Fondant Cake for Beginners

In two weeks I'm hosting my sister-in-law's baby shower! I am super stoked! She really loves rustic decor so that's the theme I'm going with. I want to make a fancy cake but figured my first time working with fondant should not be for a party. So much to my husband's pleasure, I made a practice cake yesterday! I'm not much of a baker, but I was suprised by how easy it was. I even made my own buttercream frosting!

I didn't get too glamorous. Purchased the cake mix and pre-made fondant at Walmart. 

What you'll need:

Cake Mix

Cake Pan (I have two 9" pans)

24oz package of fondant

Rolling Pin

Cake froster-I used an off-set spatula 

Powdered Sugar (so fondant doesn't stick to your surface)

For Frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine softened

1 1/2 t vanilla

1-2 T milk

Prepare and bake the cake according to package directions. Allow to fully cool before frosting

To make frosting: mix together sugar and butter on low speed. Stir in vanilla and milk. If the frosting seems too thick add more milk. If it seems too thin add more sugar. Mix for 3-5 minutes.  Here's how mine looked:

Once cakes have fully cooled frost all sides. and then stack on top of each other. I do not own a cake stand so I turned my cake pan upside down and placed it on top of that. To rotate the cake while frosting I rotated the towel the pan was on. Maybe not the best way to do it-but it was resourceful! Try to get your frosting as smooth as possible.  

 Spread powdered sugar on your working surface and rolling pin. Knead the fondant according to the package directions. Roll out with your roller till the frosting is about 1/8 of an inch. ensure the fondant frosting will cover your cake. 

To lift up fondant I rolled it onto my pin so that it was laying over with half draped on each side. This is not my image, but I think it'd help to see what I mean. 

http://www.wilton.com/technique/Covering-Large-Cupcakes-with-Rolled-Fondant

Drape over cake. 

All websites I found said to use a smoother to smooth down the fondant. I just used my hands for this one, but for the real deal I will use the smoother. I think it helps the fondant attach to the frosting better. My fondant kind of fell off when eating the cake. 

I smoothed the fondant down to the base and then used a pizza cutter to trim the excess. 

With my excess fondant I took a strip and added a few drops of red food coloring and kneaded the frosting until the color was evenly dispursed. I followed this YouTube video on how to make a flower https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwGxrxTDJq0

I used water to make the petals stick together a little easier. 

I placed flower on cake, found some old Mardi Gras beads, and Tada! Fondant cake :)