Fondant Lesson (and more) from the Cakestress Duo

The other day, I had the honor and privilege to go over to my friends Kata and Corrie's place to see how they make fondant covered cakes. They are the artists that made this awesome jersey cake last month.


We devoured this thing so fast...


The thing about this cake was that it was delicious all over, even the fondant. The fondant had me intrigued because usually it tastes like rubber, but this stuff actually tasted good. I had to learn the secret.

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So I went over, and Kata was already kneading out her first batch of fondant. Here is Cakestress #1:


I found out that the secret to this fondant is that it's made of marshmallows. You melt mini marshmallows and mix in some powdered sugar, and it comes out as something spectacular and moldable. Wow!


And here is Cakestress #2 (sorry so blurry, i was so antsy):


Corrie had already made a huge batch of buttercream frosting, which tasted a lot better than my buttercream frosting. I said, "Mine always tastes so buttery." She asks, "Do you use real butter?" I said, "Yes." Well there you go. She uses margarine, and it doesn't have that heart-attack flavor. Good to know!



These ladies have everything i had ever dreamed of! Graduated baking pans (round and square), levelers, dough scrapers, fondant ribbon cutter, fondant smoother, fondant roller plus rubber gauge things, alphabet molds, cardboard cake circles, you name it!


And the cakes themselves are absolutely delicious, nothing like you'd ever find in a box in a million years.


And just for fun, they were making a 3-layered topsy-turvy cake! You know, one of those cakes that look like the layers are all slanted and it looks like it's gonna topple? Well, i got to see it in action.

First, the bottom layer of the cake is in itself is 3-tiered cake. To get it slanted, the middle layer was cut at an angle.


Then Corrie pared it down so that it actually tapers as it goes down.



Then she cut out a hole in the middle for the second layer to sit, then crumb coated it with buttercream frosting.


And she did the same for the next two layers, that get gradually smaller.


I got to help make another batch of fondant!



Do i look ridiculously happy? Cuz i am.


We rolled it out, then the girls rolled the rolled fondant back onto the roller, and rolled it out onto the cake. We rollin'!






I think shaping it to the cake is really tough, especially when you have a circular groove in the middle and a tapered bottom. But these girls were amazing and they did it just like that *snap*




How cute! How much do you want to nom this thing?


Making the fondant for the second layer...it shall be yellow!



My turn to roll it out!


Almost done with the second layer.



Now we needed to cut the dowel rods so that they support the cardboard base for the second layer.


Meanwhile, Kata and Corrie took turns making cake balls out of the cake scraps that were cut from leveling the cake. These were so yummy! They're gonna cover them in white chocolate later. I might just move in with them. I could be their new bunny.


Success! Two layers done, all topsy-turvy like.


Layer three in the works. And it's pink!


Look at these experts! They're using the icing knife as a shoehorn to get the layer into the groove.


Such concentration.


Yay, it's all on there! Isn't it a thing of beauty??


I can't wait to see how it turns out after they've finished putting the ribbons and stripes and polka dots on it! If i get any pictures of the finished product, i'll post them so you can all see.