Always Time for Polka Dots

Phew, I have so many posts to write! I've been waiting for peoples' birthdays to pass so I could  blog about their cakes...and patience is not my strongest virtue. But the weekend has passed and that leaves me with 3 adventures to blog about! Woohoo, gear up for a busy next few weeks here!

 

My polka dot themed cake came together quite nicely. I didn't end up using the little balls of fondant, but I got over it pretty quickly! And to my delight, the cake was the exact height of two rows of the fondant circles...thank goodness!

So how does one go about making a polka dot cake? Well let me just show you the method to my madness!

Sprinkles: make the world go 'round! And they make cake look pretty too! My fear when I add sprinkles to cake batter is that everyone will think it's one of those "fun-fetti" cake mixes....*shiver,* never I tell you! Never!

Vanilla was the selected cake flavour with a real raspberry filling. A filling which was....EASY! Wooooo!

Raspberry Cake Filling:

• 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

*Heat the raspberries over medium heat until they are soft and mushed (a very correct cooking term)
*stir in the sugar and cornstarch, heat until thickened
*Taste test it and add more sugar if necessary
* Let it cool before spreading between cake layers

After the filling I just iced with my vanilla butter cream and placed the fondant circles around the cake!

Okay, are you ready to hear a funny story? Ha, okay here goes!

So on the top of the cake I had piped in white icing "Happy Birthday Itsy!" and than planed to place colored sugar on the lettering to make it stand out. Well...do you know how much time it takes to place each individual grain of sugar?! Answer: faaar too long!

So I ditched that plan and decided to use food coloring to "paint" each letter. It look pretty cool, I must say.

Until the next day....

...all the food coloring had spread across the top of the cake! The top of the WHITE cake! My mother found this disaster when she woke up and quickly scraped the lettering off! This left a cool tye-died effect (I pretend I wanted it to look like that).

 

Well, anyways, I ended up running around town trying to find some nice candles, which is surprisingly difficult! But I found some cute ones from Co-op and the cake was saved!

And no one has to be the wiser..well except all of you guys. But you can keep a secret, right? Good, I thought so. You're all gems.

 

This is the beautiful birthday girl! Today she turned 11! Woohoo, what a fabulous age! Happy Birthday, Itsy!

 

Thanks for stopping by again, feel free to check out my new page I've added to my blog, "Where Have all the Cakes Gone?" A page featuring some of my work with their owners...I'm not sure if owners is the right word, but I lack a better one therefore it will have to do.

 

Toodles,

Sydney

You're the Marshmallow to my Fondant

Howdy all. How are you doing? I hope you're doing just swell because someone as fantastic as yourself deserves just that. I hope your weeks are off to a great start...even if it still feels like it's winter...when it's actually spring. But ya know, go with flow...or something. On the bright side, this weather has given me more time to wear my favorite over-sized sweaters and my old, tattered mittens that I couldn't live without.

Annnyways, I have a few cool projects coming up. One began today with some prep work to save time tomorrow. My friend (and most loyal costumer) has once again asked me to make her daughter a birthday cake. The theme is polka dots (how fun?!). and the only requests are no chocolate and a raspberry filling. I must say my favorite orders are from those who don't have a set idea of what they want...I love being able to create my own idea and see their reaction.

This is the start of the "polka dot cake." I haven't completely settled on a design but I figured cutting out some circles was a decent place to begin.

In this post I'd like to share my fondant recipe that I've been using for years. I have no clue where I found it, probably the result of a random google search for fondant. But anywho, I'm not a fondant fan but this marshmallow stuff is pretty good. Aaand.....(guesses on my next compliment?)....easy!

So here's the down-low on this beauty:

Marshmallow Fondant

• 4 cups marshmallows
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 2 Tablespoons water

*Coat the marshmallows in water and microwave for 1 minute
*Stir until the marshmallows are melted (this may require a few more seconds in the microwave)
*Slowly stir in icing sugar, kneading with your hands on a sugared surface when necessary
*Roll, cut, or shape the fondant into whatever your little heart desires

*Coloring can be added at any point, if you're doing multiple colors do it at the end, but if you just need one color than it's easiest to add color before the icing sugar*

*Fondant can be stored in sealed containers (or ziplock bags) for quite a while, keep at room temperature and knead thoroughly when using.)*

I don't have an exact amount that this makes...my bad, but I would estimate enough to cover an 8" round (don't quote me on that).

Now my favorite thing to do with this fondant is make toppers and other such decorations... I prefer this tenfold to covering cakes in it.

I gathered some pictures of my previous fondant work, the ones that I've blogged about in the past will take you to that post if you just click on the image.

(my first fondant-covered cake)

 

(let's look at the nice swagging and not the poor icing job)

 

(click to follow link)

 

(Be expecting a post on these honey cupcakes with honey buttercream in the near future!)

 

 

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Well that's my little portfolio of some of my fondant creations. It's really a fun thing to work with, kinda like playdough that tastes better than regular playdough.

 

Meet you back here at the end of the week when I post about the polka-dot cake!

 

Take care and stay awesome,

Sydney