Cakes by Nicola

This was my first ever fondant cake. I saw a picture on a cake website and just HAD to make it for my son's first birthday. I knew nothing about fondant at the time so I did lots of research before attempting this big feat. Let's just say it was A LOT of work....and I mean a lot!

I started 2 weeks ahead of his birthday and spent pretty much every nap time and every evening learning about fondant. I taught myself how to make fondant, color fondant, roll it out, cut it into shapes and create these cute little jungle animals. I even had dreams about making cakes since that was all I seemed to be doing those 2 weeks!

I probably put in about 20 hours of work when all was said and done. It was well worth it though, because it was a huge hit at his party. Of course, nobody wanted to cut it up and eat it! I had to have my husband cut the cake while I looked away. At least it was really yummy and worth eating! I did save the animals and have since clear coated them. They now sit in my son's room on a shelf....a nice reminder of his special day!

This cake was vanilla with chocolate frosting on the bottom layer and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting on the top layer....as you might be able to tell I LOVE chocolate! Initially, I made chocolate fondant for the top layer, but it was a failure. As I layed it over the cake, it cracked around the edges. I think it was too dry with the added cocoa powder in the fondant. I will have to attempt that again someday down the road. Every decoration is made from fondant as well. In order to make the animals, I added something called Gumtex to the fondant. It helps give it a stiffer consistency so that the animals hold their shape. All of my fondant is homemade and basically consists of powdered sugar and marshmallows...marshmallow fondant (MMF). It is much cheaper to make and it tastes much better than store bought fondant. I also made my own frosting for the first time with cake...also much better!

Since then, I have pretty much done fondant for every birthday. I have also helped a few friends learn how to make fondant and have also made a couple cakes for customers. This was just the beginning of a whole new venture for me!

Over the next couple weeks (if I can find a spare moment) I will be posting a lot of the cakes I have done over the years. I will try to explain the process to give you an idea of what it takes to actually prepare these edible works of art.