July 30, 2013

Fondant Decorating Time!

Over the past few months, I've been working more and more with fondant on cakes for parties.  Even though after each is done, I feel like there is stuff I wish I had done better, I think they look pretty good.  I always use marshmallow fondant.  I think it tastes much better than regular fondant and it is very easy to work with.

This cake was covered in white fondant then I hand cut each piece to create a chevron print on the sides.  The cake was a tequila sunrise inspired cake so the color design was supposed to evoke the look of the drink.



This cake was for a friend's birthday party.  It is made to look like a Hobbit hole.  The cake isn't completely fondant, it is a mix of buttercream and fondant.  These materials are hard to put together since the fondant just wants to absorb the moisture from the buttercream.  You can't get a really hard fondant with this usage.  The buttercream was made to look like grass covering the whole cake, while the rest of the work is made of fondant.



Another friend asked for a special cake for his birthday.  I made a Lego Star Wars cake.  I used round cake pans (same ones I used for the Hobbit cake) to get a nice shape without having to waste a bunch of excess cake during shaping.  My inspiration for this cake was the idea that the inside was made out of Legos and they had lifted up a panel to work on it.




A few months later I had another birthday party to go to... you can see a theme here.  This cake was for a 1920s themed birthday party.  Everything was 1920s, so the cake was no exception.  It was a simply designed cake with Art Deco elements added.



Here is my most recent cake.  I made this cake for a baby shower.  The invitations had a robot on it, so I recreated it out of fondant for the topper.  He is holding onto a bundle that is supposed to look like he's carrying a baby (like a stork)... though I think it looks like of like he robbed a bank.  The rest of the cake and cake board were covered in fondant using a printed mat.  This mat was terrible to use.  The fondant stuck to it the whole time.  Advice for anyone trying to use one of these is to spray it with cooking spray first.  It adds a gross slick layer to the outside of the cake, but if you use a vodka wash on it then most of the slickness will evaporate.  It just makes it a much softer fondant.