Practice Makes Perfect

This is the first cake that *basically* went as planned. Does it still look like an amateur made it? Yes. But this is the first cake in a while (beside Easy Breezy), that did not give me fits. I did not have the desire to throw my bag of powdered sugar across the room. Nope, not once. Dare I say it? Dare I ADMIT that I might have done a half way decent job on the Power Ranger head that only sort of creeps me out? No, he does not have legs, but by golly, it looks like the Blue Mystic Force Power Ranger! Even my critical-of-mommy's-work-when-I-have-to-go-to-bed son admitted he liked it. So, to celebrate my success, I am allowing all five of you a glimpse into my super secret cake world.



Here is the head on it's respective lopsided cake (6" for perspective). I put a couple of lollipop sticks below it in the cake, and into the head itself for support. It's pretty heavy so it could have easily smooshed in the cake. He's very thick-headed you know.



All of this stuff is for the bottom cake (10" for even more perspective)! From left to right: Cookies and Cream Filling, *older* buttercream (but not bad buttercream) to *glue* the cake to the drum, spackle paste bowl (to fill in any 'oopsies the cake came off' holes. It works like spackle, go figure),a bowl of regular buttercream frosting. I am sure at this point you are wondering how messy one's kitchen can get. I am here to tell you that you have not seen a mess in the kitchen until you have put seven pounds of powdered sugar, several drops of food coloring, and who knows how much Crisco, butter, powdered cocoa, and eggs into a cake. Yeah, it aint pretty folks. I clean as I go, but it still looks like a sugar coated Tasmanian Devil had at it when I'm done. EVERYTHING about baking and decorating cakes is messy!



Though the frosting doesn't need to be perfectly smooth because it will be covered in smooth (*erm, ahem, supposedly smooth) fondant, I still take a Viva paper towel and a fondant smoother to it, just to help my already lumpy little cake be a little less lumpy. I know what I'm like with fondant, and unwanted lumps come in droves.



LOOK, LOOKIE HERE!!! This Fondant went on like a charm! This is the first time I've covered a cake this large with very little problems with the fondant. Now I can really see that practice makes perfect. I still need to work on my smoothing technique once the fondant is on, but I got it on in one piece, and had very little tearing while smoothing. Nobody better say a word about my fat fingers.



This is smoothing the Fondant. Exciting, huh? Dum dee dum dee do *whistle*



Lollipop sticks inserted into the cake for support so that the top cake with the big ole head on it doesn't smoosh into the lower cake. More "glue" to help hold it in place. Sidenote: I buy lollipop sticks by the package in the candy making section, no need to worry that they are *used* lollipop sticks.



Getting close!



Even closer!



Time for a Vodka break (see fruitcake recipe).


OK, not really. The Vodka is for the gold dust I'm painting on the cake. I pour a tiny bit of Vodka (like a drop) into the dust and VOILA! It's insta-paint.


TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!