Honesty first.....I am not a baker. My cakes aren't beautiful, they are never baked from scratch, they will be lopsided to some degree, but.... there's a big BUT here....they are always made with LOVE.
So what is a non-baking Grandma to do when she is put on the spot, on short notice, to whip up a cake for a 5 year old's birthday? Well, she does what most people who don't have the "Martha-whip-up-something-amazing-and-make-it-look-effortless" gene, she grabs that boxed mix in the cupboard and goes to work. Oh, by the way, she has less than 12 hours to do this, and of course there is nothing else to do in any given day. Right?
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| Cake For Grandson's 5th Birthday Party |
That's my story of this made with love cake. There are people out there who make amazing cakes. Just look on Pinterest and you will find amazingly beautiful cakes that people have made and taken amazing photos of these creations. Not today. Not here. You'll get real life. Boxed cake. Store bought frosting. Store bought, pre-made writing icing. The one thing that I did try that was a new experience, was making LEGO type fondant decorations to go on top. (See? Learning something every day.)
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| Fondant Cake Decorations |
Having never worked with fondant, all in all, I can say that it was fun, and I can see how it can be addicting decorating cakes with it. My shapes are the most basic shapes you can make. Rectangles, squares, and circles. Nothing fancy. I even purchased the pre-colored fondant. (Baby steps people.)
Having seen fondant at the craft store on many occasions, I knew it was easy to find, and reasonably priced, and a 40% off coupon could be used. A quick search on the store's website let me know that it was in stock and I wouldn't have to go from store to store searching.
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| Fondant Cake Decorations |
Wilton makes fondant available for purchase, pre-colored, and ready to roll out. They offer different colors, however, I needed the primary colors fondant pack. It costs about $11.99 in most stores, however, depending which craft store you go to, there is usually a coupon. Always a bonus!
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| Fondant Cake Decorations |
Working with one color at a time, the fondant was rolled out, and using a pastry scraper, similar to the one found through the link, I proceeded to cut squares and rectangles. If I had more time, I should have carefully measured the strips and made each "block" uniformed sizes. Eyeballing works in a quick pinch, and that's what I did. To make the circles on top, using the remaining fondant from cutting the block portion, I used a decorating tip with a larger opening and cut out small circles. The fondant was moist enough to set the small circles of fondant on the blocks, give it a gentle push and they adhered. Then letting them air dry until it was time to frost and decorate the cake.
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| Fondant Cake Decorations Around the Side of the Cake. |
My other stop at the store that day involved the supermarket to find a little LEGO toy. They happened to have a small dump truck. Adding a "mound"of frosting to one corner and setting the dump truck on top as a decoration, was a nice little touch. Looks like the truck dumped icing on the cake.
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| LEGO Dump Truck As A Cake Decoration |
My grandson loved it!! I was grateful that he didn't start asking questions like, "Grandma, how come the LEGOs are all different sizes?" or "Grandma, why does it look like the truck is going to slide down the hill?" He thought it was great. The smile on his adorable, little face was well worth the effort of making those fondant decorations.
Would I try this project again? Yes!!!!!! It's really fun. I think it would be even better not having to use such thick pieces of fondant with other decorations. Roll the fondant thinner and make something else. Oh, even better, I could sign up for a Wilton Cake Decorating class at one of the craft stores and actually learn how to decorate a cake. Hmmm. There's a thought. We'll see. Maybe one day.
Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon!!
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