The test cake got baked, filled, covered and decorated. I must say, it truly isn’t as difficult as bakers make it sound to work with fondant. Well I am sure hardcore bakers may think I am cheating using boxed fondant, but come on, have you seen how messy it is to make it from scratch – yes, when you have little time and a small kitchen space to work with, pre made is going to have to do. I have to say that watching YouTube videos prior to working with fondant is a must because at least you know what to expect when working with it. They aid you in covering your cake with an easy technique which helped a lot when doing it myself. It also helped knowing how thick to roll out the fondant as well before covering the cake. I tried to make it look like a safari themed cake, whereby I wanted a zebra type print on the cake. I didn’t want the standard black zebra print as I wanted something a bit more playful, but then who knows what will come of it on the actual birthday. So I thought why not play on the theme and make it white and green. Playful and goes with the colours in my decorations. I made a lemon cake, with lemon curd. My first time ever cutting and filling a cake. That part was a bit messy and the filling started leaking out the sides as I was covering it with butter cream (first time covering a cake with butter cream as well). I was getting a bit discouraged thinking how in the world will this work and how will I get the fondant on if everything is seeping out from everywhere. I just composed myself and remained calm, just let it cool down in the fridge and thought I will take a break and in a couple of hours and then will I will attempt do the fondant.
I had to make due with some of the items I had at home, as I wasn’t going to buy every baking accessory to just bake this one cake…besides this was supposed to aid in the spending, not blow the budget. I didn’t have a turn wheel for the cake when cutting it in half and frosting it, so I made my own by using the plate on the inside of the microwave and the turn wheels that sits underneath it and that became my cake turn table. It worked perfectly, and it defiantly helped having something that moved around without having to turn the cake or my body. Once I covered it in fondant, it went on pretty easily, there were a few blemished areas but realized later that perhaps my fondant was rolled out too thinly and that may have been the reason why. This is the exact reason I knew it was imperative to make a test run. So note taken that the actual cake will need thicker rolled fondant. I guess later this week when I attempt the real thing those things will actually work better the second time around because the test run points out any areas that need fixing. So if there is any advise here, it is ‘make a test cake before the real thing’. The cake inside happened to be delicious though and so was the filling – at least I know the cake was a winner…but that was only the hubby and I being the judge of that, who knows what others will think. Only problem there was that the filling area was not quite in the middle of the cake and I guess I had cut the cake a bit too low. I decorated the fondant with green strips to make it look somewhat like zebra print. Although looking at them now, I believe I cut them a bit off and perhaps they looked a lot more like long leaf stems. I will have to get that right later in the week as well. I only wanted to do one layer cake, but after looking at cakes and the decorations on Pinterest, I really feel that the cake looks better with two or more layers. So I officially decided to make two layers and then just decorate the top with a bit more green and make it appear like palm trees – I hope I don’t bite off more than I can chew. I bought some wooden safari animals as cake toppers to go on top that looked child like, so that will be my decoration. I have a vision in my mind, I just hope that those will and can be illustrated on the cake I actually make for her birthday.
So I decided that the cake needed a bit more around it. So I have decided to take on the task of making cupcakes and cake-pops as well. I know I believe I am being a bit too ambitious myself with a short timeline, family coming into town for her birthday and of course being a full time mum. Can it all be done? I sure hope so. I think it will be nice to have a desert variety. There will probably be a lot of leftover, but hey I am not complaining..would you? All I know is that I can’t make it too complicated, it is just about making my life simpler with one type of cake batter and then perhaps making two different butter creams for the cupcakes to compose a different flavour profile. I have never been a great baker when it comes to cupcakes and I don’t really want to test out a recipe because I have no idea what I will do with so many, so I think I am just going to go on a whim the day before and try them out. The question on the day of will be how in the world I will transport everything to the hall which is like 25 minutes away, and ensuring everything stays upright and together.
So if there is any advise here, it is ‘make a test cake before the real thing’. The cake inside happened to be delicious though and so was the filling – at least I know the cake was a winner…but that was only the hubby and I being the judge of that, who knows what others will think. Only problem there was that the filling area was not quite in the middle of the cake and I guess I had cut the cake a bit too low. I decorated the fondant with green strips to make it look somewhat like zebra print. Although looking at them now, I believe I cut them a bit off and perhaps they looked a lot more like long leaf stems. I will have to get that right later in the week as well. I only wanted to do one layer cake, but after looking at cakes and the decorations on Pinterest, I really feel that the cake looks better with two or more layers. So I officially decided to make two layers and then just decorate the top with a bit more green and make it appear like palm trees – I hope I don’t bite off more than I can chew. I bought some wooden safari animals as cake toppers to go on top that looked child like, so that will be my decoration. I have a vision in my mind, I just hope that those will and can be illustrated on the cake I actually make for her birthday.