Archive for April, 2010
Basenji Cakes
I have reached a new whole new level in my cake decorating and I am SO excited! For the first time ever, today, I had a go at fondant icing. Yes, FONDANT! That dreadful, scary, it will take you over and win the battle, icing, that everyone talks about in hushed tones in the corner of the room. I have always wanted to try it and never been daring enough to take on the daunting task. This was not my first rodeo when it comes to cake decorating. I can star any cake like there is no tomorrow. But fondant, now that was a whole new world I have not been willing to enter until today! First I would like to start by saying that it is midnight and I put the crumb layer (the thin first layer of icing) on both cakes at 7:00 pm. So, five hours on two cakes, I don’t think that is TOO bad when I was also dealing with two kids, two puppy dogs, and new fondant territory.
The rumors are true. Fondant icing is horribly messy. If you are not willing to deal with this, don’t even bother trying! There was cornstarch and grease all over me and my counters by the time I finished. It is a wonderful game of getting the fondant to the right consistency. More water, more powdered sugar, more water…aagh! Luckily, I had the perfect non stick rolling pin. Other than that, I did not have ANY of those fancy fondant tools. I doubt I will buy any either. I have many similar tools in my drawers already. I learned, as with many other crafty things, it is all about what feels right to you.
A skill that I will definitely have to work on is moving the fondant from the counter where I rolled it out, ON TO the cake. I am sure it was a consistency problem, but the icing drooped, pulled, and stretched immediately after I picked it up. I was still able to work with it, but the result is a cake where the patchwork is not perfectly hidden. I am going to chalk this up to something I will learn in time.
Of course, despite all of my messiness, drooping, and the TIME I put into this, I am so excited to try again! Maybe I’ll find an excuse to make a cake next weekend!
The cakes I made tonight are for a friend’s birthday tomorrow night. She and her husband are the proud owner of two Basenji dogs…their babies. The fondant cake was made using a Wilton dinosaur (partysaurus) pan. I had to cut some cake off to add to the tail and create the pointy ears. The starred cake, just the Basenji face, I used a Wilton Santa head pan. I only had to cut off the part that was suppose to be the fuzzy tip of Santa’s hat (which I added to the fondant cake). I used the basic Wilton buttercream recipe and two batches provided more than enough icing for the crumb layers on both cakes and all the piping on the head. I could not have done it with only one batch though. For the fondant, I taught myself using this website, on Peggy’s Baking Corner. It was AWESOME! I followed her advice to the T! I also used her recipe for Marshmallow Fondant, but you can find the same recipe on the Wilton website too.
My recommendation? Take a whole day and have some fun!
