Birthday Cake for Cormac's Mom

I learned a few lessons doing this cake for Breda's birthday, one of them is that marshmallow fondant doesn't keep well in the fridge. It got too dry. Perhaps if I had heated it a bit and then worked it I wouldn't have had the cracking that I did.
My first attempt at fondant roses went well, I think. I did a good job of covering the areas that cracked as well. Cormac thought the cake looked great-- I have to agree. Next few cakes I'll do will be simpler. Maybe just cream or buttercream.

note: the rose of the top right got knocked over off its buttercream anchor and I didn't notice until after I took the picture. Bah! I also need to improve on my photo skills. I try all the settings on my camera that I think will work, and it doesn't.


Click on any of the pictures to see a larger image:

Moist Pink Vanilla Cake with Buttercream Filling Covered in Marshmallow Fondant

So, I mostly started this blog because I'm thinking about selling my cookies and cakes. I've had a lot of rave responses to my very American style cookies and cakes here in Ireland, so I though, why not set up a market stall in a few places. I'm still looking into the specifics.
However, I have a cake order for the first week in February for a Christening, so I'm trying to decide between buttercream icing and a marshmallow fondant. I had never made marshmallow fondant before, so naturally I had to practice. It was about 8pm, Jane running around while Cormac watched her and I rolled out the icing to put on my cake, so I didn't get too creative. I was bringing this to a little La Leche League meeting, so I put three L's and some boobs nursing a baby on it for funsies. Fondant is fun, you can really play with it. I'm looking forward to having more time to make something that looks amazing.



Yeah, there is a little wetness shining on the cake. It looks a little blah, I know.
Dear God, though, this cake tastes amazing.

Try the Magnolia bakery vanilla cake, as mine is an adaptation of that.

Marshmallow fondant is pretty easy:
Melt about 16 ounces of marshmallow in the microwave on low heat with a few tablespoons of water. Just stop the microwave every once in a while and give it a stir. When its pretty much melted take it out and stir until its all melted. Slowly sift in about 2 lbs of icing sugar. The instructions were to grease you hands with crisco-- I don't have it here so I didn't do that. It was fine. You just want to knead it for ages, like bread dough. Once its smooth and not sticky, stick it in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Do not, DO NOT, put a cake into the fridge after you've rolled out and laid fondant over it. Bad idea.