CTK Auction Cake

Annika's school had its annual auction this weekend. One portion of the auction was a dessert dash. To support the event (and the school), I made a cake for the dessert dash. When I embark on the cake creation process, I usually have a clear idea of what the cake will look like before I ever start on the decorating. This cake had me stumped. I couldn't see it in my mind's eye. This was one of the "let the cake lead you" moments in my life.

The auction's theme was "Island Paradise", so I knew that I wanted to include flowers that might be found in a lei. My first idea was to use my new Cricut and cut out luau-themed shapes. Due to time constraints and after two failed flower-cutting attempts, that plan went out of the window and I started formulating Plan B.

I covered the cake in marshmallow fondant, which I had never made or used before. I loved working with it and it tastes MUCH better than regular fondant. I'll have to play with it more to figure out the best way to get it to work with my Cricut, though. As it currently stands, the fondant is too soft for the Cricut blade to do clean cuts. I think I'll try freezing the fondant a bit first and kneading in a little gum paste powder to add a bit more structure. (One side bonus of working with fondant - I get a great ab workout from kneading it!)

I didn't intend for the cake to turn out Tiffany blue; I just put a few drops of blue coloring in my big blob of white fondant. Low and behold! Tiffany blue. I love how the blue turned out!

To hide gaps between the cakes and their boards, I chose to make fondant ropes (I love, love, love my silicone rope mold!) and placed them around the tiers. It gave the cake a more finished look ... it also made me want to splurge on the pearl shape mold, that's for sure!!

There was a painter on TV who used to say we don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents. I think this cake fits into this category. I didn't know what to expect when I started out, but am thrilled with the final results.