Cuteness 1-2-3: A baby rattle cake for a baby shower

I consider rolled fondant one of the evils of the cake decorating world. Though it easy to work with, it violates one of my food rules: anything on the plate must taste delicious (that means nothing inedible can be used). Because fondant isn't delicious (it tastes like clay, if clay were made from sugar), I try to avoid it. But on Sunday, with the clock ticking down to the baby shower and little confidence in my butter cream decorating ability (my excuse: exhaustion), I turned to rolled fondant, knowing, at the time of service, the decorations could be removed.

I made the cake in honor of my friend Leti, whose simple wedding cake I made in 2006.  Here's the cake:

Though they didn't tell me in advance what the party decorations would look like, the cake blended in, almost to the point of invisibility.

The cake was a little sweeter than  I usually like, thanks to way too many layers of icing (one guest did say it was his fantasy cake, as he prefers icing to cake).

The recipe I used for the cake is my Grandma's Chocolate Cake Recipe (there's also a gluten-free version).

It was a divine, cakey mess.

Comments

[Laurie]

This is so adorable and very well done!

[Cake and Commerce]

Thanks Laurie! I wish I had a little more oomph in me when I decorated it - it was the morning after my 24x3 dinner, and I was exhausted.

[Mark]

Yeah, fondant is not very good. I make a dough with white chocolate and corn syrup for these types of decorations. You can color it any shade that you need. 8 oz. white chocolate, melted, then add 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Knead it like a dough and run it through a pasta machine.

[artepicure]

Yeah, fondant just isn't very good. I make a dough out of white chocolate and corn syrup. 8 oz. melted chocolate to 4 Tablespoons corn syrup. Color it as needed and knead like a dough. Roll it out via a pasta roller and cut your shapes.

[Cake and Commerce]

Chocolate plastic (what you refer to above) is great - and I completely forgot about it so thank you so much for the reminder (I think the last time I used it was culinary school in...uh...a long time ago!). Next time: chocolate plastic. No more fondant for me. Blech!

Thank you!

[Lauren]

I've never had fondant, but your cake looks really good =D!

[Colleen Brown]

Your cake looks fabulous! We have to talk about fondant though. Commercial fondants aren't that good but there's nothing nicer on a cake than a good rolled marshmallow fondant! Easy to make and tastes devine. I make mine with the colored marshmallows from time to time and that is great also. I'll have to send you my recipes!

[Cake and Commerce]

Sounds very interesting! I'd love to see the recipe!

[Leti & Mandy]

This cake was FANTASTIC! Our baby's lucky to have such a talented auntie to make him/her cake...

[Jean Layton]

Lovely and oh so appropriate for a special friend.
Are you willing to share just how you did the layers? It looks like each was a bit smaller and the edges cut to form the bowl shape but it would be sooo nice to not reinvent the wheel.
I have a friend who's shower is in a week and this would be perfect.
thanks
Jean

[Cake and Commerce]

Jean, I'd be flattered that you want to do a similar cake.

What I did was bake a square sheet cake. I then cut it in two.

I cut the round part out of one half and cut it into layers. I kept all of the extra for top layers of the sphere when I built it.

I made the handle in the same way - cut out a handle shape, cut it into layers, and kept the excess for building up layers.

Does that help?

[lisaiscooking]

I've always wondered if there's fondant out there that actually tastes good. Your cake is so cute, and it looks delicious!

[Maria]

What a perfect cake for a baby shower! That marshmallow fondant sounds great.

[Angie @ The Diaper Baker]

What an absolutley adorable baby shower cake!! I love it!! :)