2D toppers are "the cherry on the top" Ennas' Cake Design style! The idea came to me about two years ago when I made a Mario Bros. cake for my sister's baby shower. The idea then evolved from the horizontal topper you can see below to the vertical topper I'm about to show in this tutorial.

You certainly don't need to be an expert cake decorator or use special tools to make 2D toppers. The secret lies in slicing the design of your choice as a puzzle and carefully selecting what layer each elements belongs to. Once you've learned that trick you'll be ready to use this technique on whatever design you like to.

For this tutorial we are going to build a Twilight Sparkle topper. If you have a daughter, as I do, you may hear something like "mommy, are you making a cake for me?"... so be prepared for a little visitor overseeing your progress. Whether you make only a topper or also a cake for the topper to sit on top of, once you're ready I'd love to hear from you and see pictures of your projects... Ready? Let's have some fun 2D toppering!

What you need:

Modeling Chocolate (black, dark blue, light purple, dark purple, fuchsia and white)
Self healing cutting mat
X-acto knife or Scalpel
Rolling Pin
Packaging Tape
1/4" thick and 1/16" thick balsa wood sticks (two of each)
Shortening
Sugar glue
Toothpicks
Edible marker (black)

Step 1: Print at least 3 copies of Twilight Sparkle at the actual size you want it to be. I printed it 4" tall. (Note: for more complicated designs you may need more copies)

Step 2: Cover every copy, front and back, with packaging tape. This will protect your patterns from water or grease stains and keep them from ripping easily. This step can be skipped if you print it on card stock.

Step 4: Roll out black modeling chocolate (MC) 1/4" thick (I used two 1/4" thick balsa wood sticks to do it easily) and let it rest for about 10 min.

Step 6: With the help of a scalpel and the first pattern (see step 3) cut out the base for your 2D Topper.

Step 8: Prepare the MC colors for the all of the layers needed in the design. Roll them out using two 1/16" thick balsa wood sticks, and let them rest for 5 to 10 min before cutting your pieces.

Step 10: Carefully place the lager pieces of the puzzle first (body, tail, and head). Attach them with a bit of sugar glue or water.

Step 12: To help the tail stay attached to the body, stick a toothpick on an angle inside the black base, this will make the joint of the tail sturdier. Do this before placing the color pieces.

Step 14: Place the eyes on the topper making sure they match the pattern before glueing them.

Step 15: With an edible marker or a paintbrush and some black food color paint the eyelashes.

Step 3: With the help of an x-acto knife or a scalpel cut out your patterns. Use one copy to cut out the whole character; this will be used to make the figure silhouette. Use the second copy to cut out every color separately (big areas inside of the outline), and the third copy to cut the details and elements that go on the second layer.

Step 5: Cover your MC with a thin coat of shortening and stick the pattern. This way you won't need to hold the latter while cutting. Remember that too much manipulation softens the MC making it lose its shape.

Step 7: Place one toothpick on each of the legs of the pony, This will serve to place the topper on the cake.

Step 9: Using your patterns and a scalpel cut out every piece in its corresponding color. Remember to keep the pattern stuck to the MC, this will prevent the smaller pieces from losing their shape.

Step 11: Carefully remove the paper from each piece of MC after attaching it to the base.

Step 13: Making the eyes is more complicated because the pieces are smaller; it's important to double check every time you cut a piece and adjust it if necessary. These are the steps:

a. Cut the white, purple and black pieces using the patterns. b. Place the purple MC piece on top of the white and carefully cut out the white piece using the purple as your pattern. Discard the white section from under the purple piece and assemble the remainder white and the purple pieces together c. Repeat step b using the white smaller piece to cut the black. d. To make room in the iris for the pupil repeat the step b with the black and purple pieces. e. Glue all the pieces together with some sugar glue, always checking your pattern. f. Roll a very small piece of white MC for the sparkle. g. Repeat the same process to make the left eye.