a light yellow butter cake frosted with vanilla buttercream and decorated with dense, sweet fondant

Fondant is a smooth, sugary frosting that can be rolled out, colored and shaped. It's popularly used in wedding cake and the magnificent cake constructions made on about five different shows of the Food Network. Traditionally, it looks pretty and tastes terrible--it's considered a wrapper and is left discarded on most plates. However, this recipe, made with marshmallows (seriously) and powdered sugar, is quite tasty. This is my first adventure with fondant or any kind of fancy cake decoraintg.

First we must start with making the fondant. It lasts very well in the fridge (several weeks, some say), so I advise making it in advance so all you have to do on cake-constructing day is take it out and unwrap it. Making the fondant takes a goodly amount of time--or, rather, cleaning up afterwards does.



Marshmallow Fondant
http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm
16 oz. white mini marshmallows
2-5 Tb water (a thought: change this out with a flavored liquid like orange juice for a slightly flavored fondant)
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 C Crisco, for greasing hands (I never said this wasn't messy, boys and girls)

First, put on an apron or some old clothes. Then, clear a space in your kitchen. Get a clean space to knead your fondant on (a cutting board works nicely) and put a small bowl of Crisco beside it. Grease the cutting board a little, too.

Next, melt the marshmallows and the water together. You can do this in a large glass bowl in the microwave or, as I did, in a metal bowl put over a small pot of simmering water. Dump about half the powdered sugar on top of the marshmallows and dump the whole thing onto the cutting board.

Grease your hands generously. Trust me, this sticky. Knead, carefully, until the sugar is fully incorportated, then add the rest of the sugar in batches until smooth. Knead until the fondant can be rolled into an elastic ball. If it's tearing or you see little patches of dry sugar, add a little water, but conservatively.

When you're done, roll it into a ball, coat it in a little Crisco, wrap it in plastic wrap (I suggest two layers), and refrigerate until you're ready to use it.



Now we have to consider the cake. I didn't want to do white cake, because that says weddings, so I went with a nice yellow. The difference between a white cake and a yellow cake is the white cake has egg whites and the yellow does not (sometimes; I'm sure there are different kinds of white and yellow cakes too). This recipe is from joyofbaking.com, one of my favorite baking sites (my favorite scone recipe hails from here, as does my lemon curd). The procedure is not the normal cake procedure; it's much more like a scone with extra liquid. The batter is not very smooth, and I was a little worried, even though I trust this site. The cake comes out fine in the end, however.


If anyone recognizes this symbol, you have excellent manga tastes. This cake was for a friend who definitely recognized this symbol.

I baked this in small straight-sided ramekins or custard cups. I wanted to be able to make several different cake designs; the major purpose of this whole endeavour was to practice my nonexistent cake decorating abilities.

Yellow Cake
I got about ten little cakes out of this recipe

joyofbaking.com
2.5 C cake flour
1/2 C AP flour
1 1/2 C sugar
4 tsp baking powder
12 Tb butter
4 egg yolks
1 egg

1 C milk
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter), and 1/4 C milk for about two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the yolks, remaining milk (3/4 C), and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Fill baking dishes halfway and bake for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at their centers comes out dry. Let cool.


For a bird-watcher friend.

Before doing anything with the fondant, you have to crumb-coat each cake with buttercream frosting. The frosting serves both to smooth out the surface of the cake and to act as an adhesive for the fondant.

Buttercream Frosting
Betty Crocker's Vanilla Buttercream recipe
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
splash of milk (enough to just get it the right consistency, 1-2 Tb)

Beat sugar and butter together until smooth, then add vanilla. Slowly drizzle in milk until it reaches a soft, spreadable consistency. If you accidently add too much, just add a little more sugar.



Constructing the cakes

In the center of your serving platform, place a dab of buttercream. This will help hold the cake in place. Ease a cake out of the ramekin and place it on the frosting. Frost the cake with the buttercream. This does not have to be very pretty. Mine certainly wasn't.



Now, set up a playing-with-fondant area. You need:
a board to roll the fondant on; if you are coloring the fondant, get a second cutting board to roll out the colored fondant on.
a rolling pin
a bowl with a few Tb of Crisco
a bowl of corn starch
a few toothpicks
a pizza cutter
a paring knife or other small knife
a cake spatula, if you have one
food coloring of your choice

I'd also recommend an apron.



Grab a hunk of fondant and place on the board, which has been dusted with corn starch. Coat the rolling pin in corn starch and roll the fondant out into a large circle. Try to get it as thin as you can without it ripping when you pick it up. I got much better at judging this as the days went on (three of them! I like playing with my food).

Lay the fondant circle over the frosted cake and press it into the sides. Use the pizza cutter to trim away the extra at the base.

Now you can add decorations.



Color fondant by adding a few drops of food coloring and kneading it into a hunk of dough. If you don't like your hands being multicolored for days, wear food-safe gloves. I found coloring fondant made it more wet and likely to tear. Adding a little cornstarch dried it out and adding a little Crisco made it more flexible.

To make strips, roll out the fondant thin and use the pizza cutter to cut strips of whatever size you wish. Wet the cske's fondant lightly where you want to put the strip, and then carefully lay the strip down and press it into place.



If there are cornstarch sprinkles all over your cake, you can brush them off with your fingers or rub them into the fondant.

To make flowers, I liked using the scraps from the main fondant covering. Take a long thin strip of material and wrap it around and around, gathering at the base. Practice a little with scraps and see what happens.

Toothpicks can be used to adjust fondant on the cake or to make small details.

The letters were written with the flat of a toothpick. The sprinkles were applied with the wet edge of a spoon.

Be creative and have fun. If you do any playing, I'd love to see pictures!