Monday, August 3, 2009

Happy Birthday to me...


My birthday was yesterday and because I am going to be attending culinary school in the fall, I thought I should try to work with fondant again. I figured there is no better time to practice than for my own birthday, because if it didn't turn out, then the only person that would be let down would be me (or maybe my boyfriend because he paid for the supplies/ingredients since he wanted to buy me a cake. But I don't really think he would care either way).

I was a little bit nervous to attempt this cake, since my first fondant cake took me for-e-ver (picturing Smalls from The Sandlot), and cost me lots of tears and heartache. But I thought it turned out ok.

Problems I had:
  • Trouble covering the cake: My boyfriend helped me lay the fondant on the cake since I didn't have a large rolling pin (oh yeah, that was fun...I didn't have my large fondant rolling pin with me and so I had to use my mini one to roll out my fondant. You know the one you use to roll out tiny bits of fondant for flowers and whatnot. *sigh*) and as we're laying it on top he asks me how is the cake going to be smooth with no creases. Good question I told him. I flashed back to my Wilton fondant class to the moment where I was covering my cake with fondant....oh that's right, I didn't cover my cake with fondant, the instructor pretty much did it for me. Great. Now I remembered she kind of pulled on the fondant and it just magically smoothed out and the creases ended up below the cake and I cut them off. So I tried that...and instead of magically smoothing out, mine stretched...and tore. *heavy sigh* Awesome. At least I was adding circles to the cake so I could cover the tears. I managed to get all of the creases out except for the one in the back of the cake....hence no pictures of the back of the cake. Haha. :o) Solved that problem! But seriously, I don't even remember how I did that on my first cake which was quite curvy.
  • Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make it so there are no creases?
  • Air pockets underneath the fondant: I tried poking a hole but that didn't really work. I had way too much air underneath there.
  • Droopy fondant: The numbers are droopy and I know it's because they didn't get to dry long enough. So...
  • How long do they really need to dry before they will stand up straight?
    And once they can stand up straight, how do you secure them on the top of the cake?

In the end, I was a little bummed but I didn't cry about it, so I think it was successful. :o)
However, any suggestions or advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

-amanda

9 comments:

  1. We are our worst critic and enemy as I have been told recently. I think the cake came out great and you are just a little hard on yourself. I Love the colors and the numbers shapes. I say Great Work!

    Once Again Happy Birthday!

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  2. I think it's awesome! It has a whimsical Dr. Seuss-ness about it. I like the droopy numbers, but... coming from someone who knows nothing about cake decor and will probably never do anything like this. Could you not cover pipe cleaners in the fondant? I know the fondant is supposed to be able to be eaten, but would someone really eat them? Just a thought.

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  3. Thanks for the comments!

    jomamma- I did stick some wires in it, but they must not have been strong enough. oh well.

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  4. Hey Amanda. I think the cake looks awesome. The numbers may be droopy, but I think they are funky. You need to dry fondant for at least 2 days for it to be really stiff. But usually it's best to use gumpaste for that type of structure. It hardens REALLY solid.

    As far as your air bubbles are concerned. It's just a matter of smoothing the fondant down the sides - like you do with wallpaper. However, that's really hard when it's tearing as you work. Been there many times,

    Practice, practice, practice.

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  5. I'm sorry to hear the cake caused you some frustration. I think it looks fantastic and by looking at it, I would have never guessed that it was troublesome at times. You did a great job and looks very cool and modern.

    I've heard that fondant is hard to work with and takes getting used to. I'm sure in time it will all be a piece of cake ;)

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  6. Hi Amanda, cake looks really yummy. Nice colour combination. Mouth started watering after having look at the photo

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  7. I thought the number were supposed to be that way. The cake looked great! Don't be so hard on yourself. You have a lot of talent.

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  8. I know all about tears and cake. But you just gotta keep on trying. I've yet to try to cover a cake in fondant, but yours looks nice. And I agree with other people saying that the numbers look cool droopy like that. I thought it was on purpose. Good luck in culinary school. I totally envy you.

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