Fondant has always tempted and intimidated me!.. I loved the smooth professional look it gave a cake but whenever I remembered the mess caused by preparing the fondant I postponed trying it indefinitely lol!

That all changed when my son’s first birthday was approaching. I wanted to make a special cake and I thought …why not!

Now, before I go into the details of making the  cake , I have one thing to say in my defence as to why my lightning McQueen turned out pink as opposed to red …

in two words ….conspiracy theory!

I could NOT find the gel type food coloring anywhere.. so I had to use the liquid one and no matter how much food coloring I added …the fondant wouldn’t turn red! The only way out was to say that I made the cake pink to please my 5-year-old daughter who is a pink fanatic!

To make this cake, bake two (30 by 20 cm) cakes.You can use whatever cake you like, I used my go to recipe, the one I use whenever I want to stuff and decorate a cake (you’ll find the recipe at the end of this post). It has great taste and good texture which helps in the carving and shaping of the cake.

After allowing the cakes to cool completely,  divide each cake into two layers then brush the bottom layer with some juice. The juice helps keep the cake moist and adds flavour. You can use simple syrup or the liquid that comes in the can of fruits (if you use fruits to stuff the cake).

Then  cover the bottom layer of each cake with a layer of  icing followed by sprinkling the preserved fruits. Gently place the upper cake layer and press the two layers together slightly.

cut  a square out of  the second cake and place it on one end of the first .Use butter cream to glue the two together. This will form the eyes and windows. then carve the square to give it an aerodynamic feel.

Use the pieces you cut off the body to give the shape of the hood.

Make fabulous cakes has a great step by step tutorial about the carving

http://www.make-fabulous-cakes.com/car-cake.html

you can see from the mess that I’m no professional! but the moral of the story is: if I can do it..you can do it too!

  

after coating the cake with a layer of  butter cream (recipe follows), it began to look like a car!

here we are after applying the fondant to the cake and putting on the wheels..

the wheels were made of round pieces of cake covered by butter cream and then fondant. My advice is make them ahead of time and allow them to dry. I didn’t do that so they sort of sagged a bet until the cake was served

The windows, headlights and teeth were all made with white fondant.. the details on the hood and mouth were made with the edge of the handle of a fruit knife lol (use any blunt instrument with rounded tip)

Fondant recipe  (you can find a step by step tutorial of how to make it here)

One bag of marshmallow 330gm

1/2 kg (one pound) powdered sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

heat proof bowl and spoon

shortening or butter to grease the bowl and your hands

Grease your bowl and spoon and place the marshmellows with the water and vanilla in the bowl

Microwave on high for 2 minutes

Steer the marshmellows with the wodden spoon. If they are not completely milted microwave for 30 more seconds

Add the color at this stage and steer untill the colour is homogenous

Add the powdered sugar gradually while steering the marsmellows

After adding half the sugar grease your hands and start kneading untill you incorporate all the sugar

Cake recipe

1/2 cup (one stick ) of butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon backing powder

2/3 cup milk

blend the butter and sugar

add the eggs, vanilla and milk and mix untill incorporated

sift the flour with the backing powder and add it gradually to the liquid ingredients

bake in a preheated oven at 350 for around 40 minutes or untill cake tester comes out clean

Buttercream icing

3 cups icing sugar

1 cup butter softened

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

In a food processor beat the butter untill it turns white or very light in colour

Add half the amount of the sugar and beat until combined

Add the milk and vanilla

Add the rest of the sugar gradually while beating

Filling cream recipe

2/3 cup sour cream

2/3 cup icing sugar

2 small bags of powdered whipping cream

1 cup of milk

Combine the sugar with the sour cream

Whip the cream with the milk untill it becomes somewhat stiff

Mix fold the cream into the sour cream mix slowly.