Hello Kitty Ninja Cake

I saw a picture of Hello Kitty Ninja the other day and I knew I MUST make her just because of her sheer cuteness. 

Close up of the details.

I free handed Hello Kitty out of chocolate fondant.  After the pregnant lady topper that I previously made for a baby shower cake, I knew how much work it can be to make a topper but Hello Kitty was fairly easy.  Below is a picture of her minus her nose and katana that I later put on her back.  Hello Kitty Ninja kinda reminds me of Domo here no?

I got these pretty great fondant molds that just came out from Wilton.  There's 4 different ones each at $10 which is great because a lot of molds are a way more expensive.  One store I went to was selling a ball border mold for $30...no thank you. 

I made branches first and made sure to dust the cavity with cornstarch per the instructions (although later I tried without and they still came out easily).

The branches.  I stuck toothpicks on the bottoms so they would easily stand up on the cake.

Painted them with brown dye to give them some texture.  This gave them a much more realistic look once they dried.

Covered my cake in fondant and ready to be decorated.

I used the mold again to make the leaves/cherry blossom borders and individual cherry blossoms. I applied the borders and some blossoms on the cake and attached little blossoms to the branches.

Overall, I was happy with the look of the cake.  I thought the mold worked great for the topper but the cavities are a bit deep so the borders came out looking thick.  I actually didn't use the mold for the leaves on top and just rolled out fondant really thin and cut them out.