Birthday Prep that Takes the Cake

The day before Ephraim's birthday was a busy one for me. Since I was working in the library that evening, I knew I needed to get his birthday cake and everything else ready before dinner time.

I was a little nervous about making the cake because I planned to use fondant for the icing and had never done that before. I really like the way fondant cakes look, so I decided to go for it. I did my research and found good instructions and a video on YouTube that I decided to use.

First I baked the cake. For some reason my first cake turned out pretty flat, so I decided that it would just have to be a double layer cake. So I baked another cake and stacked it on top of the first one. Next I made the fondant. The online recipe I found told me how to do it using my KitchenAid, so it wasn't too bad. The only part I had a hard time with was mixing in the food coloring. I ended up with it all over my hands (and shirt!). I also learned that if you want darker colors, you need to use special food coloring. I should have known that from my experiences with regular frosting, but it didn't register in my brain. I added more green hoping the fondant would get darker, but it did not work.

By this point Grandma Heiner arrived at our house. The boys were really excited to see her. We made a quick trip to Wal*Mart to get a few items. While we were there we found chocolate rocks, which were just what I needed to finish the cake!

After we got home and had lunch, I put Ephraim down and started back in on the cake. I cut pieces off the cake so that it would be shaped like a number two. Then I rolled out the fondant and put it on. The only mistake I made was rolling the fondant too thin. It got a little too stretched out at certain spots, so I ended up putting two layers on the cake. I think it turned out pretty well though!

After I put on the green fondant, I started decorating. I made a train bed out of brown fondant, and railroad ties out of brown licorice. Then I used the grey fondant for the rails and added the chocolate rocks.

For the finishing touches I went and got some of the trees from our wooden railway set and put them all around it. Then I got out the Percy I bought for Ephraim's birthday and put him on top of the cake.

I was pretty proud of myself, and I think the cake turned out awesome!

Next time working with fondant won't be nearly as tricky, which will be nice. I already know what cake I will be doing next... it will be a Buzz Lightyear cake for Jacob. Don't worry, it won't be a cake shaped like Buzz... it will be a cake with a Buzz Lightyear on top of it.