MGL the makings of a good life: A Fondant Frenzy

I love to bake, anyone who really knows me, knows that baking for me is relaxing and creative all the while appeasing my sweet tooth. I also love to see the reaction of my friends as they taste my creations. Now before I had moved out on my own, I had trouble baking things for my friends because of transport time of the baked goods, but now thanks to living on my own, I have the freedom to bake as much as I want.
The first thing I really wanted to dab into was making a fondant cake. Luckily my Catherine was having a birthday soon so I had the perfect occasion to bake a cake. I decided to make a 2 tier Victorian vanilla sponge cake with strawberry jam and buttercream frosting. I never made it before so it was a little daunting but I knew I could make it. Now the party was also on the night of the Academy Awards so I decided to decorate the cake with an Oscar theme in mind. And with all that planning done, I was off to start the baking!

making the cake

I did some research on different types of fondant, recipes and ingredients that could be used. Luckily, a good friend of mine Michelle had experience with making fondant with marshmallow and icing sugar. Using only one bag of mini marshmallows on a double boiler we melted the marshmallows then folded in the icing sugar while constantly kneading it until it reached the preferred texture of fondant. Before a friend of mine Anna left for travelling she gave me these really neat food colouring gels that worked perfectly to add the red carpet red and gold star yellow to the fondants that I would eventually use for the cake.

Red and Yellow food gel

After getting the fondant ready, I put it in the fridge for up to a week before I had to use it for the cake. Now it was time to bake the Victorian sponge cake that I got the recipe from a cook book. I made a 9" and 8" cake both with vanilla bean. After letting it cool I sliced it in half, spread the jam and topped it with the buttercream frosting. Then copy and repeat on the second tier.

Cake, buttercream frosting and strawberry jam

the first layer of the cake with fondant

Unfortunately I didn't put enough red gel in the fondant to fully make it look like the red carpet, it turned out to be more of a pink carpet, but for my first time I was still thoroughly impressed.
I warmed up the cool fondant first before rolling it out to a thin a layer big enough to cover both cakes. (I added the food gel in before I added the icing sugar to the marshmallow in the beginning stages of making the fondant)
Then once the 2 layers were complete, I cooled it in the fridge while I shaped the yellow fondant into stars that would be used to decorate the cake. I also added her name with fondant, and some other fondant cut outs that I figured Catherine would enjoy. Once it was all finished I was super proud of it and excited to see her reaction to the cake!

Here are some pictures of the final piece: