I made this cake for my family and our good friends for dessert for tonight. Since the pressure was off, I thought it would be a good opportunity to make my own marshmallow fondant for the first time. It was ALOT of work. It required alot of kneading and pulling and smooshing. I was exhausted by the time it was ready. At this point I am going to assume I did something wrong in my preparation of the fondant, because it was terrible to work with. It was so hard to roll out because it was so elastic. Then once I had it on the cake it kept shrinking back from the edge like a rubber band. I would get a fold out and then turn the cake and when I came back around, the fold had sprung back into place. I wanted to throw it all away and start over.
This was also my first attempt at cake carving. I sculpted 3 layers to be the shape of the hat. This also took alot more time than I expected. No wonder sculpted cakes are so much more money. They take so much more time.
It also created alot of cake bits left over. I couldn't bring myself to throw them away, so I mixed them with the left over buttercream and stuck the mixture in the freezer. I'll have some ready made dough for the next time I need some cake ball or cake pops.
I also experimented with the recipe. Instead of water, I used sour cream to make a firmer cake that will hold up to the weight of the fondant. We'll taste it tonight. Cross your fingers.
