Weddingbee

Yes, in honor of my friend Lillers’ bridal shower, I volunteered to make cake (after I unvolunteered myself from the duty of flowers, to which I had originally been assigned. b/c I’m charming like that).

Anyway, since I had gone and gotten the cake assignment, I figured I better be bringing a cake that kicked the ass of any other cake. (And knowing that Mel–original cake-bringer–would have brought a pretty nice cake, I had to up the ante even more). So I decided to enter the world of rolled fondant. And what a wonderful world it is! I am now *obsessed* with it and cannot wait for more fondant experiments.

Check out my cake and then I’ll tell you what I used to make it:

What I used:

• premade rolled fondant (about 24 oz.)
• cornstarch
• clear vanilla extract
• silicon rolling pin
• parchment paper
• gel concentrated icing colors (rose and pink)
• Toothpicks (for adding icing color to fondant)
• Cookie cutters
• Cardboard cake board
• Cake leveler
• Strawberry cake
• Vanilla buttercream icing

What I did:

I baked a strawberry cake in a contoured pan and then “torted” it with a cake leveler (something else I had never done prior to this experience!) I wanted to have two layers, for maximal icing exposure so I measured, leveled and, voila!, a two-layer cake is born. I also used strawberry cake so that when the cake was cut, the color palette would remain consistent. I pumped up the batter with a few drops of food coloring to really make it pop!

Then I iced the cake with the buttercream, between the layers, the top and sides. Once that set a bit, I started kneading flavoring into the fondant and rolling it out on my granite countertop, which I had sprinkled with corn starch. The fondant wasn’t nearly as sticky and hard to work with as I had expected, but it was a pain in the ass to get it rolled into a round disk (1/8″ thick too). It kept being all crooked and flashed me back to my (clearly) inferior nursery school Play-Doh* days. Lack of a perfect circle notwithstanding, I was able to easily drape the fondant over the cake and cut around the cake base for a smooth white finish. (I also used a fondant smoother to get out any bubbles).

Then I grabbed the excess fondant I had cut off the cake and added the icing color in the tiniest increments, kneading in between, until it turned a lovely shade of pink:

I split the ball in (sort of) half and added more coloring to the rest of it to form the above “not so pale” pink shade. Then I again, rolled out the fondant. This time I busted out cookie cutters and made a fair amount of large flower shapes and centers too. I figured out a pattern and “glued” them to the cake top by brushing them with water and pressing them on. As a finishing touch, I formed, oh, about a *billion* little “pearls” to edge the bottom of the cake. I also used the water/stick-on method for these. Then, just in case anyone was also a chocolate fan, I made devil’s food cupcakes, which I iced in vanilla and decorated with pink airbrushing and sanding sugar. So cute. (and so delish!)

And here’s a peek inside the cake (iIwas too excited to try it to remember to photograph it before I half-demolished it!):

All in all, the cakes were a success and so was the shower–such a fun time!! (and the flowers, were *way* better than they would have been had I remained on that task). All’s well…

---

* funnily enough, with my last Play-Doh adventure at Carmine’s with a bunch of friends + kids, I also made a similar(ish) pink flower.
My inspiration? Who can say! (No, I did not bring my own Play-Doh, I was just lucky enough to steal share some with the kiddies).

• We’re Married! (Aga...
• Hatley Castle