First Time Playing with Fondant

I love cake decorating shows like Ace of Cakes on Food Network and Amazing Wedding Cakes on WE. One of my favorite elements of these shows is watching them roll out and use the fondant. Fondant is a smooth, shiny sugar-based covering for cakes. I ordered some online from www.fondantsource.com last week. While you can make your own fondant, most professional bakers suggest buying it because it's easier and tastes the same as homemade.

The flowers are iridescent

I was so excited when my fondant came in last Wednesday, but I had to wait until the weekend to play with my new toys. I went a bit overboard with buying cake supplies this week, and spent over $150, which is pretty ridiculous. Friday after work, I rolled out some of the fondant for the flowers I wanted to have on my cupcakes. My initial impressions of the fondant were how smooth-feeling it was and also how easy it was to roll out. I cut out the flowers using cutters and then put them in an empty egg carton carton so they dried in a more natural curved shape.

Today I resumed this set of cupcakes. The flowers had dried nicely, and I painted them with a mixture of lemon extract and luster dust. I covered the tops of the cupcakes I had baked (chocolate chip) with a layer of buttercream and then fondant. Then I placed the finished flowers and some leaves on the tops. These are definitely the fanciest cupcakes I've ever made.

The teal one was my favorite

Purple flowers

I'm thinking about attempting some larger, fondant-covered cakes in the future. I took a bunch of cake decorating books out of the library and am now wishing I had some occasions to bake for.