March Cakes

In March, my BF's niece turned five. She requested a Strawberry Shortcake cake, like this one that's made from a Strawberry Shortcake pan.

But I had just bought these adorable mini tiers (among other things) and was dying to try them out. I figured the family was big enough that I might as well go ahead and make two cakes, no big deal right?

I decided to be uber prepared this time and not wait till the very last minute, so I started making everything two whole days before the party. Thursday night I made the fondant. I finally tried out Wilton's marshmallow fondant that I've been hearing so much about, and let me tell you, it's a miracle. Super easy to make, super easy to work with, and all it is is marshmallows and powdered sugar, not crazy stuff like glycerin and glucose.

Friday I set out to make the tiered cake. It was exactly one boxed cake mix to fill the four tiers. Perfect, right?

Not so much, turns out cake rises more than I thought while baking, oops.

And when you check it a million times because the adorable pans don't come with any sort of instructions (and take to pictures for your blog with the oven door open and letting out heat, probably a bad idea), it sinks back down.

And since when this happens the edges are much thicker than the middle, even if a toothpick comes out clean in the center, when you run a knife around the edges to get the cake out, it's still gooey.

So you have to bake them some more, even if they're already out of their pans and you have to put them on a cookie sheet.

Now to fix the shape and fill in the holes. I may be a terrible baker, but I'm an excellent fixer, so never fear. Just take all the bits that overflowed, crumble them, and mix them with some frosting, and it's just like those cake pops that are so cute and trendy now. Yeah, it's cute and trendy, just keep telling myself that.

So a bit of reconstructive surgery...

...and a healthy dose of buttercream frosting...

...and these lovely little rounds are good as new.

Now for the decorating. I made a "sketch" on my computer of what I wanted it to look like.

Then to work rolling, cutting, and wrapping.

And move all the details onto the cake.

By the way, do you know how insane the color red is? It's nearly impossible to get a good red. I used HALF of a tub of red food coloring (for other colors I need only a couple of dips of a toothpick) on just a baseball sized ball of fondant, and this was the best I could get. Remind me to just by some red fondant if I ever need it again.

Saturday morning I made the flat cake. I started with a pattern for the shape.

And a couple of sketches, one color at a time, so I wouldn't miss any details and have to go back after I'd already moved on to a new color.

Then cut the cake.

And crumb coat it.

With the scraps I made a quick camera cake for BF's boss's b-day (say that 10 times fast).

Divide the frosting.

And color!

Base colors.

And here she is, all finished, just in time for the party. Next time I need to remember to actually use a frosting tip, not just a a sandwich bag with a hole cut in the corner. Oh well.

Birthday girl's reaction when I brought in the cakes, "That's weird."