The DIY Cake #2: Behind the Scenes

Posted by Liana at 1:10 PM

In continuation of my previous post, more behind-the-scenes goodness on The Cake!

After the cakes were baked, we put them in the fridge to chill overnight. Cutting the cakes into smaller layers was easy the next day, especially with a proper cake-cutting knife!


You get quite a bit of leftovers (the tops are uneven so those went into this massive scrap pile)


Then it's as simple as putting the layers together with LOTS of yummy icing in-between. I used vanilla for the middle layer, chocolate for the bottom, and cream-cheese for the top.


I used regular store-bought frosting to ice the cakes before they go BACK into the fridge to chill again which helps later in the process so it's not a big melty blob.


After the cakes had time in the fridge again, it was time to roll out the homemade marshmallow fondant we made earlier, and put everything together.


What a mess this makes!


One. Cake. At. A. Time.


All stacked!


Then it was time to pull out the good-for-many-purposes glue-gun to put some ribbon around the layers and then we used florist-tape to cover the ends of some gerber daisies for more cake decorations


All done!

Fondant Attempt Numero Dos

Posted by Liana at 1:01 PM

I think I have a new hobby!

After posting about our first successful try at dressing a cake with Fondant Icing, my darling friend Crystal recommended a recipe for marshmallow fondant that makes it taste even better.

One of my best friends, Kimberly, is getting married next month so we're hosting a bridal shower for her this weekend here at my place. I have a wedding to photograph tonight so I got started early with preparations for Saturday... including my 2nd attempt at a fondant cake.

Making fondant with Marshmallow is QUITE a messy endeavor and after about 10 minutes of kneading the powdered sugar into the marshmallow concoction, Mikey appeared curious and I put him to work with half the batch.

He got powdered sugar ALL over the floor and himself! Haha!



I baked up some mixes real quick using my pro pans. Quick tip... don't bother buying your baking pans at regular retailers... they have the 20-year warranty Pro Baking springform rounds at places like TJ Maxx for a fraction of the cost. These are $25-40 pans for $4-7! And the cakes practically fall out of them in perfect form.




The fondant-making was a lot less complicated than I thought... and I think Mikey actually enjoyed helping out! The clean up was not fun but it WAS a good laugh and a good workout.



Ta-dah! A perfect fondant ball all finished! This stuff feels like play-dough but it's crazy because it's really a big ball of sugar. You're supposed to wrap it and let it sit overnight and then use it.



The final masterpiece is not complete yet (I'll likely be putting it together tomorrow AM or tonight after the wedding) so I'll have to come back and post the verdict on how the homemade marshmallow fondant is to work with and how everything looks and tastes :)

DIY Wedding Cake

Posted by Liana at 11:56 AM

Let me prelude this with the fact that NO, I am not making my own wedding cake. We hired an AMAZING baker in LA to do that and I'm so excited to see/taste it on the big day.

I MAY however be helping with a friend's cake and trying this technique out for some parties and GTGs in the future.

Kimberly and I got together this past Thursday for a fun, girlie "DIY Night." We've gone through the 12-step program to fully admitting to our Martha-esque home-body girlyness and now we're here to share our findings with the world. Findings:

COVERING A CAKE WITH FONDANT ICING IS SOOOOOOO EASY!!!

Gone are the days of me practicing my Wilson Cake Decorating methods with just butter cream (that I learned when I took a class that my mom enrolled me in when I was 12)!!

We didn't have a lot of time because I had to pack last minute to leave town... so we decided to try on the smallest cake possible... for technique purposes. Here we go:


1. Start with a pre-made cake from Publix or Kroger or your neighborhood grocery store. This 9" round single-layer cost us a whopping $7! Remove any decorations and smooth out the butter cream icing.


2. Smooth out the butter cream but leave at least a thin layer - the fondant needs this layer - it has to stick to something!! When you're done, stick it in the freezer or fridge to make the cake firm.

You can buy pre-made fondant at Michaels and other craft stores or order better-tasting stuff from a place like Cooks Dream. You'll also need a fondant roller which is generally longer and less-porous than a rolling pin.


3. Remove the fondant from it's package and kneed it to "warm it up." Then sprinkle some corn starch on your surface to keep it from sticking. Roll out the fondant until it's as thin as you desire (usually 3mm thick more or less). It's like working with play-dough!


4. Now it's time to put it on the cake. Place the cake next to the fondant and roll the fondant onto your fondant-roller. This makes for easy transfer without tearing it. Then simply unroll the fondant over top of the cake and adjust.


5. Now here's the most difficult part (but really it was surprisingly easy!)... the application and smoothing of the fondant. I found this video online from Planet Cake that shows how to do the technique (the whole process really!)

6. Next you cut off the excess with a knife.


7. We then cleaned up the bottom and transfered it to another cardboard. For a "real" cake we'd probably put it on a cardboard the SAME size as the cake so you don't see it at all.




8. Then it's time to decorate!! We had some fun playing with the fondant but since we were out of time we quit before it got too pretty so we could sample a bite before the night was done. Tah-dah!!



My only wish was that pre-made fondant was better-tasting. It's best described as sugar the consistency of gum to chew. Ewwee. But oh-so-pretty!!