New Fondant Tools are Here! Time to Play!

So some of my new fondant tools came in last night and I couldn't resist playing with them. The tools are for the baby button cake for the photographer's daughter. I know that cake isn't supposed to be ready for two and a half more weeks, but I just couldn't help myself.

I had some fondant in the fridge, so I pulled out a chunk and microwaved it. Here's a few tips on mircowaving fondant:

1.) Heat only like 5-10 seconds at a time or else you will get burned, crusty bits of sugar.

2.) When you DO burn the fondant like I did last night, don't think that you can mix the slightly burned bits back in. You will be digging rock candy out of your fondant pieces for the next thirty minutes.

3.) Remember that microwaves cook the center of your food outwards. So even if the outer part of your fondant is still cool, the inner part is probably molten. Work the fondant a little in your hands before zapping it further. The heat of your hands plus the lava middle with disperse throughout the chilly parts, most likely making your fondant ready to handle.

4.) If you heat the fondant too much, it will be too sticky to use right away and will have to cool down either in the fridge or at room temperature (if you are that patient). So, again, work in 5 second heating increments until you get your desired consistency.

I pulled out some Wilton rolled fondant and used gel food coloring to make three different colors of fondant. Then I went to making tons of little buttons in each of the colors. I also practiced making some rick-rack ribbon, but it did not turn out as pretty. Therefore, you only get see the pretty buttons today. I have a little too much powdered sugar on these, I hope I can dust it off with a small paintbrush instead of starting over. I'm sure it will look adorable!

Cute enough to eat. Wait! You can!

Another Cake Coming Down The Pipe

Tomorrow is my GRE Exam and I am nervous as hell. I have been studying like a mad woman and cursing profusely over Facebook about my lack of progress in math. Keep my in your thoughts Saturday and wish me luck. After the test, I will probably start reading this book:

In other news, a new cake has been pseudo-commissioned. Jon's friend is having a birthday Saturday, and Jon and I thought we'd bring a cake in leau of a gift. I know that sounds cheap, but these cakes are starting to cost a lot! I never realized the cost of supplies alone, even if the 4-6 hours of labor are free. Besides, the party is at a bowling alley, and we wouldn't want someone to constantly be having to watch gifts so they didn't disappear. So...

A little about our birthday boy. He is a bit of a restaurateur and wine aficionado of sorts. He likes golf, country music, and Johnny Walker Scotch. After debating a little last night, Jon and I think that a Johnny Walker style cake would achieve the biggest reaction.

Jon, surprisingly, dove off the deep in with ideas of making a whiskey bottle shaped cake with labels and what not in fondant. My eyes were as big as saucers because this is completely out of character. Also, because I SUCK at lettering, this is waaaay beyond the scope of reality.



My husband is suffering from delusions of grandeur.

 I had a much simpler cake in mind, but I don't want to post my template just yet in case this somehow floats around the interweb for Brandon to get a looksie. Don't want to spoil the surprise after all. Just know it will 99% likely be in a standard cake shape. No more spoilers.

I found a a cake supply place down the road from my office. Thank God, because those hobby stores are very limited. I am going to run over at lunch and possibly purchase colored fondant(!), dyes, and possibly some metallic dusting. If I haven't blown my entire pay check by that point, I may buy some sprinkles. Oh who am I fooling? I'll probably go hog wild. Don't tell Jon.

Also, there is a new feature to the blog. I have added a wish list to the side bar. If you are feeling ever so generous, you can purchase items through Amazon.com and have them sent to me. You know I will squee of course, but I will do everything in my power to thank donors profusely. Thanks again just for reading.

My First (Real) Fondant Cake

My friend Nancy is getting married in a couple of weeks, and today we are tossing her a wedding shower at work. I've been really crunched for time, so I was just going to whip up some cake balls for the party, but I let my ambition (and my desire to get out of this stupid blog slump) get the best of me. I decided at the last minute to make a little 6" personal cake for her, in addition to the balls. She is a Hello Kitty FANATIC, much in the way my gingerific gal pal Sam is a GLEE fanatic.

"Hello Kitty"

Now, in my opinion, this is my first fondant cake. Jon seems to think the mini rainbow wedding cake is. That cake was not really for consumption, so I am counting this cake as the first. It's a bit of a philosophical disagreement in our household.

Anyways, the first thing I did was go out and get a 6" pan. I guess I'm getting serious about this because I am investing so much in equipment. I popped the first layer of chocolate cake in the oven. While it cooked I melted the candy for the cake balls and finished those up. (I had made the batter and formed the balls over the weekend and kept them covered in the fridge.)

BAM!

After I had made, cooled, and leveled 2 layers of the 6" cake, I put a crumb coat of butter cream icing down. This helps the fondant adhere to the cake and not slide off, as fondant is wont to do. This layer doesn't have to be thick or pretty. Just enough icing to keep everything in place will do. Oh, and don't forget a little dollop of icing on the plate you are icing on to hold the bottom layer in place while you are icing.

Bottom layer's crumb coat after I put the top layer down and Jon said "Oops, I didn't get that shot. Redo!"

After the whole thing was crumb coated, I put it in the fridge for a few minutes and took a break. Cake making is exhausting. I wish I could have had a margarita, but alas no mix. Moving on.

Next, I used gel food coloring to dye some fondant pink, because Hello Kitty wears a pink bow. Always make more than you think you need, because you can never get the colors to match perfectly if you have to make a second batch. I also adjusted the image of Hello Kitty from above to the size I needed, and printed it from my computer to use as a template. I was not going to go hog wild and purchase a bunch of Hello Kitty cutters.

Using scissors, I cut out the template and set it aside. I then rolled out the pink fondant and used a toothpick to etch the outer part of the template (which was a heart). I used a sharp knife to cut it out. Don't pull the fondant or it will stretch your shape. You have to be patient and cut cut cut.

I put the heart to the side and then rolled out the base layer of fondant. From what I understand, you need to roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch. I don't know if made it that thin (I always feel like I make it too thick) but it worked out ok. You are going to have to make the circle of fondant much larger than the actual cake. I did not and had to do a little last minute stretching to make it fit. Roll the edge of the fondant over your pin, and drape it over the cake, unrolling gentle as you go.

"Damn! A little too small!" *streeeeech* (please don't tear!)*

Next comes the smoothing of the fondant, which I have to say is the part I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. I understand the concept, which is to slowly, from the top edge around and down, smooth it up against the cake. At the same time you have to sometimes have to lift so that this is no ruffle/bend/fold. It never seems to work out just right for me. Probably because I am in a hurry and not patient enough. I did my best to smooth out and only got a mild crease at the bottom of one side. I had a plan to cover it though. More on that later. Use a pizza cutter around the base to cut off excess fondant. Remember, cut don't tear or you will stretch and tear the fondant.

Notice the fold there on the right! Got most of it smooth but still, Grrrr!

Now, to the sneaky covering around the bottom. I decided to make a pink ribbon around the bottom to disguise any flaws. I barely had enough pink to do it. (remember always make more than you think you need). I made a log of the left over pink and rolled it into a flat strip. Luckily, my mat has grid lines. I was able to use them to made a pseudo-straight piece of 1" ribbon. I swear I can't make a straight line, even with a ruler.

To get a piece of fondant to adhere to another piece you have to dab a small amount of water where you want to place the piece. I made a damp line all around the base of the cake and tried my darnedest to make it work. Alas, I stretched to much and it tore. Crap! I did the best I could to smooth it down and moved on.

I wanted the heart for HK right in the middle of the cake so I dabbled a little water and made a little sticky patch about 2" in diameter. You will notice the texture of the fondant gets kind of gummy when you do this. I stuck my heart on and prayed to God that it was centered. (Another thing I am not very good at).

Afterward, I cut the heart section of the template off and cut around the actually Kitty part of the shape. Again, I traced the area with a toothpick, this time on the white fondant, and cut it out with a knife. I dabbed some water on the heart shape and placed the kitty shape on the heart. (A little off center to my consternation. I didn't notice until it was set.)



HK got a little oily from all that handling.

 Now for the detail work. I laid the template over the cake and used a toothpick to punch a tiny hole where the eyes and the nose should be. From what I understand, making a true black fondant is hard work, so I chickened out and bought a black tube of regular icing. Unfortunately it was a little thin, it seemed to have separated a little. I guess I didn't squeeze the packet enough to make sure it was remixed. Oh well. I made the eyes, nose, and paw outlines.

Now, Hello Kitty is all about the bow on her ear. In some images of HK (particularly "wedding" Hello Kitty) she has a flower on her head instead. I had a tiny flower cutter already so I opted to use it instead of fighting my exhaustion for the bow.

After the flower was in place, I added the whiskers and a little ear fold details. One of the whiskers ended up running together a little on one side after the cake sat, but it's no big deal. Just be careful not to rest your hand on the cake or you will smear your detail work.

Black icing: "As soon as this photo is over, I will smudge into my neighboring whisker!" *Evil laugh*

At this point, I told myself I was done, but that damn tear in the pink ribbon was bothering me. You see, I wasn't paying close enough attention when I put the heart down, so the tear was front and center, instead of hidden in the back. I thought for a few minutes about how I could hide it, and then it came to me: a bow of course! HK has to have a bow.

Using the remaining pink 1" strips I had, I fashioned a bow to cover the tear. All you have to do is gently fold the strip in half and pinch the base flat-ish. Cut of any excess fondant and stick it to the cake. Two folded strips will make a standard bow. Make a disk to place in the center to hide your pinches. Then, use a toothpick to "fluff out" the loops of the bow. It was the perfect finishing touch. I couldn't have been more pleased with how the whole thing turned out.

Tear? What tear? All I see is an ADORABLE bow!

Thankfully, the cake made the trip to work without incident. I had to drive it alone this time. I think I'm getting pretty good at transport. Now we are just waiting for the surprise party at 1 o'clock. I'll post a picture of her with it later this afternoon if I can.