Cake Tutorial

Well, no one asked for it, but here it goes anyway. A tutorial to Ryan and Felicia's (slightly inappropriate) anniversary cake. It was time consuming, and the fondant was a bit tricky, but overall it's not a very complicated cake. Anyone can do it!

1. Make your cakes. I had to bake mine in metal bowls, but it would probably fare better if you made them in actual cake pans shaped accordingly. I just used a box cake of chocolate fudge. As you can see, the one cake broke, but after icing it held together fine.


While the cakes were baking, I made my fondant by using this recipe here. I can't explain the process any better, and I referenced this throughout. I didn't use the same powdered sugar she recommends (I used Domino) and I went for the corn starch method over the Crisco. It worked really well, but don't be afraid to add a bit of water if needed when you're ready to apply the fondant to your cake. I had to, and it didn't mess anything up.

2. Ice your cakes. This helped the fondant stick and made everything tastier. On the fondant site, it says to use buttercream. Because of a lack of time, I used canned chocolate fudge icing, which worked great. I put a generous layer all over both cakes.


3. Add the accent, if you want to. I used peanut M&Ms, which worked nicely. The one sunk into the cake a little bit, or maybe it turned, I don't know. (Sorry, no picture here.)

4. Roll out your fondant. You'll have to knead it again (since it was in the fridge) and may need to add a bit of water (see above). I literally wet my fingertips and worked water in this way - it was a very miniscule amount. If you want to add color, do it here. I made half pink and half peach. I'd recommend using plastic gloves, because my hands are still a little red as I type this a day later. Reference the fondant recipe instructions above on how to roll out your fondant. Use corn starch or Crisco. I'd also roll it pretty thin - I think mine ended up being too thick. (No picture here, either.)

5. Apply the "skin" first. I rolled it out to the approximate size and laid the peach fondant over the cakes. I then smoothed everything down, but didn't push too hard. If anything looks crackly, wet your finger tip with water and try to smooth it out. Trim the excess fondant.


6. Now it's time for the bra. I wanted mine red and was going to pipe on lace, but again because of the lack of time I opted to just go with pink. (It's hard to work in the color.) I trimmed my fondant and rolled the edge under that was going to be diagonally across each cake. I then cut little strips for the bra straps and just laid them on the cake board. As before, tuck, trim and smooth.


7. Now, you're done! I piped on a message with my leftover chocolate icing. You could add detail to the bra, add a tattoo - go crazy. :)

Here's the happy couple with their gift.


And after it was cut into.


And poor little Piper. I think she thought the cake might have just randomly rolled off the table or something.


Final critique? It was tasty. The fondant is better than other types I've tried, although I have to say I'm still not crazy about it. I think if I rolled it thinner it would have gone over better. It tastes pretty much like condensed sugar. I really liked working with the fondant and I'm excited to try some other cakes.

This opens up a whole new cake-world for me. Stay tuned!