Playing with Fondant

While I was in Seattle for a week I got the idea that I would try to make a cake for Thomas’ birthday.  The main reason was because I was looking at amazing Safari themed cakes and they were so expensive that I couldn’t afford to buy them. 

So I thought, how hard could it be?  After searching for pictures and reading up on the difference between gum paste and fondant I decided that I should probably use fondant for the first attempt. 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t want to tackle making it, as I had no clue what it should feel like.  I then found that Duff, from Ace of Cakes, has a line of fondant tools and products at Michaels.  So I was off to the store and returned with 20 lbs of fondant, gel food coloring, a fondant rolling pin and circle cutters

I really enjoy creating things.  I love to play and see my ideas come to fruition.   Over the years I have had good ideas, making a cake, scrapbooking, and making stuff for our wedding.  I have also had some flops, I thought I could be an oil painter extraordinaire, I was extremely wrong!

It was a really easy to work with fondant.  After a few seconds in the microwave it was like playing with smooth clay.   The monkey was the most difficult for me.   After reviewing my creation with Mike we both determined that the first monkey was scary and it ended up in the trash.  The woman who made my wedding cake taught me a trick and I used it.   She said that she always  puts frosting on her cake and then puts the fondant on top of that.  I thought that this worked really well.  My creation worked and I had a lot of fun doing it.  The animals didn’t take too long and the great thing is that the fondant can sit in the fridge or freezer for a long time.  I still have the animals sitting in there because I don’t have the heart to throw them out.