular birds. The bomb and the red bird. You will need some red, black, grey, white, yellow and brown fondant. I make my own but any brand will do and you can either buy it pre-colored or dye your own with food color. You will also need some small scissors, an x-acto knife and a skewer (or something to poke a hole).

The red bird is a circle. Take a small amount of fondant (about the size of a hershey's kiss) and roll it into a ball. Poke a hole into the back side. This is where the tail will go. I usually let the body dry for a day before adding details so its firm but you can make it all in one day too. You will need a few more shapes for the bird. Some white for the belly and the eyes. Som black for the tail and the eye brows. Some more red for the feathers on top and some yellow for the beak. I usually make these pieces as I need them but have them all here for you to see.

The  first thing I do is add the belly and the beak. You will be doing all your "gluing" with just a dab of water from a small paintbrush. You don't need a lot of water. Less is more. I brush the orb with some water, push on the belly. Then I put the beak onto the belly so it overlaps slightly. I use the scissors to cut the beak so it looks like a birds beak (note* make sure you sterilize your tools before using them for food).

Next I add the head feathers. I wet the top of his head a little, then take the piece of red fondant and fold it in half. I then press it on top and work the edge so its flat and blends into the orb. I usually bend the tip of the feather a little to make it look more cute :)

Then I add the eyes by adding more water and then pushing on the small white orbs so they are pretty flat. These eyes should be pretty close together.

Then comes the eyebrows. They should be pretty small and touch in the center.
The pupils are very small. Much smaller then you think they should be because they get bigger when you put them on. Too big and your bird will look weird. When making recognizable characters, proportion and scale is important. A very small amount of water is used to glue the pupils on

Next is to glue on the tail. Again, use a touch of water and then insert the tail. You make the tail by forming a tear drop shape out of the fondant then squishing it flat. I use my x-acto to push dents into the end to make it look like feathers. (cartoony feathers).
Thats all there is to the red bird! The black bomb is next and he has similar features but there are a few differences that I will spend more time on.

Making the Black Bird

The black bird starts out with a ball about the same size as the red bird and this time the hole is on the top.

You will need some grey for the belly and the eyes. Some small white pieces of fondant. Two pieces of yellow fondant for the fuse and the beak. Another piece of black for the fuse and some brown for the eyebrows.

Again, I start with adding the belly and the beak and using the scissors to cut the beak.

The eyes on the black bird are the most complicated out of all the birds but the cutest in my opinion! You start by attaching the grey circles. Make sure these are fairly large but not too big. You need enough room to put white on top but you dont want him to look weird by making them be too big.

Then you take your x-acto blade and cut out a small triangle from the sides of the grey circles and remove them carefully with the tip of the blade.

Press the white circles on top

Next step is to put the fuse together. Take a small piece of black and roll it out and a small piece of yellow fondant for the "lit" part of the fuse. Glue them together with a dab of water.
Put a little water in the top hole and then place the fuse inside. make sure it's standing straight up!
Lastly glue on the eyebrows and the dot for the forehead. I usually draw on the pupils for this guy with an edible marker but you can use tiny dots like we did for the red bird.
If you put the birds in front of a fan they will dry faster :)
I hope you enjoyed this instructable! Maybe I'll post more on the other birds if enough people like this one :)  

Comments

[slelkouri]

I love the color of your pigs. Did you use color gel? What color? I am trying to make a cake for my soon to be 7 year old and I am following your samples :) I love your birds/pigs they are awesome!!

[lizzomarek]

I used avacado and yellow food color gel. I bought it at a cake decorating store.

[Kristin Couturier]

Wonderful job! Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Would love to see how you approach the other characters.

Again, thank you

[ttennant]

You are amazing!! I love baking and would love to start doing it, I'm a stay at home mom and would love to do this just for family and friends. It was so kind of you to take your time to show so much detail. I am going to try to make an angry birds cake this week, can't wait to see how it turns out. Thanks to you, I am a little less petrified. Thank you

[zazenergy]

Your angry birds are awesome! We're running an angry birds challenge this week. If you post a new angry birds instructable you could win some great prizes:

https://www.instructables.com/id/zazenergys-challenge-Angry-Birds/

[PeckLauros]

Verry nice. Amazing instructables.

[volmos]

Please post pics of other birds and pigs. I'm making these at cupcake toppers to give to my daughter's class on her birthday Firday!!

Loved the instructions and pics. Very helpful in making the red and black birds. Now I just have to figure out the rest.

Thanks!!!

[poofrabbit]

These make me giggle! Very nice work!

[supersoftdrink]

These are adorable - great work!

I have a question about fondant, though. In this instructable, you call it edible. Do you eat it (and actually enjoy it), and do you expect your customers to do the same?

Or do you mean "edible" the way that silver dragees and maraschino cherries are "edible"?

;)

[DrBlind]

If you make your own (1 bag of marshmallows, 1 bag of confectioners sugar, a little bit of water in a microwave) fondant it tastes like marshmallow if you use the pre-made stuff from the store it tastes like glycerin.

[jdenoyon]

That sounds good, and I'd like to try it! Any chance you could post the full instructions?

[SeaSkyShore]

I hope this doesn't seem like shameless self promotion, but in case anyone wanted to make their own marshmallow fondant, I made an 'ible for it a while back - https://www.instructables.com/id/Marshmallow-Fondant/

[lizzomarek]

ha! great question! by edible I mean delicious when it comes to my fondant :) I don't ever use store bought fondant (yuck) I make my own based on a marshmallow recipe that is soft and yummy but most people ( I assume ) only have access to regular fondant so to answer your question yes and no hahaha :)

[SeaSkyShore]

I agree about the store bought fondant, that stuff is gross. Marshmallow fondant tastes soooooo much better. It helps that it is also easy to make. The creation possibilities of fondant are endless, it has all the versatility of sculpy and it tastes delicious :)

[supersoftdrink]

hmmmmm I do make my own marshmallows... now I'm curious about how my pink lemonade marshmallows would taste as a fondant...

[jdenoyon]

I think you should make a pink lemonade marshmallows instructable!!!

[lizzomarek]

That sounds DELICIOUS :-D

[SteampunkManiac]

There's this Youtube video where a british dad makes an Angry Birds cake for his 4-year-old.Cool.

[farzadbayan]

Awesome !

[tpatil]

Cool