thank you stars

stars, originally uploaded by lorilei78.

I couldn't decide what to do for the girls' teachers, bus driver and bus aide last week...it can get pricey when there are 6 people to thank. So I came up with these little cakes. Yellow cake, cut with a star cookie cutter, then covered with vanilla buttercream and yellow marshmallow fondant. I liked them, they turned out pretty cute.:o)

Luau doodads

tikispalmsandals, originally uploaded by lorilei78.

I had so much fun making these little guys. Like I said, I found MMF so much easier to work with. I think, given enough time, I could make just about anything out of MMF.....and a bonus is that it tastes really good, just like candy.
Here is the recipe for MMF:

16 oz. bag of marshmallows
1 T water
6-7 c. powdered sugar
Crisco
Marshmallows in microwave-safe bowl, add water, microwave for 2 mins. Stir with greased spoon until smooth, and add any dyes/flavors, stir again and start adding powdered sugar. When it starts to resemble thick pudding, grease up your hands and mix in the sugar by hand. after about 10 minutes of working the sugar in by hand, in the bowl, turn it out onto your powdered sugar-covered counter. Keep adding sugar until it is no longer sticky.

I added cocoa powder, just a tablespoon or so, to the marshmallows before I added the sugar, for the tikis. Now they taste like little marshmallow chocolate candy bars. Yay!

I have never tasted regular fondant, but I hear it tastes like poopy. I can attest that gum paste tastes similar, so for me the only way to go is to use MMF. It breaks my heart to think about putting all that work into a cake for it to taste bad!

Luau Cake

luaucake1, originally uploaded by lorilei78.

The Luau Cake was my first attempt at using marshmallow fondant. I found it much easier to work with than gum paste, the only problem being that it took much longer to harden. I was supposed to get some hardening agent (tylo powder or something like that) but did not....next time. I ran into more problems in the creation of this cake than I ever have before.....marshmallow fondant needs time to harden, or very cold conditions, and our AC broke during the 2 days I was assembling it. Bubbles formed under the fondant as it started to melt! We replaced the stuff in the freezer with the cake and I was able to poke a tiny hole in the bubble and smooth it out. This cake was definitely a learning experience.