Julie Olson Books - Author/Illustrator: May 2011

So I think if I weren't an illustrator, I could definitely get into cake decorating...especially with all the fun things you can do with Fondant these days. I thought I'd just post a little ditty about how I made my son's birthday cake this year. I had a blast doing it.

First I researched on YouTube videos on how to make homemade marshmallow fondant. Here and Here are the videos I followed, but I added a drop of pina colada oil flavoring to the mix as well.

I also made this BUTTER CREAM FROSTING recipe with 3 drops of pina colada oil (found at the local cake shop) added to the flavoring.

With my basic white fondant and buttercream frosting ready, I started the cake.

First I baked 2 9x13 rectangular cakes (my son requested rainbow chip), leveled the bottom one, stacked them with cream cheese frosting in the middle and then covered them and placed them in the deep freeze for about 8 hours.

Then I printed out a top-view of the Xbox controller found on google image search on 11x17 paper (making sure the controller was sized to no more than 13 inches and 9 inches tall). I cut out the image and placed it on top of the cake.

I cut around the paper template with a serrated paring knife.

I rounded the top edges a bit with the knife and then I frosted the entire cake with the homemade butter cream frosting. It didn't look this smooth initially. I frosted it as smoothly as I could, then placed the whole thing in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. When I pulled it out, I used small pieces of parchment paper, placed it on the cake (section by section) and lightly rubbed to smooth out the icing. I know this isn't the professional way, but it works.

Then the REAL FUN began. It was just like sculpting out of playdough. I tell you, I was a kid again.

I took tiny bits of the white fondant and made the two top center left and right arrow buttons. I also took a bit of white and rolled it into the rings that surround the joysticks.

Then I took a small bit of white fondant and added a titch of black food coloring to it for the center button and kneaded and kneaded it til the coloring was mixed in. Make sure you wear plastic gloves or your hands will turn black too. I took a larger clump of white fondant and mixed in enough black food coloring to make a dark grey for the majority of the controls. Seriously, I was having a blast.

As for the colored buttons, I simply added the food coloring for each to a small amount of fondant and made the buttons. I even rolled and sculpted the letters on the buttons themselves. The X on the center button was also just colored, rolled fondant.

Then I freehand carved the letters for my son's name out of some rolled out white fondant. It turned out spectacularly...better than I could've hoped for. And not bad for my first attempt with fondant. And the whole thing was DELICIOUS. My kids liked the fondant but it was far too sweet for me to eat...seeing as how it's just sugar sugar sugar. But hey, if you've got a sweet tooth, go for it!

Now my daughter is requesting a dog cake. That'll be a bit more of a challenge. We'll see if I dare. OK. I guess I better get back to the studio. Enjoy the doggy book posts in the meantime.