A Laptop on My Palmtop

I wanted to make something realistic and teeny-tiny. So I have made a laptop that fits my palm and as realistic as I can. My kids were excited to see the laptop coming alive bit by bit. I enjoyed doing this project and tweaking it to look realistic. This is a fun project to do with your kids. I made this using edible gum paste. Since this is edible I used this as a cupcake topper. You can also make this with any clay of your choice and use it as a doll house accessory or props for figurines.

• Edible gum paste
• Edible gel colours- Black, Silver
• Edible glue
• Baker's spirit
• Tylose powder
• Paint brushes
• Ruler
• Thick paper
• Fondant rolling pin or any small rolling pin
• Craft knife or any small sharp knife
• Silicone baking mat
• Tooth pick
• Pencil

I planned to make the ratio of my actual laptop to the mini laptop as 5:1. So the length and breadth of the mini laptop was calculated as approximately 6cm and 4cm. I drew a rectangle with the above dimensions on a thick paper. I cut out the outline using a scissors. I used this as my guide for the base.

I am using edible gum paste. Gum paste is an edible sugar dough used for decor. Gum paste usually dries very quickly. Still, when you add a lot of gel colour it may take a long time to dry. So I added a little TyIose powder to ensure that it will become firm. After adding the powder knead it in to evenly distribute it. I did not use fondant here because fondant never hardens like gum paste.

I wanted to make a laptop with a black and silver finish. You can use any colour of your choice. So I added a few drops of black edible gel colour to white gum paste. Knead it in. Keep adding colour till you get the desired colour. Here I made two different colours of gum paste. One was black and the other was dark grey-black. I wanted the screen of the laptop to be slightly lighter. All the 3 colours ( black, grey-black and white) are ready.

Roll out the black gum paste to the thickness as shown in the picture. Place the paper guide made earlier on the rolled out gum paste. Keeping the paper as a guide make sharp cuts to make the base. Use a ruler and rub the sides to ensure that the sides are straight.

Use the black base as a guide to cut out a rectangle of the same size in white colour. Press slightly so that they stick together. Our laptop base is ready.

I made 3 thin strips for my keypad and a thick strip for my touchpad area. I placed them gently around my white base. I made diagonal cuts at the meeting points ( as shown in the picture) to make the joints more neat. Use two rulers to ensure that the sides are dead straight.

I made a small white block of gum paste which was of the size of the touchpad. I slowly pressed the block at spot where the touchpad has to be. An indentation in the shape of the touchpad was made. I made small markings using a craft knife in the shape of the buttons.

I cut small strips of black gum paste. Then I cut out keys. I cut a long key for the Space Bar. Also slightly longer keys for Shift, Capslock and Enter keys than the rest of the keys.

This step took a lot more time and patience than I anticipated. I made small indentations for the 6 rows. I placed the keys one by one in the appropriate places. It took some effort and time to nudge each key into place because they were so tiny. At the end I completed placing all the keys in 6 rows.

I made 2 slots for the hinges at 1 cm from each end. I made 2 small hinges by wrapping two small strips of black gum paste around a small stick. Later on, while assembling, I will be inserting atoothpick through the slots to support the hinges.

I cut 4 small rectangles of black gum paste and stuck them at the bottom of the base to create the feet of the laptop.

For the screen, I rolled out the dark grey-black gum paste. Using the base as a guide I cut out the screen. I rounded the edges using a ruler slightly to give a rounded edge. I then cut thin strips of black gum paste to create the frame of the screen.

I added a dot of edible glue for the webcam. Added edible glue on the screen also for an added effect. You can leave the screen like this or add a wallpaper. I added a wallpaper in step 20.

I added indentations for speakers using a tooth pick at the side of the slots for hinges.

I fixed the hinges to the screen frame using edible glue.

I made a hole using a lollipop stick at the side of the base for the headphone jack. Also made small cuts to make a hole for the USB port.

In order to give a metallic finish to the base I added a silver colour. Here I used edible silver dust and Baker's spirit. Mix a little of both together. Use a paint brush to paint the base.

I used a toothpick to hold the hinges in place. Slowly insert a toothpick very carefully from one end to the other through the middle of the base through the slots provided for the hinges. Once the hole has been created, carefully remove the toothpick. We will reinsert the toothpick later while assembling the hinge in step 21.

I added a heart design on the laptop cover using the same metallic silver colour which I had used for the base.

Use 2 rulers to ensure that the sides are dead straight. Usually gum paste hardens quickly when stored in an air tight container for a couple of hours. But if the place where you live is humid you may have to dry it in the oven.

For that, preheat your oven to 90 degC / 200F. Dust some cornstarch on a parchment paper so that the laptop pieces will not get stuck to the paper. Place all the parts to be hardened on the parchment paper on a baking sheet. Switch off the oven and place the baking sheet inside the oven. Keep checking every 5 minutes. If the parts have hardened sufficiently remove from the oven.

You can leave the screen pIain or add a wallpaper. I am using an Edible image for my laptop wallpaper. They can usually be printed at your local cake supply store. You can send them an image and they will print it out on their edible printers/ food safe printer.

Remove the back sheet carefully and apply it to the screen. Usually it will adhere to the gum paste with no problem. In case it is not sticking, smear a little water using a paint brush and then apply the image. It will stick.

Tip1: Sometimes it is very challenging to remove the image off the back sheet. A lot of it has to do with how the image is stored. Keep it in an air tight sealed bag like a ziplock bag until usage. The easiest way to remove an icing sheet without difficulty, is to pop the sheet still in the sealed bag in the freezer for about 30 seconds.

Tip 2: In case you are not able to access edible printouts you can also take a thin sheet of white gum paste and use it as a screen. You can get creative and draw any design that you like using edible colours.

Place the screen close to the base. Adjust so that the hinges are placed correctly inside the slots in the base. Take the toothpick we had used to create a hole in the base in Step 17. Insert it through the hole and also through the holes of the hinges. Cut off the excess length of the toothpick. Now we will be able to open and close the laptop.

Check if you are able to move the screen forward and backward. I was happy when I was able to move the screen back and forth.

Our mini edible Laptop is ready! I used it as a cupcake topper. Enjoy!