Mistakes 1-4

Mistake #1

Don’t use the Wilton buttercream mix. It is disgusting and no one will like your cake!

Mistake #2

I still haven’t figured out what icing you can use under fondant. I have read buttercream, but it has to be refrigerated, and you can’t refrigerate fondant, which seems like a big issue. And if you do use buttercream, don’t use chocolate, at least not at first.

I thought it would be a nice change variation to use chocolates frosting under the pure white fondant. This was a poor decision for my first foray into the fondant world. I ended up smudging chocolate all over the fondant, which I ended up painting black, but if I hadn’t it would have been quite a disaster. So why is the frosting ending up on top of the fondant? Well, that leads me into…

Mistake #3

I have watched enough Ace of Cakes, so I should know better, but don’t try to fondant a square/rectangular cake, it does not work. Picture a table cloth on a square table, it bunches at the corners and it is basically unfixable. My solution was to cut 1-inch strips of fondant to run across the top in an x formation. (I realize at this point I should have taken pictures, and for all future ventures, there will be pictures, but my battery was dead etc. etc.)

Mistake #4

DON’T PUT GUM PASTE IN THE FRIDGE!
Ok, maybe this should have been common sense, but I really didn’t think a lot about it. I made these adorable margarita cupcakes for Cinco de Mayo (check the next success post for details about those) and I rolled the rim in “salt” (sugar) and swirled the frosting to look like a frozen margarita, it was only missing one thing, limes!

So I made some lime green gum paste, rolled it out, and cut circles. I cut the circles in half and pressed lines into the side. After they dried I painted a darker green “peel” along the outside and painted the lines. They were completely adorable and the final touch I needed before putting the cupcakes in the fridge (whipped cream based frosting) for the night.

I wake up in the morning, and the limes have melted into the frosting. The moisture from the cupcake container, mixed with the refrigeration, left me with droopy green slimy gunk hanging off the side of my otherwise perfect cupcakes. I pulled them out and smoothed the frosting, even replaced a few with some extras I had made, but it really just wasn’t the same.