Make this rainbow cake topper out of gum paste for someone special.  It's seriously easy to make, but this gum paste cake topper will make any cake spectacular.

Every My Little Pony birthday party needs rainbows.  Obviously.  Especially on the birthday cake. And today, I'm going to show you how to make the really easy (really!) gum paste rainbow cake topper for this cake. 

Even if you shudder at the thought of sculpting anything vaguely resembling anything, I promise you can make this cake topper.

Materials for a Rainbow Cake Topper:

• gum paste (Satin Ice is my favorite brand)
• food coloring (Americolor Gel food coloring is my preferred type)
• vodka (to use as glue)
• toothpicks
• waxed paper
• disco dust (optional)
• sharp paring knife

Start by making your birthday kid's age number.  Mine was turning 5 (obviously).  All you need to do is roll out a snake of white gumpaste, and shape it into the number you need.  I like to taper the ends of my snake and curl the tails when I form the number.  Makes it look all fancy.  

Set the number on a sheet of waxed paper to dry.  LET IT DRY COMPLETELY (overnight) before attempting to attach it to the rainbow, or it will flop and look awful.

In the meantime, color a small amount of gumpaste in your rainbow colors.  Keep the gumpaste in a small Ziploc bag so it won't dry out as you're working with the other colors.

How to Shape the Gum Paste Rainbow Cake Topper

Roll out a snake of red gumpaste first.  I knew I was going to have a 6" wide top cake, and I knew I wanted the rainbow to be slightly smaller in width, so I measured out and marked 5" on my waxed paper to use as a guide.  

Arrange the rope of red gumpaste in a nice arc 5" wide, then use a sharp paring knife to cut away the excess.  Roll out the orange gumpaste next, and place it adjacent to the red, on the inside of the arc.  Use a little bit of vodka to glue the two ropes together.  Continue with the rest of the colors, until the rainbow is complete.

While the gumpaste is still soft, push toothpicks into the base of the rainbow.  The toothpicks aren't edible, obviously, 

Let dry overnight.

The next day, glue the dried #5 to the top of the rainbow, again using vodka as glue.  Brush the entire topper with vodka and sprinkle liberally with disco dust to get that awesome sparkle.  

I use vodka or Everclear instead of water, because the liquid activates the sugar in the gum paste, so that when the liquid dries, it glues the pieces of gum paste together.  But vodka and Everclear, because they're high in alcohol, evaporate much more quickly than water does.  And when they evaporate, they leave behind no alcohol and no taste.  You can use water instead to make the rainbow cake topper, but clear, flavorless alcohol definitely works better.

How Far Ahead Can You Make a Gum Paste Rainbow Cake Topper?

Gumpaste decorations can be made weeks--months, even--ahead of an event, so take advantage of that to plan ahead and get those things taken care of before you get insanely busy the week of the party.  

I made the cake the day before the party, and I added the clouds at the base after I stuck the topper in the finished cake.  The clouds are simply made with some blobs of extra white fondant.  

It was the perfect crowning touch for my daughter's My Little Pony birthday cake!  

And if you STILL don't feel like making one yourself, even after seeing how simple it really is, I found a very similar one you can just buy on Amazon!

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