I'll admit.
I don't work with fondant.
It's really been more of a fear than anything else. I've always found some sort of excuse to get out of using it.
It was unavoidable this time around.
I was making a birthday and housewarming cake, where the request was for race cars. I thought about modeling chocolate and gum paste options as well, but decided that it was high time for me to start using fondant. So I took the plunge.
I've heard from friends before about how fondant rips and cracks when they try to cover cakes with it, so I was worried.
We will get back to that though.
For the cake, I chose to make a 2-tiered chocolate espresso cake with a matching espresso buttercream frosting.
I made a small race track with 2 fondant race cars (and a real Hot Wheels race car), that leads to a fondant house with flanking race car flags
The cars I found especially cute, and loved making them. I dyed some fondant with yellow and red to get 2 different coloured race cars. My friend was over that night too, so she made the yellow one, while I made the red one. Super cute!
vroom vroom! |
they've got visors and spoilers too! |
To the cake top, I made a windy road that led to a fondant house painted yellow-ish brown, to represent their new home. I tinted the remaining buttercream with some red colour paste, so I could write a message on the cake, and to put a little "J" and "K" on the front plates of the cars, for both of my friends.
Not featured in the photo, are the checkered flags I made that flank the house, and the checkered flag pattern that wraps the bottom of the cake.
I had a blast making this cake, and it marks an end to my fondant boycott!
Chocolate espresso cake
2 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cup milk
1. To prepare the pans (I used 9" springform pans), butter the bottom, line with parchment, butter the bottom again and the sides, and dust in cocoa powder. Tap out the excess.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, espresso powder).
3. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract, then the eggs one at a time.
4. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, the milk in 2 additions, alternating, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
5. Pour evenly into 2 pans and bake at 350F for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Larger pans will use less time, smaller pans will take more time.
* Be sure to cool these cakes in the pan for 15 minutes before turning them out to cool to rest of the way.
Espresso buttercream
1 cup butter, room temperature
4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp espresso powder
1 tsp hot water
1. Beat butter until light and fluffy.
2. Gradually add icing sugar, one cup at a time until well combined.
3. Add the vanilla extract, espresso powder, and water mixture. Beat again until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.
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