Let’s have some fun!
Creating fondant cake decorations is not only FUN, it can make a huge difference in the overall look of your finished project.
Let’s face it… We all want to achieve that elusive WOW factor when we walk into the room… with or without a cake in our arms. 😉
You know how it goes… as you step into the room, all eyes turn to you. A hush comes over the crowd as every conversation comes to an abrupt halt. Eyes bulge, jaws drop, the sudden silence is almost deafening. As you stand a little taller (and do a happy dance on the inside) your eyes sparkle and a huge grin creeps over your face. Then you hear those magic words:
😍 NO WAY!!! That is NOT a CAKE!!! 😍
Oh yeah, Baby!!! That’s what I’m talking about. 🙂 I momentarily forget that my arms are ready to fall off because I’m holding thirty-plus pounds of sugar art. Gone is the bone-tired-weariness from those I-lost-count-how-many sleepless nights (no rest for the wicked LOL). My investment has paid off, and nothing matters except the fact that my art has won the hearts of the crowd! ❤️️❤️️❤️️
Do I care that they are ogling my cake instead of me? Well, if I’m completely honest, maybe a little. But let’s face it… I may be okay, but my creations take the cake (so to speak). And so they should. I’m lucky to squeeze in a quick shower to wash off that cloud of sugar surrounding me before rushing out the door – who has time for makeup and hair? (YIKES!!! How you like that mental image?!?!?). But I work REALLY hard to make sure each and every one of my cakes are out-of-this-world AWESOME!!! 😍 So I’m okay with it… really. 😉
The many faces of Fondant
If YOU want to make a big splash at your next birthday bash, there are many ways that you can use fondant to add your own WOW factor. 😍
Fondant is a wonderful medium because it can be used in so many different ways. You can use it to create toppers and cover entire cakes. You can also create fun designs to decorate a buttercream cake.
I absolutely LOVE to make sculpted cakes that can totally boggle your mind. But I also make cakes that are obviously cakes. You’ve seen them… they can be round, square, tiered or even sheet cakes. But that is where the normal ends and the crazy-cake-lady-fun begins (insert evil grin and wiggling eyebrows).
Wanna spoil someone special?
My nephew LOVES when I use him as a guinea pig because he gets to eat the final product. I think the only things he loves more than my Sinful Decadence Chocolate Cake are anything to do with Pokemon and Star Wars. Sooooo, for his 10th birthday party (to which all of his class mates were invited) I figured Star Wars would be a safe cake theme.
With the arrival of Star Wars – Rogue One, he informed me that THE ABSOLUTE COOLEST new character is Chirrut Imwe. He went on to tell me why he is sooooo cool (although I mostly heard blah, blah, blah because my mind had instantly moved into design/idea mode LOL). I did, however, catch the part about him being some kind of awesome ninja warrior dude. Oh… and apparently he is blind.
Armed with this information (and my desire to spoil him with a seriously awesome cake), I scoured the internet and stalked the poor guy (Chirrut, not my nephew) until I found exactly what I wanted.
I will let you be the judge of its coolness… Whatcha think? If you were a 10-year old boy, would you go gaga over this cake?
Are you ready to get started?
I know you are excited, but don’t get the fondant out just yet… First, we must design a template that determines the size and layout for our project.
You can make your fondant designs waaaaaay in advance if needed, but they need to be sized properly for the cake they will eventually adorn. Therefore, you MUST determine the cake size.
Think Goldilocks… you don’t want too big or too small, you want it to be JUST RIGHT. 🙂
I chose to make two 8″ round 2-layer cakes, stacked in double barrel fashion to maximize the amount of servings.
Part of personalizing and customizing the cake design, is using a font that matches your theme. Many fonts are available on the internet – and you can download them here for free! For this cake, I downloaded the “Star Jedi Special Edition” font.
Next came a search for the perfect image – this can take me awhile because I’m really picky LOL! I use Bing Image Search because it allows me to sort by size and color.
I chose to put my nephew’s name and age on the top of the cake, allowing my sculpted Chirrut Imwe to be the focal point on the front of the cake.
Since I had chosen a cake size (8″ round x approximately 6″ high overall), I was able to determine what size to make my design elements so they would be JUST RIGHT!!! I’m pretty sure Goldilocks would approve. 🙂
However you choose to create your design (computer or free-style drawing), the difficult part is over. Now we can start the fun stuff!!!
Creating Fondant Cake Decorations
This is my first video tutorial, so go easy on me 🙂
And don’t panic if you don’t hear anything right away… I start blabbing around 36 seconds into the video.
I can safely say the cake was a big hit at the party! 😉 😉
And, of course, that means I’m THE COOLEST AUNT EVER!!! Mission accomplished 🙂
Whether a full-time caker, hobby baker, or a mom who wants to add a little extra pizzazz to your your family’s birthday cakes, I hope this will help you think outside the box. Creating fondant cake decorations does not have to be intimidating. It is what it is — so make it FUN!
Just think, you too can achieve that elusive WOW factor when you walk into the room… with or without a cake in your arms. 😉
Loving life, having fun, and Making Memories with Custom Cakes ❤️️
Are you still here? Haven’t had enough of me yet? WOW!!! That’s cool! Well, since you hung around, here are a few resources I would like to share with you. ️❤️️
EXTRA RESOURCES
What do I need to get started?
You may be thinking to yourself, “How can I make a fun, personalized cake like this when I don’t have any tools?” Well I’m not gonna lie, cakey tools are great! I have LOADS of them (plus a wishlist at least a mile long LOL). But in this tutorial you will see that you really only NEED a couple of inexpensive tools to start creating fondant cake decorations.
Must have tools:
- Exacto knife (with clean, new, sharp blades)
- Fondant shapers (no need to go crazy, they do NOT have to be expensive!)
- Two hands (YES… YOUR own hands, not your neighbor’s)
- An imagination (if you don’t have one, you may be in trouble 😉)
- Fondant (you can buy it or make your own like I do)
TOOLS:
Here are some of the tools I have purchased from Amazon, many of which I used in this tutorial:
If you click any of these links and make a purchase, I will get a small percentage of the purchase price for being an Amazon Affiliate – so Thank you! 🙂
OPTIONAL BUT totally COOL:
There is one other item I used for this project that saved me OODLES of time: Shawna McGreevy’s awesome face mold. ❤️️❤️️❤️️
FONDANT:
You can purchase many types of ready-made fondant. Beware! Some of them do not taste very good at all… Being the control freak that I am, I make my own.
Want to make your own fondant? I love, love, LOVE Liz Marek of Artisan Cake Company for sharing her LMF Marshmallow Fondant Recipe:
What are you waiting for?!?!?! Get busy creating fondant cake decorations that will make your crowd say WOW!
Loving life, having fun, and Making Memories with Custom Cakes
