My First and Very Fun Experience with Fondant

Ok, so Cami's 2nd Birthday was coming up, and I was really excited to make her a fun cake. I started thinking about it a month or two ago, and brainstormed what her favorite things were. She loves reading, so I could make a book cake. She loves bugs, so I could make a bunch of little bugs and stick them on a cake. I also thought of doing a fairy/princess thing, but figured she'd be more into that in a couple years when she can request a cake anyways. Then I thought, well she loves Elmo (even though she has no toys of him and has never seen Sesame Street...I forget how she came to know him. Probably from Grandma's toys or from reading books about him).

THEN I thought (see, a lot of thinking went on here, and I'm super indecisive anyways), well how about doing an Abby Cadabby cake, since she's friends with Elmo, and she's a little more girly and the newest fairy monster on Sesame Street. I found a really cute cake idea here, and was planning on making that. But then at dinner one Sunday, I was talking with my sister-in-laws about their upcoming kids' birthday cake ideas, and Jana mentioned something called marshmallow fondant. The magic words. She said she heard it was easy to make, and tasted better than fondant. I thought, hmm, that's interesting.

So then I continued to look around on the internet at cute cakes, mainly on this awesome website which is great for getting inspiration from rookies. But it seemed to me that the cutest and most professional looking cakes were always made with fondant. I've never touched the stuff, let alone bought, made or decorated with it. So it seemed pretty daunting. But when I started searching marshmallow fondant, it seemed like such an easy thing to make and work with. I was convinced! I stumbled upon a bunch of youtube videos of people who taped themselves making marshmallow fondant, which is not only entertaining to watch, but very helpful! There are a few different versions of the recipe, but they're all mainly the same as the one I used here on the Wilton site. ALL it is, is a package of marshmallows, and a bag of powdered sugar. Here's the line-up:

Use good quality name brand ingredients, and you'll also need Crisco shortening (to grease your hands and the counter, cuz this is a messy job!) and a couple tablespoons water. So you dump the marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl, add 2 tbs water, nuke them 30 seconds at a time and stir in between until they're melted. I think I did mine a little past melted, where they started to get a little puffy, which made me nervous because that's when they turn a little tough. (Ya know when you make smore's in the microwave, and you cook it too long and the marshmallow gets tough? I hate that!) But I didn't want to start all over, and it seemed to have worked out. But just to be safe, stop when they're still a little lumpy, and stir until they're good and melted. Then dump in 3/4 of the powdered sugar, which would be like 6 cups. BUT, the recipe calls for 16 oz marshmallows, and my bag was only 10, so I had to improvise and just add sugar until it seemed the right consistency. Here's the mixture: 

 Once you stir it together pretty well, dump it out onto a well Crisco'ed counter, and sprinkle powdered sugar on the counter as well. Grease up your hands really well, then just start kneading and kneading, like making bread. It was actually quite fun....I was doing this all during Cami's nap, and had some music going, and just felt like a kid playing with playdough. I didn't use the whole bag of sugar, since I had less marshmallows, but I just kept kneading and adding sugar until it was no longer sticky, and was able to form a nice squishy ball. Doesn't that look fun??

 Then I separated the ball into a bunch of seperate balls, to add color. I used gel food coloring tubes, and didn't have any gloves or anything to protect the counter (gulp), but luckily it washed right off. I just kept adding more color and kneading it in (put the color in the middle and knead around it) until I got the color I wanted.

At this point, I knew I wanted to do a round cake with Sesame Street decorations, so I wanted bright, happy colors, as well as some white and black for eyes. And mainly red, for Elmo, the star of the cake. Yes, he reigned over Abby Cadabby. Once I'd told Cami she was going to have an Abby cake a few weeks ago, she'd always say Abby! Elmo! She always threw Elmo in there. So I knew I had to include him.

Once they were colored, and a little stickier from the gel coloring, but I added a bit more powdered sugar as I worked, I wrapped them seperately in plastic wrap. Then I threw them all in a ziploc bag and stored them in the fridge overnight. The whole process took about 2 hours with clean-up. That was Monday, the day before the party. That night, I also baked two 9-inch rounds of yellow cake, wrapped them and stored them in the freezer overnight. That night, I had THE worst sleep. I kept tossing and turning, thinking about making the cake the next day and fretting over whether it would turn out. I woke up at 3 am and layed there for like an hour, trying not to think about it and wanting to sleep. Silly cake. Why do parents do this to themselves.

The day of the party, I whipped up a batch of buttercream icing (using clear imitation vanilla instead of the brown stuff...I learned my lesson last year when Cami's lamb cake turned out off-white and didn't match the marshmallows) and frosted the cake. I had learned to do a "crumb coat" of thin frosting, then stick it in the fridge so that the crumbs are sealed in, then cover it with a fresh layer of smooth frosting. Worked great! And I even used a paper edge to smooth out the sides and top. I'm learning! But I still don't have one of those handy long frosting spreaders, or a revolving cake stand or anything. Maybe one day. :) I did use a pizza pan covered with tin foil, then cut pieces of wrapping paper to put around the bottom, just to add fun color. And I stuck some wax paper strips under the cake to protect while I was frosting. Here's my blank canvas:

 And here's my first little marshmallow fondant figure: Elmo!

 I had seen some cakes on Youtube that had made sitting Elmos like this one, and decided it would be worth a try. The fondant was easy to work with after being in the fridge, and I just started playing with it like clay. Took me back to my high school ceramics class! I made his body first, then attached his head with a toothpick, then rolled long pieces for his arms and legs with little feet and hands, and tried my best to attach them to the body. They fell off a few times, but if you just work it and add a little Crisco, it eventually smooths together. Added the nose and eyes, which later fell off a few times, but I added a little buttercream as glue, or just add a dab of water to stick it on. And I added texture with a toothpick. I kept him in the fridge while I worked on the rest, and this is what I finished up with:

Dun duh duh duuuuuun!

 Ok so I have to explain. I had no idea how I was going to decorate it besides the sitting Elmo. But then I looked at my colors and thought, well I did tell Cami she'd have an Abby cake, so I should make an Abby face and just stick it on somewhere. So I made Abby by looking in Cami's book, and thought hey that was super easy! Let's make another one! How about Cookie Monster? I had tons of fondant left, so I just started goin to town. The Count, who Cami loves, Big Bird, then Oscar the Grouch so that I could put a worm on there since Cami loves bugs and creepy crawlies, and then Grover was last. I think Big Bird was the easiest one, and he turned out the cutest. I added the wand and a cookie for fun. I have to say, I can't come up with things off teh tp of my head, but I'm a good copier. So I just looked at all the characters in a couple of Cam's books, and had fun with it.

 With the leftover fondant, which I still have a ton of (I guess I could have covered the whole cake in it first, but was ok with just using buttercream) I started rolling little balls to put around the bottom. Then I made some shapes, spelled out Cami's name on the front, and put the little blue border. I would've done more for the sides, but time ran out and Cami started getting a little crazy. Notice how I backed up Elmo's butt with a little more frosting...I was afraid he'd topped off the back.



All in all, I had SO much fun making this cake. It was just like being a kid again. Cami woke up from her nap before I was done, so she saw it and was so excited with wide eyes, which made it all worth it. She helped me at the counter with the fondant, and ate her fair share (cuz it's quite tasty). It was a good 4 hour process yesterday, in addition to making the buttercream, and baking and frosting additional chocolate cupcakes.*Whew*. But worth it. And I learned not to be afraid to try new things. Marshmallow fondant is my new friend.