Feats of Fondant: A Fish Cake for John

You don't turn fifty every day. So for John's birthday party last Saturday night, I wanted to make a very special cake. Back in April, my friend Sherri, John and I made a fondant covered creation for my daughter. Now, with Hannah's help, we were ready to try something a little more challenging for John.

Hannah and I got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning. The first task was to take the sheet cakes I baked the day before and carve them into the shape we wanted for John's cake.

Fishing is one of John's favorite pastimes so we decided to make the cake in the shape of a fish. I began carving while Hannah whipped up some Buttercream Icing. Then Sherri arrived to help. She and Hannah covered every square inch of the cake with frosting to smooth out any bumps and help the fondant adhere.

 

Sherri is very skilled at working with fondant; from kneading in the icing colors to rolling it out nice and thin. Once she had the piece large enough, we draped the fondant around the cake and tucked in all of the edges.

 

Hannah's forte was her attention to detail. She patiently cut out hundreds of tiny circles in a variety of colors for fish scales. I began to create the fins and other fishy details.

Then it was time to add these finishing touches. Lastly, we surrounded the fish with swirly blue fondant to look like water. That's when Sherri had a fabulous idea; while kneading the fondant for the water, she didn't blend the blue icing color in completely. That way, when she rolled it out, it would have a marbled effect that looked exactly like water. Brilliant!

Tada! Here's our finished fish cake, complete with a real hook and sidewinder lure in its mouth.

 

Hannah, Sherri and I made a good team. The cake took four hours to complete and we were all very pleased with how it turned out. John loved it, too. And it even tasted good!

Making this fondant cake was a lot of fun, as was the party later that evening. I'll share more of John's special birthday celebration with you in my next post.

(This post is linked to Kimba's DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land. Check it out!)

Susan

Comments

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[Maya @ Completely Coastal]

What an amazing cake, at first glance I thought it was textile art!!!

[Kim]

You did an amazing job! The details are just fabulous. I'm sure that he was blown away.

[john]

It was an amazing cake,from a design AND effort perspective. I really appreciated the hard work that Susan, Sherri and Hannah put in. Loved it!

John

[Peggy]

The fish cake looks awesome...I'm sure he loved it. You both did a wonderful job.
Peggy

[Shari]

Wow - what an incredible cake! Now that is one big labor of love and true work of art! It must have been hard to cut it up after all that work. Your husband surely knows how much he is loved! What fun!!

[janet]

Amazing! Before I actually read the post I thought the round scales were Necco wafers, but they don't come in blue, do they? What a lot of work to cut out all those circles, but it looks beautiful. You might have a new career Susan :)

[Claudia]

Wow! That cake looks so wonderful. You all have a new calling, I believe! I see a Food Network show in your future.

[Brenda Kula]

You may have found your new calling! Found you over at Sue's Kitchen. It is certainly a phenomenal cake, made with painstaking love. And if it tastes as good as it looks, you gave one good birthday bash!
Brenda

[black eyed susans kitchen]

Wow! Fantastic fish cake...rivals anything that I have seen come from the "Charm City" bakers.
♥, Susan

[Susan]

Yes, you sure do eat the fondant. It's basically sugar!

[Lemony Renee']

Wow!

[Carrie]

Just wonderful! Did he love it?

Carrie

[Melody]

Holy Carp Susan!!!! That is one big catch there! You all did really really good. When do you start to take orders for teacakes for special requests? heheheh.

[Christine]

It's a beautiful cake. You all did a wonderful job and I really like the colors you used. This is probably a dumb question, but, do you actually eat the fondant?