Anyway, I got it all put back together last night and finally got my DSL connection back and can post pictures again!

I had decided that Easter was a good time to experiment with fondant, something I hadn't done before. Makayla wanted a cake that "looked like the Easter Bunny dropped his eggs in a garden". LOL Well, she's the boss, so we tried.

The recipe was 1 cup corn syrup, 1 cup shortening and 2 pounds of confectioner's sugar. It sounded pretty icky, and I sure wasn't going to make it by hand! Nancy's big Kitchen Aid earned its keep, making a nice spring green fondant:

I had already assembled the sugar egg. It took several tries before I successfully carved the window in the front, placed the Bluebird of Happiness in the back half with frosting, added the front with the window and glued it all with royal icing. Odd, I don't remember it being so time consuming when Grandma made them and I watched....

The remainder of the royal icing was tinted pink and green and used for flower decorations. Gotta have flowers in the garden, you know.

Finally I added some little friends to the front of the cake, just to keep that bluebird happy. A couple of bunnies and a duck did the trick.

Well, I don't know if I got the facsimile of the Easter Bunny dropping his egg in a garden, but I tried. Lots and lots of sugar, at any rate, and it was easier than I had anticipated. The kids were tickled to death and spent the day eating the royal icing flowers, ignoring the three layer fudge filled dark chocolate cake under the fondant!

Annie

Nancy

Tracey

Joanne

You make it sound easy - NOT! You rock, Annie:)

I have "fear of fondant" so have never attempted anything of this caliber!

The kids must have been thrilled with that cake! How fun!

Linda

Nancy

Good work and I'm so glad your computer is back up and running so you can post pictures again.
DONNA

I tried poured fondant this week..Oyoyoy..not pretty..I amde a mess of things..
Can you steer us in the direction of this recipe? Or is is it just like you said?

I think you are very good at piping and decorations too:)

Btw, AB, what you have there ain't Fondant, it's Rolled Buttercream. And it's a favorite medium with a lot of decorators because it's not as sickly sweet as fondant, plus it gives a nice, shiny finish to cakes. The only drawback is that RB doesn't hold up as well during the hot summer months and will tear easily, unless you'll be working in an air-conditioned room.
Now that you know how easy it actually is to work with this medium, I'll expect to see more cakes from you in the near future.

Did you take any pictures of the kids wearing their cake?

Sol

Nancy, that big ole' mixer just plugged along, it worked like a charm. My arm would have fallen off trying to do that by hand, so I wanted you to know how much I appreciate it.

Monique, the frosting was just like I wrote it. One cup shortening, one cup corn syrup, 2 lbs. powdered sugar. Beat up the shortening and syrup, add the sugar in three or four installments, beating all the time.

Proudmama, I did make the egg. I just packed 5 cups of sugar moistened with 4 or 5 tablespoons of water and a bit of food coloring. It should feel like damp sand. Pack it into a mold, I used one of those plastic eggs full of candy they sell at Easter that comes apart into two halves. Unmold the damp sugar onto a baking sheet and bake at 200F for 6 minutes. Take a knife (I used to have an x-acto knife, but I used a paring knife and a teaspoon) and hollow out the halves before they get cool. If they get too cool, they get brittle and break easily. I did the front part with the window a bunch of times, but I just kept wetting my hands, stirring up the broken sugar and packing and baking again, until I finally got it. Let it dry overnight on a rack and it's hard as a rock! I put green icing inside the intact half, added the bluebird, then glued the two halves together with royal icing and decorated it. Voila! A panoramic egg. You could put anything in there you liked.

Sol, I got the recipe from the internet. Rolled buttercream? It said fondant, so that's what I called it. It was intensely sweet, and it wasn't that easy to work with, it tore when I put it on the cake and I had to "patch" it. In several places, LOL, but those icing flowers cover a lot of mistakes. (grin)

So, how do you make fondant, and is it a little more "sturdy"?

And yes, I took pictures of the kids but they are on Elery's camera and my cord won't fit. It seems that every single camera has it's own cord. Grrrr. I'll try to remind him to bring it with him next week so I can get the pictures off his camera. And no, the memory card isn't the same either. Sigh.

You know I'm going to be asking you for pointers, don't you? (grin)

Annie

Ann

You know, I wish I could take a peek into Elery's camera. I'll bet there's a lot of good stuff stored in there. [wink, wink, jab, wink]
AB (as you've already discovered) rolled buttercream is not as sturdy as rolled fondant. I'm cheap, so I make my own most of the time, and I'll be glad to share it with you whenever you're ready for your next creation. Most decorators prefer to buy ready-made fondant, and I'll tell you which brands are preferred. Just promise me -if you decide to buy it- that you'll stay away from Wilton's fondant.

Sol

Amazing.

Nina

Shelley

Teresa

I would have eaten the cake and not the fondant!! LOL

Beautiful cake and yes it look like the bunny dropped the egg in a garden.

Linda

I would also have just eaten the chocolate fudge cake part of it and left the icing though....sounds heavenly!

SharonCb