The Motley Crew

Here is the lame-o cake I made for Eli. I used homemade fondant, which is super easy to make. However, for some reason I have not been having luck with my fondant. For Mike's birthday it was way too dry and for Eli's it was much too wet. I tried fixing it but for some reason it just wouldn't be fixed--and the fix is easy, it just needs more powdered sugar.

Anyway, I made the cake and it was really flat so I bought another cake and then had too much cake and had to make the two layers. But the filling for the cake was too wet and even with my dam, it started to seep out the side. I covered it with the fondant, which took me forever because it kept sticking to the counter. I had to finally add some store bought fondant and that helped make it more workable. It just kept ripping and so covering it was a nightmare. By the time I got them both covered and stacked I had had it. I started around 12:30ish and Mike came home at 4:30ish and I was not happy, still working on the cake. By the time it came to cut the shapes for the train and lay the track and the ropes on the bottom I was done. I was so annoyed because no matter what knife I used to cut the shapes it would just drag the fondant and make a mess. Also, my 2 wasn't made with enough gum paste so it didn't dry fast enough to attach without the toothpicks making it look silly. So, the cake was very disappointing and even thought homemade fondant tastes so much better, I will not be using it next time.

Eli liked it and that is what matters. It tasted really good too. I used a white cake with a frozen raspberry/cool whip/sweetened condensed milk mixture. Plus, since the fondant was so gooey it had a much better texture for eating--not like the chewy store bought stuff. Mike reassures me and tells me that even professionals had to start somewhere and were sure to have bad cakes....