I happily volunteered to contribute dessert to Molly (Cole's cousin) and Greg's Engagement Party, put together by a gaggle of Stipovich's and Cervarich's. The talent and know-how in these families does make one heck of a party. But I knew I could find a way to bring somethin' to the table... I decided this was the time to step up to the plate (the cake plate, even) and make a real deal fondant cake. I tried to keep it basic. No castles for me...YET. Just 2-tier, 3-layer cakes covered with homemade marshmallow fondant. I knew I could make it taste good, but could I make it look good? Only time would tell.

I stocked up on my fondant making supplies. (Ordered some things online, but I most definitely needed an in-store experience. We found a place in Berkeley called "Spun Sugar" that hit the sweet spot.)

I sketched a design.

Molly & Greg Cake Sketch-s

I picked out my recipes. (See below.)

Then, I waited.

I was, however, lucky enough to be home in NY for Easter (the weekend before the party) to get some one-on-one instruction with my mom, the fondant queen. Thank goodness! I felt way more ready after that.

The good news is it that the cake came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I was very excited to see my little sketch come to life and to serve it up to a whole party!

Anyway, here's the scoop on what's under that glorious layer of fondant and some other details on the cake:

Bottom tier is a 3-layer Golden Cake with a creamy, chocolate icing (straight from Bakewise, my favorite "textbook" ever)
Top tier is 3-layer Hummingbird Cake (from Southern Living, 1978) with a lemony cream cheese frosting
Covered with "quilted" marshmallow fondant
Trimmed with a custom-dyed blue (thanks to my personal food coloring consultant, Cole Stipovich) marshmallow fondant "ribbon" trim (cut with Fat Daddio's crimp blade pastry cutter)
Garnished with gold edible dragees (Which I may leave out next time because if Party People are eating and not looking at what they are eating, the crunch can take a tooth by surprise. Sorry to Madie and anyone else that got Got by the dragee!)
Topped with a bouquet of dried pineapple "flowers"
Oh, and I made some cupcakes too, same stuff as the Hummingbird Cake and topped with Sugar Cookies with little M & G cookie cutouts. Why not?

Yay, I did it! And now I want another reason to do it again.

Congrats, Molly & Greg!!

Sweet Kiera