Posts tagged fondant

My posts have seriously dwindled since I became pregnant. My priorities have shifted (so excited for this baby!!) and cake sort of fell off the radar when the fatigue and morning sickness kicked in…and stayed and stayed. On very rare occasions I crawl into the kitchen to bake—and this was one of them…

 The extra tall top tier is blue velvet cake with vanilla frosting, and the bottom is milk chocolate. I made the purple and green marshmallow fondant at home and handed over a small fortune to buy a little tub of Duff black fondant (because making black fondant at home is just insane). I think it turned out pretty good!

Usually when I make a cake there is some drama involved. Something almost always goes wrong. This time, it all just fell into place. The cake, fondant, and frosting behaved beautifully…. 

…like it was meant to be. The only little blip is on the “congrats”. Someone (you know who you are) made me laugh while I was writing it, and well- now it has character. Here are some photos of the creative process. 

Congrats to Hailey, and all the rest of you 2011 grads out there!

Our big, extended family Mom’s Day celebration gave me the perfect reason to make this cake:

I’m not the best at placing flowers on a cake, so I got a little help from a friend : ) 

The top layer is dense, chocolate cake with cherry pie filling and a thick ribbon of Dutch chocolate icing to keep said filling from squishing out.

The bottom is lemon cake with vanilla mousse filling. The pink fondant was made using my favorite marshmallow fondant recipe. 

Kudos to my uncle Jeff for giving me a lesson on how to use my camera- I love this photo!

I wanted to make an elegant cake to follow Easter dinner, and decided on Red Velvet. The rich texture and red color make it the perfect choice. I’ve also been wanting to use this beautiful cake plate I got for Christmas:

The cake and its plate look like they were made for each other. I used Martha Stewart’s Red Velvet Cake Recipe with excellent results. I’ve included tutorials for both:   Red Velvet Cake Recipe and Cake Assembly.

I love mini tiered cakes. Perhaps the thought of eating an ENTIRE cake myself is what makes them so appealing…

This little vanilla-bean cake is dipped in chocolate ganache, and wrapped in chocolate fondant…

This one is a chocolate cake with vanilla meringue frosting and fresh blueberries.

These would also be perfect for a shower or even a formal occasion. 

…then this is the cake for you! This cake was a special surprise for the author of a knitting blog called Sunshine’s Creations.  Her knitting designs are amazing- so I wanted to impress her with something realistic. I used Makin’s Ultimate Clay Extruder to make the fondant into yarn. A clay extruder is a less expensive alternative to a Sugarcraft Gun. I wrapped the “yarn” around some chocolate cake balls. 

For the basket texture I used an icing impression mat. Underneath the fondant lies a smooth and creamy layer of caramel frosting surrounding a scrumptious spice cake!

 …You get to finish the story. 

Bottom cake: Rainbow Sprinkle cake with (Pastry Pride) vanilla mousse filling. Top: Milk Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling.

This was my first attempt at fondant animals— not bad. It’s a bit like making clay animals. I really loved making the giraffe’s knobby little knees. As you can see in this next photo, the monkey is totally losing his bananas!

Cozy Cocoa. A wintery “Welcome Home” cake for my brother-in-law Jordan. He recently returned from the California Roseville Mission.

Little kids love Thomas. He’s cute, colorful, and has all sorts of adventures… He doesn’t annoy me like some of the other characters out there- which is definite plus. It’s also a hoot to hear my son use British phrases he hears on the show like “I’m so cross today!” or, “He’s a cheeky one.” In making this cake for one of his little friends, I tried to capture the color, simplicity, and fun that is Thomas: