First time for Fondant

Well. Last night was Course 3, Lesson 2

I made a cake to cover & decorate with fondant. I was kind of dreading it. The fondant part. Not the making the cake part.

Growing up, I watched my mom make cakes all the time. But they always had butter cream, whipped cream, cream cheese, etc... frosting. And so, when I started Course 1, I knew a little bit of what to expect with that.

But I had never seen fondant worked with before. And so, having no previous knowledge WHAT SO EVER of this, I was nervous. And not really excited.

I called mom yesterday afternoon and grilled her about fondant. I wanted to know.......
Can you eat it?
Does it taste good?
Why do people like it so much?
What's so great about it?
How many cakes had she done using it?
Why would people want it for their wedding cake if they weren't going to eat it?
Isn't it just a waste of money?
How do you cut through it if it gets so hard?

And the list went on. Mom patiently answered all of my silly questions. THANKS MOM! And by the way, I must interject- It's really fun to have something so in common to talk to my mom about. I really enjoy it. So I appreciate all the patience she has when I call her a million times just to ask her questions or tell her some great thing I just learned...because I'm sure it's not neat to her since it's something she has known for a long time.

Anyway-Mom answered the questions. And it was fun to learn a little more about it. So by the time I got to class I was ready to tackle this new thing. And I did. I learned all about how to cover my cake and how to make fondant roses. And then I decorated it with a cute fondant bow and curlicues. And when I got home I added the finishing touches. And it turned out pretty cute. For a first time.

I was even able to stay after and ask the instructor a few questions about fondant. And she was able to give me a little more insight. About......
How to make a regular cake dense enough to hold up under the weight of fondant.
And
To make marshmallow fondant, because that tastes good, and doesn't harden like regular fondant.
And
that you can cover a cake with that kind of fondant, but it doesn't hold up for the decorations really well.
And
it will harden in the fridge, but soften as it gets warmer, unlike regular fondant that will not soften again once it hardens.
And more.

It was fun. I think I'll go back next week. But we aren't doing a cake next week. Just flowers. But then the last week we will make a cake again. A tiered cake. I can't wait! Have only done one of those, one other time. And it was VERY armature. I helped my friend Shirley make a cake for a YW lesson. And we did that one while we were still only in Course 1. So for course 1 students , I'm sure it was great. But for Course 3 students...probably pretty lame. (though I still think it was cute, but now we have the skills to make it BETTER)

Here's a cake that is pretty dang close to what the cake in our book looked like. I found it on someone else's blog. (all of her cakes were almost exactly like the ones in the course books) She did a good job. I just happen to think this cake is UGLY. (not hers, the cake in the book that they want us to duplicate) I love square cakes. My wedding cake was square. BUT I don't like this one. And I couldn't figure out why. And I still can't. BUT what I have come to think is that MAYBE it's the bow I don't like. Who knows.
Anyway- THIS is what I did to my cake. And I still don't love it, but I think it is WAAAAAYYY cuter than the cake in the book. The cake is covered in fondant, the bow & curlicues are fondant, but the polkadots are buttercream. The cake is french vanilla with a raspberry whipped cream center. I sliced into it today. YUMMY!!!