May My Hand Mixer Rest in Peace

Yeah! All the frosting is made, the cake boards are completed and I have made two out of three batches of fondant.

Before I continue I want to say a few quick words about a faithful member of our family. My hand mixer. It came to be in our house as a wedding present and we have had a very close relationship ever since. I knew I could trust it through thick and thin. But, I guess yesterday was too much. It couldn't take the pressure and gave out after the 5th batch of frosting. I missed it terribly as I hand mixed the final 6 batches to whipped creamy perfection. But on the bright side I feel that my left arm is more toned this morning :).

The buttercream icing for the wedding cake is pretty standard. I just picked one that uses all butter because I prefer the flavor over the recipes with shortening. For the groom's cake I made a cream cheese chocolate icing that is incredible. Normally, I am not a big fan of icing. I prefers muffins over cupcakes for this reason. However, after making a test batch of this frosting last week I admit I ate a few spoonfuls and even licked the bowl. It was a crazy moment. 

Cream Cheese Chocolate Icing

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 T butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3 T milk or cream

Blend cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl. Add in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add in cocoa powder. Then add in milk or cream one tablespoon at a time until it reaches desired consistency. Use it to frost immediately or store in fridge for later use.

Then I made fondant. It is so nice for covering cakes for that beautiful smooth finish. I would recommend making it from scratch as it tastes way better than the pre-made fondant.

Here is the recipe I used.

Marshmallow Fondant

1 lb marshmallows

2 tsp clear vanilla extract

2 T water

2 lbs. powdered sugar

shortening(I used butter flavored)

Use shortening to grease a large glass bowl. Add in marshmallows, vanilla, and water. Microwave on high for 60 seconds. Stir, and if the marshmallows are not dissolved, microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Sift in powdered sugar. Stir in the powdered sugar. When most of the powdered sugar is incorporated and it gets hard to stir, dump it all out onto your working surface. Knead until the rest of the sugar is incorporated and it is smooth and elastic. If it is too wet add more powdered sugar. If it is too dry add a little water and keep kneading until it reaches desired consistency.

You may color it right away and use immediately or you can rub it with shortening, cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. It will last for weeks in the fridge. 

When you are ready to use it, take it out of the fridge and let it soften for a few hours. If it is still really hard zap it in the microwave for a few seconds. Knead it out until pliable and use as normal.

I took pictures of the process.

Melted marshmallows, vanilla and water.

Sifted powdered sugar. It looks like snow!

 I was going to take a picture of the part where you dump it all out on the table and mix it with your hands, but it was impossible to get the camera being covered in sugar. You will just have to imagine that part. Once it was smooth and I finished both batches I moved on to coloring the fondant. 

I took a third of one of the rolls and made it grey for the outer edge of the iphone. The rest I colored black to cover the cake. It was harder than I expected and it took me a full hour to knead in enough color to make it black. Phew! There are two reasons why I made it ahead of the time. I will not be decorating the cakes until Friday, and the first reason was for time. I want to be prepared, and give myself enough time so I am not working until 3AM on Saturday trying to finish. Also, I hear that when colored fondant sits for at least a day in the fridge the colors will set and deepen. I wasn't sure when i finished yesterday if it was dark enough, but after letting it sit for a day it definitely got darker. So, that was good.

I rubbed them with a good amount of shortening to keep them from cracking and drying out, and wrapped then with plastic wrap.

My fingers turned purple. haha

I was meaning to work on the fondant iphone apps today, but I ended up cleaning a house that took all day. So, tomorrow will be a full day with fondant work and baking all the cakes. I promise I will take lots of pictures. 

In other news, Chris and I got a tree and we decorated it on Monday night. It is perfect!

Chris still thinks it is not bright enough and we need to add more lights. What do you think?