Thank You, Bakerella!!!

Last year I noticed a link to a blog called "Bakerella" on my sister-in-law Tamara's blog. I looked it up and found the most amazing baking recipes and tips. This woman is amazing!!! She makes hard things seem doable, and she is always coming up with the most unique ideas. I checked her blog yesterday and found a Valentine's Day cake that she made. It didn't look like a cake, though; it looked like a box of chocolates. I got so excited that I just had to try it. Once my cakes were cooked and cooled, the whole process took about three hours, which I actually thought was pretty good. My sister Trisha asked for me to take pictures of my steps, so here they are. I definitely need to do some more practicing. :) Oh, and this makes 2 cakes--you bake them in round or heart shaped pans.

You can use any cake recipe, but I chose a chocolate mix. Cut off the top to make it level, then (unless you have a heart shaped pan) make a heart pattern with wax paper and use it to cut and shape your cake.



Roll out the fondant and use a butter knife to cut about 1/4 inch outside of your heart outline. Transfer the heart to your plate and put frosting in the middle to hold on your cake.




Carefully place your cake on top of the fondant, then frost the top and sides.




Cut out another fondant heart (the exact same size as the wax paper) and put it on top of your cake. *I found that rolling the fondant around my rolling pin helped to keep it from stretching and tearing.



Put strips of fondant around the outside of the cake (you may need to freshen up your frosting to make it more sticky). Make sure to leave about 1/4 inch or so extra at the top so it looks like a box.






Mix the extra cake with some soft cream cheese, then shape it however you want. Let the shapes harden in the fridge or freezer, then dip them into chocolate and allow to dry on wax paper. Decorate them however you would like.


By the way, I looked online to find a recipe for fondant because it is sooo expensive. I really liked this one:

-1 c light corn syrup
-1 c shortening
-opt. food coloring
-1/2 t. salt
-1 t. clear vanilla extract
-2 lbs. powdered sugar (and maybe some extra to make it a little more firm as you work with it)
Mix the corn syrup and shortening until smooth, then add the salt and vanilla, then the powdered sugar. Use a dough hook if you are doing it in a mixer. Otherwise, kneed it by hand. It should be pretty stiff. Roll it out onto a surface that is dusted with powdered sugar so it doesn't stick.
*Half of this recipe should be the perfect amount. I made the full thing and it was wayyy too much.