I had the perfect opportunity to check off my cake making goal. Jackson's first birthday! I've always wanted to learn how to use fondant to decorate a cake. Not necessarily to cover the cake, but to make fun things to put on as decoration. I did a bit of research on fondant and actually decided to change it and use marzipan instead. Basically the same thing, except it tastes better, and it is softer (which made it easier to form into shapes).
I colored the marzipan to match the colors in the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Then I started making some of the foods in the book that the caterpillar eats, and punched holes in them. I made little round balls so I could decorate around the bottom of the cake, a number "1," and the hungry caterpillar. It took few hours to do this. (I had started out using almond paste which was totally the wrong thing, so I spent a lot of time re-doing things with the marzipan. And making it perfect.)
The night before the party I made the cakes and buttercream frosting. I frosted the cakes, being careful to make the smash cake as smooth as possible. I didn't care so much that the big cake was perfectly smooth and line-less. I wanted that one to have some character.
The morning of the party I decorated the big cake with all the marzipan pieces. And did a little bit of decoration on the smash cake.
I did not write Jackson's name on the cake. I did it initially, but didn't like it or the color. So I put it back in the refrigerator to chill it, and then peeled the letters off. I really wanted it to look nice so I asked my mother (who has many years of experience writing on cakes) to do the honors. And I'm glad I did, it looked great!
The boy and his finished cakes. I had so much fun doing it! And Jackson had a good time digging in to that smash cake.
Cute cake for a cute boy! You did a good job.
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