Friday, July 25, 2008

FUN WITH FONDANT


This was my first time experimenting with fondant, also known as sugar paste. I had planned to take a cake decorating course on fondant but life kind of got in the way. A very good friend of mine is celebrating a birthday next week and all fingers pointed to me for the birthday cake. Of course, I'm happy to do so, only this time, I'd like to make a tiered cake covered and decorated with fondant. I've been reading an introductory book to fondant and thought I'd give it a try. So, I set off to make a red velvet cake from one of my new books, Cakes Galore by Phillipa Vanstone and Valerie Barrett. This project didn't have me so concerned with the actual cake, but more so with the decorating aspect. Rather than making this about the cake, I wanted to focus on the aesthetics! With that said, this red velvet happened to have been delicious. I made 4 layers, filled with cream cheese icing and, according the my book's directions, smeared a crumb coat around the sides and top, allowing it to set slightly to a tacky, sticky consistency. I bought ready to use rolled fondant from my local Michael's and began my adventure. After covering the cake with the white fondant, I colored it using pink and purple coloring gels and used my fondant star cut-outs to create the different sized stars. 
In closing, this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I realize my first fondant cake is nothing to gloat about, but I now have the confidence to create a fantastic birthday cake for next week. Keep in mind, I'm a fondant virgin!  Keep in mind, I'm a fondant virgin! I am going to bake the different sized layers (10in, 8in, 6in) for my friends birthday this weekend and begin decorating on Sunday. I've mapped out a plan for this!  I'll be sure to post when it's all finished. Wish me luck!!

Your thoughts on the cake? Leave a comment and/or suggestion!
 




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Your cake looks great. I was really big into cake decorating and then got tired of all the work. I tried Wilton fondant and it tastes kind of yucky. I actually made my own. Tastes better and was cheaper. If you go to www.cakecentral.com, you will find many recipes there. Looks great, though!

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

It looks deeeelicious!

Yes, I did use really soft butter. I was afraid if it was too cold it wouldn't coat the flour well. I won't give up!

AnickH said...

whats a good fondant recipe

Unknown said...

I run a business with my red velvet cakes being bery popular. However, its well worth noting how hard it is to do a layer cake using such a cake because it tends to be too crumbly and falls apart .

The cheese cream is also runny and not easy to apply and stay like common butter cream.

Did you run i9nto similar issues? Let's share tips. :-)