There is a local website that allows brides to barter for services for their wedding. It is pretty new, but I discovered it and contacted the one bride who had posted for needing a cake. Since I only had pictures of one tiered cake, I made 2 this week and sent her pictures of one of them.
The first cake is a chocolate cake with fondant daisies. I was thinking since it was a miniature cake I could use a single cake for each layer, but the dimensions look weird I think. I thought all the daisies looked so neat laying on my counter, but I couldn’t seem to make them as random when I put them on the cake. I took this cake to a Bible study and all the girls loved it.
Next up was a fondant cake. I learned my lesson and used 2 cakes for each layer. I think I need more practice with fondant! I mixed fondant and gumpaste to make the monogram. I wanted to stick the monogram on top but I was out of toothpicks and couldn’t figure out a way to prop it up without seeing the props in the picture. Next time I may dry toothpicks in the letters to that they can stick in the top.
I redecorated the fondant cake a few different ways, but the best was using Skittles. I was inspired by a cake I saw on Flickr. This is the version I took to the Ronald McDonald House. I made my husband take it in, which was good since a bunch of people were hanging out in the kitchen. They thought the cake was gorgeous and I have trouble taking a compliment. Anyway, one little girl will be staying there so long she had to enroll in school here. Instead of leaving the cake out like they normally do, they are going to bring it out at supper tonight and give it to her as a “Back to School” cake. I thought that was pretty neat.
For anyone who has worked with fondant, I need help! I covered each tier separately before stacking them. What type of knife do you use to cut the bottom of the fondant? I am not sure if you can tell from this picture, but my edges were not very neat. There was no way I could use this cake without using ribbons to hide the edges of the cake. On the top and bottom layers, I ended up with overlap of fondant. I never could get the lines to disappear. I kind of filled it in with buttercream, which you don’t see in this picture, but what do I do in the future? I know I probably just need practice. This is only the 3rd or 4th fondant cake I have ever done.
