The icing on the cake ... or not

As alluded to in a previous entry, here is...drumroll...the photographic evidence of my cake decorating classes...well, actually only the most recent of the three classes I took. Unfortunately, my cell phone -- which stored the compelling (I'm sure) photographic evidence of my first two classes -- decided to take a time out. Thus, all the photos from my first two classes were erased when the phone crashed. So you won't see any frosting here (per the first two classes). This third class pictured is all gum paste and fondant, neither of which I had used prior to these recent classes. It was kinda cool because I felt like a sculptor with the gum paste and fondant (seriously).

At first I was leary of gum paste and fondant because you really build your biceps while blending them together (a la Play Doh on steroids), but the results are so much easier to produce than with frosting. The only drawback to working with gum paste and fondant, in my estimation, are that they crack and dry out quickly. (You have to keep them constantly covered except at the exact moment you're molding them into...something.) And the remedy to the dryness dilemma is not for the faint of heart: Get ready to douse those hands into your nearest bucket of Crisco to ensure smooth, seamless, cooperative gum paste and fondant. I fought this unfortunate requirement for a couple classes, then accepted it as reality and dug into the full-on grease, no holds barred. Fun times. Here are some of the results:

Here is the bow I made in the first gum paste and fondant class session. Notice how it's got a few cracks. That was before I had embraced the whole Crisco-hand-dipping requirement...

And...still fighting the Crisco gig here on this purple rose (above)...

No, it's not a pink artichoke...It's a mum!

And here's my final cake. I made the calla lilies and the leaves. As you can see by their smooth texture, I had embraced the whole Crisco gig by the time I made them. Regarding the design of my final cake, I strongly wanted to be different and make a cake with striking colors. Thus, I found out black fondant existed and immediately wanted to use it. I only found two cakes online that used black fondant as a base (hard to believe, but true). I also found online only one store in Phoenix and one store in Tucson that sold it. So the rarer the better, and black fondant it was.

My original vision for my final cake was a black fondant cake with white lace fondant cutout overlays on the sides of the bottom layer, with deep red roses and calla lilies on top. But the night I had to make the flowers, I tried to mix Americolor red dye into the gum paste and ended up with something that looked like a huge bloody mess. It seriously looked like I was holding a bloody heart or other bodily organ in my hand. Now I know what surgeons feel like, and I literally almost vomited. Not a pretty picture. So I freaked out and threw the whole bloody mess away, so to speak... The lace cutout idea didn't pan out either because I had ordered the lace fondant cutters via online/mail order and they didn't arrive before the final class... So I switched gears quite a lot here both in design and color for my final cake:

Now I just have to get some real-world practice one of these days! My dad's birthday is coming up. Dad...? Of course, I'd nix the calla lilies for his cake!