Easter/Spring Rabbit in flower garden cake.
So I'm a little behind on some blogs here but hope to catch up soon, it has been a full few weeks for us, moving, lots of Dr. trips and some time with family.
With my love of cake decorating I thought I might share this adorable cake that I made for our Easter dinner. While I wasn't sure which kind of cake to make I was looking at pictures online and my daughter saw a rabbit on a cake on the computer and said "make rabbit momma". So, that is what I did, and what fun it was. Especially when she saw the finished product, she still talks about it weeks later :)
Here is an awesome recipe for Marshmallow Fondant, you can use a pre-made fondant but this fondant taste great and we all love it, so simple and cheap.
4C Powdered Sugar + extra for kneading and counter
4C mini marshmallows
2tbsp water
coloring and flavor if desired
-----In a large microwave safe bowl heat marshmallows and water for 20-30 second intervals until thoroughly melted. If you want to add flavor add at this point 1-2tsp (though in my opinion it isn't necessary), also, this is where you will add the coloring (you will need to make it darker than your intended color because adding the powdered sugar will do quite a bit of lightening to the color). Another option is making this white and breaking off pieces and adding 1 drop at a time of gel food coloring and kneading into fondant until desired color. Now, add the powdered sugar and mix until you can't stir with spoon any more then pour out onto a powdered surface with powdered. sugar and then dust the top too. Work together and kneed until it is smooth. This is going to be sticky and messy :) Roll out on powdered surface for making cuts or covering things, or break off pieces to mold into animal at this point.
NOTE: If ever the fondant becomes too sticky to handle or form then just dust with a small amount of powdered sugar.
First I made fondant flowers a couple weeks ahead of time so they would have time to dry out completely and be easy to handle. Here is a great flower mold sold by
Global Sugar Art, it creates such adorable, medium sized flowers for any and all baking projects and I LOVE it. When I started with the cake I also wanted a few sizes of flowers so I purchased
this plunger set, also from G.S.A. and used the largest one and the second from the smallest as cutters for the fondant. When using these plungers they also will fit into the same mold to imprint the design on all the flowers. Just cut out the flowers then press in mold (you may need to use a toothpick to get them out but I found they popped out easy on their own) lay upside down on a paper towel to harden up. Once they dry out you will need to paint them with a SMALL amount of water with a new paint brush or use one that you have from Wilton or like company. You will need to do one side, let dry wet side up then do the other side because they will be really sticky on the wet side and will get stuck to the surface you lay them on as they dry. Once both sides are painted and dry you can place in an air tight container and keep for up to 3 months. When applying to cake if you are putting it on fondant you will just need to wet it lightly to make it sticky so it will adhere to fondant, no need to do this if placing on regular icing.
Next, I made the rabbit and I can't tell you how much fun I had creating this little guy. I can't tell you much how I did this, I do most of my molding by looking at pictures or what not and working on it as I go. I made the body, the ears, head, legs, and tail. This is where you will need to do and impressions like in the feet or wherever because once it dries it will be much harder. These were all made out of white and the color on ears was molded separately and placed on using a little water as the glue. You will need to take a toothpick and stick it about half way in the ear in the middle pressing your fingers on each side of the ear to make sure it doesn't protrude thru. How I did it was I let all these things dry (only because I work in between my kiddos naps most times) then I made the eyes, flower (made this rolling out a small, long oval shape and rolling up and pinching bottom), and the leaves and glued all on with a small amount of water. The ears you will press the 1/2 of the toothpick not in the ear into the head of the rabbit. Paint down the rabbit once all pieces are together with a small amount of water to dissolve all powdered sugar and clean up. Let this dry on a paper towel for several days if possible (if not it should be fine to place on cake already).
And if you were wondering, the cake was AWESOME, what a hit! Especially the kids, they all shared the rabbit and wanted the piece with lots of flowers. Since the fondant was marshmallow fondant it taste yummy!
