FIRST BIG Fondant Cake!

I made this cake for a friend's baby shower... it was my first BIG fondant cake.  2 tiers - 3 cakes mixes, 2 different buttercream fillings, homemade fondant and store-bought fondant all to make this beaut:

The top layer is yellow cake with a vanilla chocolate chip buttercream filling:

• 1 pound bag of powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 sticks butter, cut into ½ inch slices
• 1/2 cup shortening
• One package vanilla instant pudding mix
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips, crumbled in food processor

• using the whisk attachment on your electric mixer, mix the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and milk at low speed until smooth.
• add butter, one slice at a time, until incorporated
• add shortening and whip at highest speed 10-12 minutes, until volume increases by at least 50%.
• Add vanilla pudding mix & chocolate chips

The bottom layer is choclate cake with extra rich chocolate buttercream filling - which is just a basic buttercream recipe with whipped choc ganache added to it.

Buttercream:

• 1 pound bag of powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 sticks butter, cut into ½ inch slices
• 1/2 cup shortening

• using the whisk attachment on your electric mixer, mix the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla and milk at low speed until smooth.
• add butter, one slice at a time, until incorporated
• add shortening and whip at highest speed 10-12 minutes, until volume increases by at least 50%.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces chocolate, finely chopped

1. put cream in a microwave safe glass bowl and heat on high for 2-3 minutes, until just about to boil.

2. put chocolate in a medium sized glass bowl and pour hot cream over.
3. let sit for a minute or two then stir with a wooden spoon until completely smooth.
4. freeze the ganache for a few hours until very firm, then whip in your electric mixer, about 5 minutes, until fluffy. Be careful not to over-whip the ganache, however, or you'll end up with chocolate butter!


The homemade fondant wouldn't hold up over the entire cake, so just some of the decor is made out of that.  The majority of the cake was covered with Wilton's packaged fondant - which doesn't taste that great... good thing I put all those yummy fillings in there :-)

I did a quilted pattern and added pearls where the pattern crossed.  Overall it turned out pretty good, I'm just not sure when I'll be ready to tackle another fondant masterpiece.