Last month, I ran across this stunning picture of a Tiffany-glass cake design. Isn’t it breathtaking? I expect the baker created it by painting on fondant, and one day...one glorious day...I want to make a cake like that. Until then, here is my very first attempt at fondant painting.
I made the marshmallow kind again, and finally read the comments on this recipe. Did you know you’re supposed to incorporate ½ cup shortening into the fondant? Yeah, me neither. I did that, and the fondant was so much more pliable than it’s ever been. It only cracked once. (Compare this to the Star Trek cake from November, which was riddled with crevices.)
Here’s a tip: if you’re ganache-obsessed as I am, and you choose to use ganache under a white fondant...use white chocolate. No matter how careful you are, ganache gets everywhere, and chocolate smudges do NOT rub off of white fondant.
Surprise bonus of working with fondant: if you mess up, you can peel it off and start fresh without ruining the cake. I almost did this, not because I disliked the design, but because the cake I had made was better suited to a gooey chocolate frosting.
Properly, you’re supposed to use thinned gel food coloring. I used it straight from the jar because the vibrancy was too gorgeous to thin out. I mean, look at the picture; it’s like I grabbed a box of markers and went to town. That said, I do need to lay off the intensity if I want to make a cake that looks like Tiffany glass.
The leading should have been black frosting, not piped chocolate. The chocolate is a bit too soft and it’s just not dark enough to provide the contrast these bright colors need.
The most fun I’ve ever had decorating a cake has been with a paintbrush in hand. There was the brush-embroidery cake in February, the painted cake in March, and now the stained glass cake. Next month’s cake is the last in this twelve-month challenge, and for it, I am going to learn how to use gumpaste.
P.S. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and check out the Tiffany-glass baker’s amazing portfolio. Just...wow.
