Fall Themed Cake with Leaf Stamps

Use this step by step tutorial to make a Fall themed cake with leaf stamps. Fun and easy cake decorating technique that you can apply to other cakes too!

*Thank you Craftsy for sponsoring today’s post so that I can share this tutorial for Fall themed cake with leaf stamps. As always, all opinions are mine.*

I truly think cake stamping is  an AWESOME technique to have under your belt coz it allows you to be more CREATIVE with your cake designs.

I made this Fall themed cake with leaf stamps after watching this Craftsy video (Simply stunning: Hand stamped cakes with Erin Gardner).

I was dying to APPLY some of these techniques I learnt.

This is what I came up with… A four tiered cake with a WHIMSICAL arrangement!

All the tiers are covered in brown colored fondant and embellished with colorful Autumn leaves.

I made these leaves using a homemade stamp that I made from a piece of food-safe foam…just like Erin!

Then, I added subtle details to those leaves with a black edible marker to give them sort of a “comic book” look.

And I even did Erin’s “wispy” technique on all my tiers, using light brown gel color.

I LOVEEEEEE the results of this technique!

It gives the cake a very RUSTIC look and makes it much more appealing!

What do you guys think?

To learn how to make a Fall themed cake with leaf stamps, you will need the following SUPPLIES:

10 inch round cake iced and covered in dark brown marshmallow fondant
8 inch round cake iced and covered in dark brown fondant
6 inch round cake iced and covered in dark brown fondant
4 inch round cake iced and covered in dark brown fondant
Light brown fondant (mixed with some gumpaste powder)
Red gel color
Orange gel color
Yellow gel color
Green gel color
Brown gel color
White gel color
Foam brushes
Small plastic containers
Paintbrushes
Black edible marker
Knife
Pencil
Xacto knife
Krazy glue
Toothpicks or wooden skewers
Acrylic blocks or a thick piece of wood
Wilton’s foam pad (the pink square piece you use to make your fondant flowers)
Royal icing or corn syrup

These are the INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1:
Use a pencil to draw the shape of some leaves on Wilton’s foam pad.
Note 1: Erin used a PME foam pad but I didn’t have that. So, I used Wilton’s pad instead, which is thinner.
Note 2: Don’t worry about using a pencil or even a maker to draw your shapes coz this area will never be touching your cake.

Step 2:
Use an Xacto knife to cut out your leaf shapes.
Note: Even though I cut out a few different leaf shapes, I ended up using only the maple leaf.

Step 3:
Stick the leaf onto a thick piece of wood with some Krazy glue.
Allow the glue to set and dry up for a couple of hours.
And your leaf stamp is now ready.
Note: Erin used an acrylic block instead of wood but I couldn’t find that at my local craft store. Wood worked fine for me.

Step 4:
In a small plastic container, add a few drops of orange and white gel colors.
The white gel color reduces the brightness of the orange shade.

Step 5:
Mix the two colors properly with a toothpick or wooden skewer.

Step 6:
Dip your foam brush in this orange paint and brush the top of your leaf stamp thoroughly.

Step 7:
Now, roll out some very light brown fondant.
Press the leaf stamp onto your fondant until the orange leaf image transfers completely.
Make as many orange leaf images as you want.
Be sure to apply orange paint to your stamp before each application.

Step 8:
Use a knife to cut out individual leaf pieces.

Step 9:
Use a black edible marker to draw a rough outline of your leaf.
Also, draw a line in the center.

Step 10:
Use a knife to cut around your leaf shape.
And now, you have an orange leaf!

Step 11:
To make yellow leaves, wipe your stamp with a wet cloth so that all the orange color is washed away. And then, follow steps 6-10 again.
BUT, I did something different to create yellow autumn leaves with multiple shades of green, red and yellow. Here’s what I did…
Brush some green color onto your leaf stamp. Then, wipe it off with tissue paper but don’t rub it off completely.
Brush some red color onto your leaf stamp. Then, wipe it off with tissue paper but don’t rub it off completely.
Brush some yellow color onto your leaf stamp. Don’t wipe this off.
Press your stamp onto your fondant and you will end up with a very cool yellow multicolored leaf… just like the real ones we are seeing these days!
Make as many as you need.

Step 12:
Add details with a black edible marker, the same way as before.

Step 13:
To make green leaves…
Brush some red color onto your leaf stamp. Then, wipe it off with tissue paper but don’t rub it off completely.
Brush some orange color onto your leaf stamp. Then, wipe it off with tissue paper but don’t rub it off completely.
Brush some green color onto your leaf stamp. Don’t wipe this off.
Press your stamp onto your fondant and you will end up with a very cool green multicolored leaf.
Add details with a black edible marker.
Make as many as you need.

Step 14:
Keep your leaves aside while we do the “wisping” technique on the cakes…
In a plastic container, mix some brown and white gel colors until you end up with a goldenish brown shade.

Step 15:
Dip your foam brush in this container.
Now, move your hand right and left randomly across your fondant covered cake.
Do this as many times as you like.
Do some “wisping” on top of the cake too…Just move your foam brush swiftly in a circular motion.

Step 16:
Do this for all your round cakes and they should look like they have streaks of golden.

Step 17:
Stack your cakes. Make sure there is a strong support system in place.
Finally, use some royal icing or corn syrup to stick all the leaf stamp pieces randomly all over your cake.

And you are done!

Step back and admire your fall themed cake with leaf stamps…lol.

I am very happy with how this cake turned out.

Well, that’s all for today.

Until next time, tata my lovelies!