My First Fondant Cake - A Very Moist Yellow Cake and Swiss Meringue Buttercream


The third course at Wilton is completely focused on fondant. If you liked playing with clay as a kid, or if you still like to, you will have a lot of fun working with fondant! From what I've read, I've realized that there are fondant lovers and haters out there and I believe I belong somewhere in between. I love the things you could do with fondant, but am not very fond of the taste. You could always peel of the fondant and eat the deliciousness under it. I don't think I would  make a fondant cake for myself, but to create something fun and whimsical for kids, fondant is the way to go! It is a little challenging to work with, but it's also a whole lot of fun and the possibilities are endless.
I was busy with a few other things during the week of the final class, so I stuck with a very basic design and made the easiest flowers among the ones we had learned. We had to take a buttercream iced cake to class, which we then covered in fondant. To me covering the cake was the most challenging part and a hundred things went wrong when I was doing it. The good thing is you can cover most of your mistakes with a strategically placed decoration :). I had rolled my fondant way too thick and there were a lot of cracks, you can still see the ones on the top edge of the cake. But for my first time, I think I did OK.
For the cake, I tried this recipe that I've had bookmarked for a long time and its one of the best cakes I've ever made. It was incredibly moist and delicious! Another thing I tried was the Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB) and its now my favorite frosting! SMB is not cloyingly sweet like the regular buttercream. It builds its structure from the whipped egg whites (don't worry, the egg whites are heated to a point where they are safe  and not raw), instead of sugar, making it just sweet enough for a frosting and it's easy to work with too!



Moist Yellow Cake
Ingredients
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
3 cups sifted self raising flour
1 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp butter flavoring (I skipped this)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and line (3) 8" pans (I used only 2).
Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 7 mins.
Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
Add flour and milk, alternating, beginning and ending with flour.
Add vanilla and butter flavoring and mix just until combined.
Divide the batter among the pans. Tap the pans on your counter to remove any air bubbles.
Bake for about 30 mins or until done.
Cool in pans for 10 mins.
Remove and immediately wrap each cake in plastic wrap to seal in moisture.
Cool completely on wire racks.
Once cool, remove from plastic and level the cakes. Fill and frost as desired.
Recipe from Bakerella


Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients
(to fill and crumb coat an 8", 2 layer cake)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
12 tbs butter, softened but cool
1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:
Make sure your bowl, whisk and all other tools you use to make the meringue are completely free of any grease. Take the egg whites and sugar in a big metal bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk gently but constantly until the mixture reaches a temperature of 140 degrees F on a candy thermometer, or until the egg whites are hot and you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers. 
Remove from heat and whip the hot mixture, until it turns thick and glossy and white and and about doubles in volume. The bowl will be neutral and not hot at this point.
Then add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, mixing continuously until it has a silky smooth texture. The mixture may look curdled at some time, but just keep mixing and it will come together soon! Mix in the vanilla.
For more details on SMB read this post at Sweetapolita.

38 comments:

  1. What a pretty looking cake that is!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks totally delicious..I would love to try this..Bookmarked.

    Aarthi
    http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/This looks totally delicious..I would love to try this..Bookmarked.

    Aarthi
    http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous!!! Beautifully done Poornima...the cake looks very tempting n ur deisgns r awsome!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope you will not mind visiting my space. Look absoultely perfect Cake...
    Glad to follow you.:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Look absoultely perfect Cake...
    Glad to follow you.:)

    I hope you will not mind visiting my space.

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow....well decorated cake.....very yummy....great job dear

    ReplyDelete
  7. very cute looking cake..i love the appearance of fondant cakes, but not so happy with its taste

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cake is fabulous poorni. Moist and flavorful and iam also not a big fan of fondant taste. But the cake deserves lots of appreciation dear.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This looks so pretty - very spring-like. Like you, I'm not so keen on fondant icing but I love the cake underneath.

    ReplyDelete
  10. gud job poorinama!beautiful click dear!no words!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Cute looking cake. Loved ur icing recipe. YUM!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful cake..Love to have a piece:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I cannot see any cracks or fissures. The fondant looks perfect over the cake. You have done such a fab job Poornima. I am in awe. I can't even pipe my cup cakes. Rolling fondant seems so so challenging. Wilton classes are the best, I have heard, so I guess you are in very good hands.

    I too am somewhere in the middle about using fondant on cakes. While I love the look of the cake that a fondant can give, I do not like the taste at all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You have done a fabulous job dear. The cake looks so pretty :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is such a well made cake! I can NEVER work on cakes like these. I have absolutely no patience and I am terribly messy :( Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  16. fantastic cake...looks moist and delicious..:)love your blog

    ReplyDelete
  17. It looks very professional and your color choices are great! I have a question regarding Wilton courses, how many courses do they offer in cake decoration and how many classes for each course? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful cake Poornima!!! It is my dream to do Wilton cake decorating course... you are so lucky!

    ReplyDelete
  19. such a lovely cake. i remember making a fondant cake first time when learning home science..... that was my first and last fondant cake ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  20. irst time here ... glad to follow you ... very yummy and amazing fodant cake
    visit my blog
    www.sriyafood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Stunning Cake..Cant see the cracks,until i read ur post..Luvly cake.

    ReplyDelete
  22. nice space vth yumm n tasty recipes.n this looks just awesome.....perfectly done......

    ReplyDelete
  23. OMG that is a beautiful cake you made Poornima great job dear.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wonderful work of art. You have done a beautiful job.

    ReplyDelete
  25. This looks so unbelievably smooth and beautiful! And 12 tablespoons of butter...I LOVE it. When it's once in a while, why not indulge?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Para ser la primera vez con el fondant, la tarta esta estupendamente acabada, la felicito porque ademas es sencilla y preciosa y elegante. Saludos

    ReplyDelete
  27. Poornima, that is an absolutely stunning cake. Hats off!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Lovely cake.great job.
    Do visit my new blog
    www.foodydelight.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great work with the fondant. I have never tasted or worked with fondant... but the beautiful cakes made of it are tempting.

    I have an award for u. Please collect it from my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I envy you for having easy access to all those awesome Wilton products! Your cake looks fabulous and I can't really believe that so many things went wrong covering it, lovely cake Poornima!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Isn't it a beauty.wow!i have so much catching up / reading to do. I'm going to try the moist cake minus the fondant.

    ReplyDelete
  32. that is a beautifully done cake!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Is my first time here and this cake looks beautiful! Never done a entire cake in fondant, but your pictures have definitely inspired me, so thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  34. awesome cake for ur first time effort. luks soo professional..

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting Tasty Treats...
Do leave your comments and feedback. I would love to hear from you...

Hugs
Poornima