Groom's Cake

My coworker asked me to make a grooms cake for her wedding a few weekends ago and I happily obliged. She sent me an example from Pinterest and I did my best to recreate it, minus the glove (her request) and with a little less finesse.

This was my first time working with fondant and I think it went okay. It wasn't the easiest medium to work with - too sticky and finicky - but it worked out okay in the end, I think. My "customer" seemed pretty pleased and that's really all that matters, right?

I used my white cake and bavarian buttercream recipes, only altering the cake slightly to make marble cake, at V's request.

I used a lot of tips I learned from Yolanda Gampp, including moistening the cakes with simple syrup (since V wasn't going to be picking the cake up until almost 5 days later).

And just for fun, I filled between the layers with colored buttercream.

I frosted the outside of the cake with uncolored buttercream, starting with a crumb coat before icing it thickly.

To get the airbrushed effect in the Pinterest example, I just used "paint" made with some vodka and food coloring and did my best to create a light ombre effect.

I had some imperfections in my fondant application, especially on the sides, but luckily, I was able to cover up the worst of it with a cityscape. I also didn't do much to sharpen up the edge of the cake, but I figured since the top was supposed to resemble a baseball, it didn't really matter if it was rounded.

I do have to make a confession though. For whatever reason, maybe it was just too hot or humid, but the fondant sagged and kind of melted off so I had to redo it. It worked out okay because the second time around, my fondant application and painting was so much better. And I even used my spaghetti cutter to make the red stitching.

I actually ended up adding some little tiny gold stars afterwards, for fun.

Not bad, huh? I gave myself a B- overall and a B+ for effort for my first try. And V was super happy - she said it looked professional - and everyone at the wedding loved it so I'd say an A+ for customer satisfaction!

xoxo.