Instructions

1. Mix fondant in the three colors of your choice. Mix two base colors, your main cake color and a dark accent color. The main color will be like the base gold color on a leopard's coat and the dark accent color will take the place of the black spots on the leopard. Take about a quarter of the frosting you mixed of the base color and add a little food coloring to darken it one to two shades.

2. Coat the whole cake with a thin layer of white buttercream frosting. This is called "crumb coating" and hides the cakes imperfections, creating a smooth base layer to which to attach the fondant.

3. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper on the rolling surface and dust it with powdered sugar. Then, roll out the base color of fondant. It should have a consistent thickness and be free of air bubbles and flaws.

4. Lift the fondant by holding on to the sheet of parchment paper and slide it off the paper and over the cake's surface. Smooth the top of the cake with a fondant spatula and cut away any excess icing.

5. Roll out the other two colors of fondant. Cut irregular shaped spots from the two accent colors. Cut small irregular spots with curved sides and large, generally round spots from the darker color. Cut smaller accent spots from the second accent color. Look at photographs of real leopards for inspiration.

6. Use a small dot of buttercream on the back of each spot to adhere it to the cake. Add spots over the cake as needed to achieve the desired effect.