Saturday, February 22, 2014

Cake Experiments

So the boy-o's first birthday is rapidly approaching, and I've been busy collecting little bits of stuff here and there for his Pirate Themed party. One of the main focal points for a kids birthday is certainly the cake and as a crafty person I knew right away that I wanted to make his cake myself rather than hire someone to make it. I've never worked with fondant before, but I was considering making him a fondant cake. I decided I would try making a few "practice cakes" in order to get a handle on how to use this fondant stuff well before the boy-o's birthday.

My first attempt at a fondant cake was for Valentine's Day. Like all last minute urgent decisions I didn't decide to make this cake until two days before Valentine's Day, which meant I was a little limited on the supplies that were still available. There was no red fondant or any red dye left, so I picked up white and pink, and some blue and purple dye. The cake was just a simple Rainbow box mix with butter cream icing. (There was much moaning about the lack of chocolate...)

I didn't have a proper fondant rolling pin, or a cake mat, but I managed to work it out with a large wooden rolling pin and my kitchen counter. I found it pretty easy to work with, and I didn't have any troubles making sure there were no creases in the sides or edges when I smoothed the white fondant over the cake. So far so good!

When it came time to make the decorations: the bow, twisted ribbon, and the hearts, I found the fondant resembled play dough an *immense* amount in terms of texture and work-ability. I dyed some of the extra white fondant blue to make the bow and found it pretty easy to work the colour through evenly. The pink was pre-dyed.


I added the final detailing on the bow with an edible marker, which was also pretty easy to use, although I did have to press harder with it than I imagined I would. All in all for a first attempt at using fondant I think it was a big success! There are definitely some things I learned along the way, and there are some mistake I made as I went that I would fix for next time--largely because I had no idea what I wanted to actually make ahead of time.


I'm feeling confident after this first attempt that I'll be able to make the boy-o an awesome birthday cake! I've got one more practice attempt before then at the end of March for Hubby's birthday. He's requested a volcano cake! Go big or go home I guess!

8 comments:

  1. I think this was a wonderful first attempt. I would have paid for that cake! It was a good idea to practice and I hope the actual pirate cake is just as successful for you. Alana from the UBC.

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    1. Thanks for your kind comment! I'm a bit of perfectionist, so I always see what could have been done better. I'm pretty confident the boy-o's pirate cake will turn out just fine though. :)

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  2. First attempt looks nice! once you start baking gets addictive. I have been baking for 6 years now. Nice Job.

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    1. Thanks very much! I love baking, and I've made some pretty awesome cakes before but had never tried fondant. I don't actually like the taste of it so I'm not sure how often I'll use it, but it's nice to know how to do.

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  3. Oh my! If that's a first attempt, you'll be fine! My hubby does our cake decorating around here. I'm too much of a perfectionist and I have meltdown. Me, not the cakes. :)

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    1. I'm a big perfectionist as well, but I've learned to accept flaws in things as something to work out better next time. Thanks for the vote of confidence! :)

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  4. This looks amazing and especially as a first attempt. I don't think I could get a cake to look like that if I tried every day for a year!

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    1. Thanks for your comment Katie! I'm sure you could if you wanted to! I'm big into anything artsy/crafty so I figured I wouldn't have too much trouble with it since I love baking as well. It's definitely not for everyone though.

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