…and here is the result:
A practice version of the cake to top my friend's daughter's wedding cupcake tower next month and a very happy me for finally trying my hand at fondant. This stuff is so fun!
It's not "real" fondant, the stuff with crazy ingredients – gelatin? glycerin? glucose syrup? gum arabic or gum tragancanth for crying out loud?!? The stuff that, from what I hear, tastes horrible – I don’t care how beautiful it looks; if a cake doesn’t taste good, why bother?!?
No, it's marshmallow fondant.
Yeah, it’s made of melted marshmallows.
And powdered sugar.
And water and a bit of shortening. How bad can that taste?!?
And only four ingredients, all ones that I'm already very familiar with. What a lucky day it was when I stumbled across this page where PegW tells all about this marvelously fun gooey goodness.
So this friend of mine is the one who gave me her huge stash of tips, coloring gels, etc. When she asked for help making her daughter’s wedding cake, how could I say no? Then we found out from the bride what cake she saw on Cake Boss and really really liked... See photo below!
OK, guess it was finally time to try out the fondant recipe!
So here’s the cake with the fondant on and the beginnings of the “quilted” look the bride loves (and with the bride’s mom and sister in the background mass-producing colored shapes)...
…and here with more stuff stuck on (we brushed the backs with water to make them stick better) and dots piped into each intersection.
Perhaps when I make my second practice cake later this week, I can share more info, if anyone's interested.
But PegW's site has great photos and instructions for the fondant making process; and also this nice tutorial at cakejournal.com. For fondant rolling and placing tips, see this page at baking911.com. Or feel free, as always, to leave any comments or questions below.
Oh, and here are some of the practice cupcakes:
We’re trying to decide – little shapes? big shapes? centered? off-centered? big background squares? smaller background squares? Which are your favorites?
That is way too cute. How does it taste?
ReplyDeleteI like the one on the bottom right if you're only choosing one design but it might be kinda cool to do an assortment of designs. Then they'd sort of match the asymmetrical design on the cake.
ReplyDeleteI did cupcakes for my wedding. Huge hit. Everyone loves cupcakes and we did 4 flavors so everyone could have a cupcake they liked.
Samson just looked over my shoulder at the screen and exclaimed, "They need to invite us over!" I laughed and asked, "For cake?" He said, "Yeah! They can't possibly eat all those practice cakes by themselves!!" :-) He says you're invited to bring that yummy cake over here and eat it with us on our new deck! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cindy. As for taste, it's really not bad. The kids LOVE it -- have been eating the leftover shapes as treats! My husband doesn't like it. I think the taste is fine eating it plain, but am curious to see how I'll like it when eaten with cake. It's much "chewier" than buttercream, of course, so I think THAT's what I won't like as much.
ReplyDeleteChris, I think we will do an assortment. But I'm with you -- the bottom right one was the last one I did and my favorite too!
By the way, for your wedding, did you figure one cupcake per person? Was that accurate?
I like the bottom right one best too, but I agree that an assortment would be fun. Your cake (and the cupcakes) look great!
ReplyDeleteScream! K, they are gorgeous! You talented person, you! I love the quilted look. i love the recipe. Must try that for E's birthday. Try being the operative word here. Like both the off-center ones in the bottom row. I think alternate between both. Then you get some mainly yellow accent and some mainly pink. But keep the all-pink intersection dots. LOVE!
ReplyDeleteSorry - Went back and looked more carefully. I like the off-center big flower with the heart middle. I like the one you did and I'd suggest the reverse combo as well (yellow flower, pink heart).
ReplyDeleteWe figured one and a half cupcakes for everyone plus a 6 inch round cake to put in the freezer for our first anniversary. We assumed some folks would want more than one cupcake since we had multiple flavors. It turns out that we had way too many cupcakes because people were full from the barbecue. If I did it again, I think I'd make one per person and provide a way for people to take them home. Maybe make some Chinese take-out containers to match the cake.
ReplyDeleteDo you plan to make each flavor of cake a different cupcake design? How many cupcakes do you need to make? They are truly gorgeous and you have gone WAY beyond being "good" at many things!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say, I enjoyed reading about this "artform" and watching the videos. OmiZaza
ReplyDeleteDee, ha ha, actually, my friend took most of the cupcakes home with her (left 3 behind, one for each of my girls to eat) and the cake is in my freezer to test how well it defrosts after a week in there... But hmmm, the wheels are turning, how about a HD logo cake for his birthday...
ReplyDeleteChris, thanks for the insight about how many. And the take-out link is FANTASTIC! Thank you!!! Would be PERFECT for extra cupcakes, but also for all sorts of other things!!!
Omi, I think there will be 24 dozen cupcakes, probably just half chocolate and half yellow.
All, thanks for your design votes. The bride wants a variety, but I think I'll encourage her to have only one design per tier, so then there's variety but not chaos.
Ooh... I like the idea that each flavor has a design. You could do a "flavor chart" like in the box of chocolates so that people know that the ones with the pink flowers are chocolate and the ones with the yellow flowers are lemon - or whatever.
ReplyDeleteHhhhmmm, I have seen these in a bakery. They are adorable. Although, I am like Ken. I couldn't eat that stuff either. BUT....they are sooo cute!
ReplyDeleteI also like the bottom right one.
Chris - LOVE the flavor chart idea (though not needed in our case because the liners are see-through, so the choices of chocolate or yellow are very obvious!) but I think I will lobby that each flavor gets its own predominant color...
ReplyDeleteJenny, you don't like ANY frosting, do you?
those look great...im anxious to hear how it tastes :)
ReplyDeleteAre you joking or do you really not know? :) I have been known to lick all the buttercream frosting off an entire yellow cake! YUMMY! :)
ReplyDelete'zelda, they're actually not too bad. I don't like it as much as regular frosting, but I think that's mainly because it still feels so unfamiliar in my mouth...
ReplyDeleteJenny, nope, I did NOT know that about you. So funny! I totally can't picture it. You seem like a pillar of resolve and self-control... : )
I melt in the face of frosting! :)
ReplyDelete