Crazy Caking

My good friend who is an amazing cake decorator, recommended using Marshmallow Fondant. It's a "home made" fondant recipe that she said was easy and made great fondant. I've been using my own internet-found recipe to make my own fondant (I refuse to pay $7 for a small box of tasteless, or nasty-tasting fondant!), but thought that I'd give the Marshmallow Fondant a shot.

W-O-W. It is even better than the store-bought one for taste (although anything homemade is on that front), but it competes with store-bought fondant on texture! I was SUPER impressed and really do recommend the recipe! It is also EASY to make, an added bonus.

Oh, and for another tip/trick- if you want to make some RED icing or fondant, use some drink mix- Black Cherry Koolaid is what I used this time, although I've heard Crystal Light also works (I used the Crystal Light in a gumpaste/fondant mix and the color was amazing, but it made the dough sticky). My hands didn't even get too red from mixing the fondant, but I had to add quite a bit of water to the red fondant. Oh, and it looked pink at first, so be sure to let the fondant rest after mixing in one package... I added two packets and I could see dark purplish spots where the koolaid wasn't blended well. Still- cheap way to get a good color (I've gone through nearly a WHOLE JAR of powdered red coloring- that stuff wasn't any $0.25, either!)

So, Zoë asked for a cake with roses on it again this year. I tried to convince her we should do something new, and she was agreeable to let me try out making her a Ladybug cake. She compromised with me in that the Ladybug cake can be for her Birthday Party on Saturday, and she would settle for the rose-covered cake on Sunday, her actual birthday. So, I still have one more cake to make before Sunday, but I don't think it'll be too hard...


You might be able to see that this little Ladybug once had a tongue sticking out. Miranda decided to rearrange the eyeballs and remove the tongue. I couldn't find it, and she was upset that it got lost. But, this little bug still looks cute without the tongue.

My good friend, who just had a baby on the last day of last year, also had a birthday this month. And, because I was sleep-deprived and a dolt, I completely spaced it! So, I also made her a belated birthday cake. I saw a cute idea on the internet, and tried my hand at it...


The monkeys are YUMMY (chocolate fondant- just add some baking cocoa to the fondant, mix in a little more water and shortening to make sure it takes and voila!). It isn't the first time I tried to make the monkeys. I tried it with REALLY old fondant and Miranda knocked off body parts. I then tried it with my Play-Dough Cookie recipe, but forgot that things melt a little and all the monkey bodies fell flat on their faces (but they were super yummy, too!) So, with the left over fondant from Zoë's cake, I went ahead and tried the third time, and I think it worked like a charm! She was happy about it, and her kids loved it, too.

I just hope that they also like the cake that is underneath all the fun fondant- I used the Cake Mix Doctor book again. LOVE that book! It's worth buying online for $5, and I have only had one recipe not work out as great as promised.

Ahhh, it's so fun to make these cakes! I just wish I had somebody else to clean up the mess behind me...