I've been wanting to learn cake decorating for about a year now. It's been on my "fun" to-do list to go over to the houses of some girls that are more well-versed in this area and learn from them... it's been on that list for the whole year, and I've done nothing about it. Well, I still haven't done anything about learning from someone else, but I thought I'd try it on my own while I'm house-bound with a 3-week old. I'd love to do something fun for Heidi's birthday, so here's where I started.
My first attempt was with marshmallow fondant. Never tried any kind of fondant before, but this looked the easiest. After a first attempt, I have to say it wasn't bad. Just took some trial and error and learning a few tricks on my own:
1. Knead it with your hands, even after you put the food coloring in. Your hands may get colored, but it's just easier.
2. To roll it out with your rolling pin, put cooking oil on the rolling pin and on the surface you're rolling on so it won't stick to the surfaces. (frustrating)
3. Allow yourself lots of time!
4. I put regular jar frosting on the cake first to smooth out the surface, and it made the fondant lay out nicely on the cake without bumps.
5. Remember to take a picture of your attempt BEFORE you serve it up and eat half of it!
This cake had no theme or purpose, other than having 2 friends over to eat it, so it was basically playing with shapes and colors - I don't know what it was supposed to be. :-)
Let me know if you have questions, or if you're an expert I'll take your suggestions! The recipe I used is below:
Marshmallow Fondant
4 cups mini marshmallows
2 Tbsp. water
4 cups powdered sugar
Microwave marshmallows with water for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Dump in all powdered sugar. Stir, then knead until all sugar is mixed in. Store wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature until it cools. Knead in food coloring if you want to color it. See tip #2 above for rolling out. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters if you want.
