Happy Birthday, Alison!

I baked this cake in a square glass casserole dish to get the shape and size. I used a yellow cake mix for the cake, then I filled it with a strawberry filling. I frosted it with vanilla buttercream and decorated it with homemade fondant.

The fondant recipe I like calls for corn syrup (which helps with pliability). I omitted the corn syrup when making the fondant this time. I didn't realize what a difference it would make when covering cakes. It was difficult to cover this cake smoothly (it cracked and wouldn't smooth over the corners of the cake. The fondant works well without the corn syrup if you just want to cover cookies, though. Lesson learned - don't leave out the corn syrup if you want to cover a cake! I think it still turned out pretty, though.

Happy birthday, Alison!

STATS:

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Strawberry Filling

-10 oz. strawberry jam
-4 oz. box of strawberry gelatin

Scoop jam into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30-60 seconds until it's melted slightly and easy to stir. It should be the consistency of a pie filling and nice and smooth. Add the box of strawberry gelatin straight into the jelly and stir until the gelatin powder is dissolved. This is enough filling for an 8" torted cake (filling three layers).