Cake tutorial... My first try at Marshmallow fondant

So it's been a productive week thus far and I'm hoping it continues! We had a birthday in the family and I volunteered or perhaps begged and insisted I made the cake. So I set out to provide the birthday girl with a cake. The following shows my first attempt at making a cake with marshmallow fondant.
The fondant recipe itself is simply marshmallows, powered sugar, water and vanilla.
This is the recipe I used
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/marshmallow-fondant/Detail.aspx

So she wanted a '69 mustang cake. Mind you I've never made a car cake, in fact the castle for my Sugar Bean was about as adventurous as I've been.




You'll need to bake two 9 x 13 cakes. I did a chocolate and vanilla.



Cut out a sturdy base for your car. Leaving notches for the wheels. Keep in mind the type of vehicle and it can't be any larger than your cake sliced in half.



Cut one of the cakes in half lenghth wise, frost in between layers. Oh be sure to level your cake as well. Stack as shown on top of your cardboard base.



Now carve away! Keep in mind the basic shape of the car. Use a pic as reference if need be. Or just wing it! Lol!



Frost the entire car, this will act as the glue to keep the fondant from falling off later. Now go ahead and roll out your Marshmallow fondant.



Drape your base cake. Be sure you frosted it prior to laying the MMF on. Trim carefully!



Repeat with the car. Be gentle! No pulling or tugging just let it fall naturally then you can manipulate it.


Now the fun begins! Get as creative and crazy as you want, decorate as you wish! Trim, cut, and design. When your ready make a cardboard riser for the car base to sit on. If you choose not to your wheels won't sit right and you'll have to have them sunk in the base. Transfer car onto the cake base. Viola! Add your wheels and finishing touches and you're finished!






It may not be a perfect replica but I think ya get the idea.

It was certainly fun to make!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Digging dirt & a cherry!

Okay go ahead and yell! I've been slacking in the blog dept but yall must forgive me because we've been playing outside...
So just a gardening update and I promise I'll push for some curriculum reviews and such asap!

So as I've said before we have horrible soil that has been contaminated from the years pollution from the local zinc company. We've spent the past few years fiddling and experimenting with options... Today we planted some straw bales!



I had some bales laying around that had started decomposing beautifully. Sugar Bean and I planted them with some cucumbers that needed rescuing and corn and lazy housewife beans. Three Sisters in a straw bale? Worth a shot, right!?




I had rescued some pumpkin seedlings that turned up in the road ditch most likely from our pumpkins we had during the holidays last year. They've been transplanted along with some more three sister planting. We will see what makes it!

As far as the buckwheat I planted...



It LOVES fresh chicken compost!
Honestly the prettiest patch of green on the whole hillside. Lol!

We also discovered this week we have a cherry tree. Woohoo! And on this said cherry tree one beautiful cherry begging to be picked. A good 12 ft up so I grabbed a garden hoe and pulled the branch down and snatched that cherry! It's was either me or a bird! Sugar Bean and Wiggles wanted it just as much as I did with their eager hands high in the air begging me to hand it over. After a short discussion of one cherry and the mouths wanting it we opted on sharing this lone beauty and we each got a tiny taste. Oh me oh my! That was the most delicious cherry ever! Sugar Bean insisted on planting the pit so we did. It's now in a little pot in her garden, no promises kid! ;-p
Yes it was a long day outside gardening and exploring. The inside chores were neglected but we can fuss with that on a rainy day! Now the children are all soundly sleeping and I need to retire for I have a feeling tomorrow we will be exploring our kitchen floor and the laundry basket!
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone