My cute little niece just turned 6 years old, and when I was asking her what birthday cake she would like she replied with a "wedding cake". What she meant was a 2 or 3 tier fondant covered and decorated cake. I have never worked with fondant before, but this was the chance to finally try it out.
I ordered ready to roll out fondant in the requested colors pink and purple plus some extra white one. I needed more than I thought, so I was glad I had the extra white fondant. I was a little afraid that it would be hard to roll out and very sticky, but it was really easy. I just used my regular wooden roll and a plastic mat. No need for special tools. You just need to make sure to dust the fondant with some powdered sugar. It is also important to kneed the fondant very well before rolling it out.
The covering of the cake was a little more difficult. I have done that with marzipan before, but the fondant is really delicate and rips easily. It has to be rolled out big enough, but not too large or you will end up with too many folds, which have to be smoothed.
For the cake flavors I choose a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream for the top tier from "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook". For the lower tier I made a vanilla cake layered with strawberry buttercream and fresh strawberries. If you make a fondant covered cake it is important to know that it is best to make a buttercream cake. If you make a cake filled with whipped cream, you have to make sure the filling doesn't touch the fondant, since it will made it melt. A buttercream cake is also a lot more stable and easier to tier up. To stable it I put 4 lollypop sticks in the middle of the cake before putting the second layer on.
For decoration I cut out some fondant flowers and hearts, which I attached with some royal icing. On top I put some Marshmallow Fairy sticks, which I saw on Yummy Mummy. They are a really cute idea, for all fairy and princess loving girls. I made some extra, so each child had one. For the marshmallows I used the recipe from David Lebovitz though. It was also the first time I made marshmallows, it is a little messy, but otherwise pretty easy. And they taste so much better than store bought ones.
It really requires some practice to make a cake like this, but it was a good exercise and the cake was well received. So, again Happy Birthday little girl, you grow up so fast!
