MY Answer to "I'm Bored, Mom!"

How did I fall down the rabbit hole, this time? Oh, right...I was killing time in Twitter a few days ago, minding my own (and everybody else's) business, and someone sent out a link. Click here to go down the rabbit hole; take a spot of tea, and I'm sure you'll go made for Bakerella's luscious cakes, too.

I have to admit, I was intrigued by "Classy." While I'd pick the "Messy" cake for eating, without giving it a second thought, and I thought "Sassy" somewhat staid but lovely, "Classy" was...a creative culinary challenge. I have never made rolled fondant, but I have always heard, as @Kamichat said, "It's not for the faint of heart."

Even with the "easy" Marshmallow Fondant recipe I found at Fondant Icing 101 - Marshmallow Fondant, it was a sticky, messy experience that left me wondering if fondant icing was really worth bothering with, given that most people don't like to eat it anyway. Cake should be tasty, above all else. But that "Classy" thing was a pretty little confection... Okay, fine. I'm glad I didn't see this cake before I started.

William was bored this morning. My mom's answer to that kind of nonsense was to enroll me in classes - she had a low tolerance and little sympathy for my boredom. Now, being the cocky little snippet that I am, I figured it would be fun to make a video showing that even a twelve year old can make rolled fondant. And William, ever the good sport, agreed to go on camera and show how it's done.

William also baked two cakes. The first - a "stack of presents" cake baked in a silicone cake mold - did not turn out well. We decided to do traditional 9" rounds for the second cake. It's a two layer, red velvet cake, covered in chocolate frosting, then wrapped in fondant. I did the final rolling of the fondant and decoration of the cake after William went to bed - so I couldn't resist "signing" my name on it:

I didn't have a holly sprig cookie cutter, so I cut those by hand with a semi-sharp steak knife. (Don't look at me like that - I never claimed to know what I was doing in the kitchen, and my mama taught me never to play with knives.) So if you think they look more like Velociraptor tracks in the snow, you're probably right - feel free to consider it either an early Christmas cake or a demented tribute to Michael Crichton and Jurassic Park.