Discover | Lessons in fondant...

For the longest time I have loved decorating cakes, but have been too scared to work with fondant (I'm a Betty Crocker frosting kind of girl). I had it in my mind that it was hard to work with, both in texture and skill.  Chef Duff and Cake Boss Buddy always make it look so damn easy, and I know plenty of people that decorate with fondant...so why the mental block? It is definitely a skill that I've wanted to add to my cake making repertoire. The class schedule for Couture Cake Classes caught my eye a few months ago, and when a deal too good to refuse came up on LivingSocial, I jumped at the chance!

Yesterday, Rach and I met up at Balgownie, donned our plastic aprons, and got to work. We had a ball!

Louise from Couture Cake Classes showed us the basics first...how to knead and roll fondant. She had a rainbow of colours for us to choose from, so Rach and I thought we'd share so we could play with as many colours as possible.  We went crazy punching out shapes...butterflies, different flowers and hearts...way more than we'd actually need for the tops of our cupcakes. At that stage though, we didn't know what we were doing with it all. We made little ladybugs too...so super sweet and petite.

Next, we learnt how to cover the tops of the cupcakes.  Whenever I watch Cake Boss, they always "dirty ice" their cakes with butter cream first, but in the class we used white chocolate ganache...yum!!  Next, roll out fondant the colour you desire and punch out. The key here is to select a circle punch larger than what you actually need to cater for the curvature of the cupcake top, then to smooth it down with acetate (I'm sure I have some in my scrap stash that I can repurpose...).  Back to the desks to transform the tops...

Covering the tops wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be...just need to work on being a bit tidier with the ganache underneath. I used a bit too much and it ended up all over the acetate...which I then smudged over the top of the fondant. Oh well, its all practice.

Louise then showed us how to make a sun and bear...both incredibly cute and easy to replicate.  Breaking them down into their basic shapes is so logical...a bit like a scrapbook sketch.  Back to the desks for the last time, and time to decorate.  I made the sun first, then the bear. I knew that Seth would LOVE the bear, so I made sure it had a non girlie coloured base.  Here's my finished cupcakes...

As a scrapbooker, my little embellishing monster was busting to play!  Working on such a small canvas was actually a little difficult. I had punched out all these shapes and then had no idea where to place them!  My first attempt with the punched flowers was the pink flower with yellow centre. After the flower was done, it looked really plain, so I made some freehand leaves and tucked them in underneath.  We made a family of ladybugs earlier in the class, so I popped one on the white cupcake, doodled a little trail across the top with an edible pen (genius!) and called it done.  The purple flower cupcake was a bit of a debacle. I just kept adding and adding the flowers until you couldn't see the base anymore then attached a flower to the top. lol. Looks much better in the photo.  My last cupcake was the puppy. I figured if I can make a bear, I can make a puppy...complete with tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Here's Rachael's mini masterpieces...

and mine...

Predictably, Eme loved the one that I hated most...the purple floral number with the butterfly...mostly because it was covered in shimmer! lol.  Seth loved the bear and the puppy...and as they say...the proof is in the eating (which occurred approximately 3.25 seconds after walking inside the door!).

I really enjoyed using fondant and I think I've overcome my fear!  I'm definitely going to decorate cupcakes with fondant again in the future. Next time though, I'll pick one or two designs and make them in bulk. I've already got plans to make Christmas cupcakes later in the year...oh no, what have I started?!! Louise informs us that she's opening a shop soon in Wollongong, and I can't wait! You can view more of Louise's work here.

I can't help thinking how awesome Seth's Scooby Doo cake would have been this year if I'd used fondant...oh well. I'll share those pics in another post.



ps. Andrew...hide the visa...I've found another hobby!