Happy 27th Birthday David!!! Fondant piano cake

“Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake.” Anonymous

Last year for my husbands birthday I was starting to get into cake decorating, so I made him a checker board "Black & White" themed cake. The very next day, feeling inspired I was lost in a web of cake designing websites and came across the idea for a fondant piano cake. Because my husband is known for being a piano player I thought this idea was genius! So for a year it has been in the back of my mind to make this cake for him this year! I wasn't too sure how it would turn out considering I have never touched fondant in my life, but it didn't stop me from going out and buying everything I could possibly need to do this cake. Lots of money was spent, enough said! Ha! (Thank God most was reusable tools!) 

So, basically my introduction to using fondant was a baptism by fire, seeing as I had never taken a course. My mom (the pastry chef) gave me a couple of tips over the phone, which were mostly useless, because I wasn't smart enough to follow them correctly, humpf! My cake was baked, cut to shape, and crumb coated at least 4 hrs in advance- too bad the fondant part took me over 6hrs. Fondant is really tricky, and if you attempt to use it for the first time, especially if you are coloring it yourself, I would do a mock cake a few days in advance. 

Here is how my cake turned out:

My husband was thrilled, and honestly a little shocked too I think. Ha Ha! It was a bit of a surprise that it wasn't a store bought cake, or even a home-frosted-wobbly-lettered-looking-job! 

If coloring fondant yourself (which is a tricky job, when you can buy pre-colored fondant for around the same price at any cake store) give it time and let it breathe! This probably sounds a little silly, but just like buttercream icing, or painting a wall- icing/fondant takes time to go darker. Don't constantly keep adding coloring to get it darker, you can always add more but you can never go back lighter. Also don't forget to keep it well covered to keep it from going hard. 

Wish I would have had a better camera, these shots just don't seem to do the cake justice! ;)

Rolling out the fondant is also extremely tricky, hence the 6 + hrs it took my to get the fondant right. Too thick and it will tear once rolled out over the cake, and too thin and will tear as you try to lift it. These are the kinda of stupid problems I encountered when trying to make this cake. Also measuring is KEY. Measure the circumference of your fondant once rolled out, measure your cake and then measure it again. You can never over measure! When decorating with fondant, strips, dots, or stars- try to keep consistency by... yes! Measuring! ;)

Can't wait 'til the next time I make a fondant cake. Now that I've already had my 6hr self taught lesson, I think I'm ready to handle anything!!!!