My very first fondant cake!

Well ladies & gentlemen, I no longer am a fondant virgin, or gumpaste virgin for that matter.  So if you haven’t figured it out I have never before made a cake with fondant. Being the baker in the family, I was asked to make a lady bug themed cake for my nieces first birthday that will serve 50 people.  I knew that I had to make something that would hold well and thought fondant would be the natural choice.  I didn’t want to go into this blindly, so this past weekend I had a test run.

I admit that I’m not a fan of fondant, sure it looks pretty but the taste is nothing to write home about.  I contemplated buying ready-made fondant but thought how hard can it be to make.  Turn out; not so hard after all.  For this cake I made a marshmallow fondant from a recipe that I found on-line. People, it took me literary less than 20 minutes.  So I urge you, if you buy ready-made fondant give this recipe a try (recipe to follow). So Friday night I made the fondant and let it rest in the fridge.

Saturday I tackled gumpaste.  As you can see there are no lady bugs on my cake, those I have made before using marzipan.  Flowers on the other hand was totally new to me.  I purchased two molds at Michael’s, a daisy mold and a regular 5 pedal mold.  I used ready-made Wilton gumpaste.  The first few flowers I made were pretty unimaginative.  Then I started playing around with textures and using the tools and got a little better with practice.

I finished making the flowers on Sunday morning.  Then in the afternoon I assembled the cake.  The inside consisted of 2 8-inch vanilla sponge cakes both layered.  I thought for the filling I would use a chocolate custard, the same one I used from my cannoli.  I found the sponge cake to be too dense at first and crumbled easily when cutting.  The custard was also too firm, and did not allow me to spread it over the layers.  I crumb coated it with a swiss meringue vanilla butter-cream, which is to die for.  So it’s back to searching for the perfect sponge cake….so if any of you have any recipes you’re willing to share I would be forever grateful.

Now came the part that I was dreading all weekend.  Rolling out the fondant and not having it tear or stick.  The verdict? Success! Just remember that when rolling out fondant or gumpaste for that matter, corn starch is your friend….your BEST friend.

When I finally assembled the cake and place the flowers on it I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything came together.  Not bad for my first time, it was less painful than I imagined.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe found here: whatcookingamerica.net ( I halved the recipe as I made a smaller cake)