When I built my first Witch for Halloween, I made several paper mache skulls to use in future projects. This was one of the future projects. Follow the first few steps on my Witch Instructable to make the skull, or be creative and use something else for the base of Santa’s head.
Make your own Santa!
Thanks to Floracraft Make it fun: foam® for sponsoring this post!
Floracraft® just released their Christmas E-book–It’s full of fun things to make with Make IT: fun foam!
We got to chose any craft from this book to recreate with our own twist….Here is the cute guy I picked….
Here’s what I bought–felt sheets in skin color, some fabric (12 inces) buttons for eyes, white yarn for beard, an embellishment for the hat…and foam!
and a ball for the nose (any size works! depends on what you are looking for!
I used this awesome cutter (it heats up and melts the foam…and boy it’s addicting!)I will give you the basic tutorial… but make sure to head over and download the ebook for full instructions!
I traced a face (pattern in the e-book!) and cut it out! (you can make so many different sizes…I went for big!) My head was about 14 inches long…and the beard and hat adds a couple more feet! 
wrap it the in the skin colored felt…
cut a ball in half and wrap that in felt (it was a little tricky but go slow and you can do it!) 
I cut a bunch of strips about 3 feet long and started hot gluing them where I wanted them (just the top inch! I wanted the beard to be able to hang!)
then just hot glue hot glue hot glue….I didn’t do the bottom half (my yarn is really fluffy and soft–I’ve literally petted the beard everytime I walk by him!) Just glue glue glue and hold up to see where you need to add filer! 
Then I added eyes (buttons) and put the nose on. I also took a pink stamp pad and added some colors to his cheeks and nose…cause old st. nick needed a little frost bite nipping at his nose.
Then I decided he need a little mustache….and eyebrows…so I put together 12 inch strips and tie up in the middle and hot glue where it looks the best! 
Added a hat (There is some foam up there too shaped like a cone!) and a tassel made from plaid fabric! 
oh! I think he’s so cute! You can add him to your front door (I actually used a couple of eyelets on the back and added yarn to hang!)
How To Make A Santa Cake
At this years Manchester Cake & Bake Show, I demonstrated in the Baking & Decorating Classroom, how to make this fun and festive Santa Face Cake!
Follow my below tutorial to make your own for a fabulous centrepiece for your Christmas celebrations.
I’m using my 7″ round madeira cake recipe and vanilla buttercream. Both recipes can be found here.
For my cake timeline, which takes you thorough when you can bake and decorate your cake, click here.
I recommend using modelling paste to make the face as it’s less fragile. It can also be made on a smaller scale and used to decorate cupcakes!
The face and snowflakes can be made ahead of time, keep decorations in a cake box or another container that the air can get to (not in a sealed box, otherwise they may melt). For more on types of icing, check out my blog post here. Ideally, leave your decorations to dry overnight until they are firm before using to decorate.
I recommend using actual edible glue as opposed to water as water can make your shapes soggy. My top tip with edible glue is less is more! Only use a small amount.
For this I have used white modelling paste and coloured what I needed using Sugarflair colours Paprika/Flesh. I use pre-coloured red and black modelling paste.
Equipment can be purchased from Iced Jems.
Equipment
- 7″ round tin
- 7″ round thin cake card
- 10″ round drum
1kg white sugar paste
100g Red modelling paste
For the snowflakes
Roll out flower paste very thinly and use a snowflake plunger cutter. Leave these snowflakes to dry on foam overnight and when dry, attach with edible glue and by gently sticking the snowflakes into the side of the cake. I have also sprayed mine with shimmer spray but this is up to you.
For the cake
Split and fill your cake with your desired buttercream or ganache and secure your cake to the thin board using buttercream.
Prepare cake by lightly coating with buttercream or ganache.
Before rolling out icing, knead until it’s a workable consistency. If the icing is sticky or your hands are very warm, sprinkle lightly with cornflour. Lightly dust your smooth work surface also to prevent it sticking.
Roll out your sugar paste to a 1/4 of an inch thickness. If it helps, you can use icing spacers which are perfect for this.
To keep the sugar paste from sticking, lift and move it around as your roll. Add more cornflour if needed.
Gently lift icing over rolling pin to move and lower it onto your cake
Shape sugar paste to sides of cake using your hands and then your smoothers. I recommend using a smoother because the pressure of your hands may leave impressions on your sugar paste.
Beginning in the middle of the cake top, gently rub the sugar paste onto the cake. Start on one side and by a process of gently lifting any creases out and lifting down onto your cake, you can secure the sugar paste all the way around. If an air bubble appears, use a scribe to gently pop the bubble and smooth the air out.
Use your smoother to mark the sugar paste at the base of the cake and trim the excess using a palette knife or sharp knife.
Repeat this process to ice the board, sticking the icing down with a little water or piping jelly.
Using a crimper, crimp the edges of your icing, starting at the back of your cake and board. Go around evenly and decisively.
Fix your iced cake to your iced cake drum with a little royal icing.
Your cake is now ready to decorate!
For the Santa face
Roll out peach coloured icing to ¼” thick. Cut out a circle using a large circle cutter. This will be Santa’s face. Leave the face to dry on a piece of foam.
Roll out white icing to the same thickness. Cut out the same sized circle as the face then cut a third of that circle out with the same cutter, creating a crescent shape. This will be his beard. Using a little edible glue, stick the beard to the bottom half of the face making sure to cover the bottom ridge of peach icing. Then cut out a white moustache using a cutter or cut one out freehand using a cutting wheel. Glue this onto the beard.
Roll out red icing and cut out the same sized circle as the face then cut two thirds of that circle out with the same cutter, creating a smaller crescent shape. This will be his hat. Stick this to the top of the face using a little edible glue.
Then, using a cutting wheel, cut out an elongated triangle, gluing it to the hat, starting in the middle.
Then, for the bobble, roll out a small ball of white icing, paint thinly in edible glue and roll in caster sugar. Glue this at the end of the hat point.
Roll out a thin strip of white icing and glue this around the base of the hat to create the rim.
To finish the face, roll a small ball of peach icing and glue just above the moustache to create the nose.
Roll two smaller balls of black icing and glue in place for the eyes.
For the flush cheeks, use a large dusting brush and pink edible dust colour. Dab a little colouring onto the cheeks.
When your Santa face has dried, glue this to the centre of your cake using a little edible glue.
Finish your cake with a ribbon and bow around the base of the cake and the rim of the board.
If you want to turn your baking hobby into a career, check out my book Cakes, Bakes & Business for everything you need to know about running a successful baking business, including pricing, marketing, insurance and much more!
Give it a try and let me know how you get on either on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram.
Merry Christmas and happy baking!
Step 4: Paper Mache
Put a layer of paper mache over Santa’s duct tape face. Make glue out of flour and water, then dip paper towels or white paper in the glue and stick it to the head, then allow to dry.
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Cover the hat with red duct tape.
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Santa’s body is made from newspaper, duct tape, and PVC pipe. I started out by getting several sheets of newspaper and laying them out flat on the floor. I covered each sheet with red duct tape. It was a bit time consuming since each strip of tape isn’t very wide, and I had lots of paper to cover. If the larger 1-ft wide rolls of duct tape came in red, this process would be much faster.
I then rolled and taped the sheets into cylinders. The diameter of each cylinder depended on the size of the body part that I was making. Santa’s torso was obviously the largest cylinder, while the arms and legs were much skinnier. I taped up one end of each of the cylinders and then stuffed them with crumpled newspaper. The legs would be supporting the most weight, so I inserted PVC pipe bones going through the legs. Everything was then taped shut, and then taped together.
Using some black duct tape, I gave Santa a belt and some boots.
Lastly, I cut a hole in the top of the torso and inserted another PVC pipe for Santa’s neck.
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Step 8: Put It All Together
Stick Santa’s head onto his neck, and that’s my Scary Santa Claus.
To properly finish the Santa, I would give him eyes, hands, and feet, but that’s not going to happen by this Christmas. This scary Santa has been in this state for a few years now, and I always mean to redo him and make him a into something that won’t scare the neighborhood kids, but it never happens.
If I were to put Santa outside right now, I would first put some polyurethane on the face to keep it from melting off if it rains. I would then hammer some stakes into the ground, and slide the PVC leg bones over them.
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