Cake Baking 101: Fondant Disaster!

One of my close friends is getting married in June.

I am one of the bridesmaids in her wedding. We have been furiously planning the shower and bachelorette party, to come come in the next few weeks.

She asked me to bake the bridal shower cake, enough to serve 40-50 people.

:: cue freak out ::

For the past couple of years I've been attempting to make cool looking cakes, two and three tiers I must look like a cake master.

Soooooo not the case.

I usually did it half-assed, even using boxed cake mix to save time.

GASP!

Anyway, obviously for this occasion I want to do it right. I decided to contract MIL for cake baking expertise (she owned a bakery).

Because E, my friend, wanted a Topsy-Turvy style cake for her Mad Hatter bridal shower I  knew we needed a trial run, neither MIL nor I had ventured on something so extreme in cake baking.

Here is what I pictured it would look like:

(cue angelic music)

What actually happened was MUCH more...um....interesting?


Everything started ok...

 (cutting straws for supports)

(stacking two layers, I'll do three for the real one)

Then,

Wait for it.....



Wait for it.....



Wait for it.....


OH MY GOD!!!

 (Fondant)

WTF!?! 

Um....ya....

Me thinks no.

:: regains composure ::

In order to get that swell angle we stacked cake pieces, cut diagonally placed them on the edge and then proceeded to ruin everything with fondant.

I decided that I might need to start out a little bit slower. As much as I would love to give her a fabulous fondant, smooth as a baby's ass cake. I think that might have to wait until I'm a little more skilled.

Instead I started researching and found that there are actually techniques that create the illusion of fondant with a normal butter cream frosting.

I was supposed to take the cake home and share with the neighbors. Instead I decided to keep it in the fridge and fuck with it. Test more stuff and see if I could improve it.

I dismantled it, even the funky angled pieces, then I re-frosted it. The end result was less than spectacular, but it was a shitload better than the first attempt. I ended up adding some decor for fun, but really this is nothing what it will look like. I also didn't get a great picture. I basically just tried my faux-fondant technique.

(It is pinkish because the red fondant I had on the bottom tier stained the white crumb coat and it is all lopsided because I had to massacre it by cutting off the chunks we stuck on to create the tilty effects)

So basically it still turned out kind of crap looking. But whatevs. I can only cross my fingers and hope for the best on my next attempt. Which is the real thing. Which is next weekend.

I'll post an update on how that goes.....

.......unless the bride murders me for ruining her shower.......