Posies and lace cake

The real title to this post should be

MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT A STACKED CAKE COVERED IN FONDANT

Or,

MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT GUM PASTE FLOWERS

Oh my, where do my true confessions begin?  

I began my little odyssey with the gum paste.  After purchasing my new found treasure at Walmart, I scampered home, opened the package and with the enthusiasm of a child with a new tub of Playdough, I started making flowers.  I have no idea whether I did it right or not because I still haven't read the directions. 

While the flowers were drying, I baked a strawberry cake in a six inch round, a heart shape, and a cupcake.  The rounded top of the cupcake was cut off and made the form for the hydrangea.  

So far, so good.   And whether I did the gum paste correctly or not, they looked OK and I had big time fun with it.

On to the fondant.  

Because I had purchased the gum paste, I decided to make my own fondant -  thriftiness being the prevailing concern.  And it is easy to make, but my experience working with it is limited (unless watching Ultimate Cake Off or Cake Boss counts) and I had never covered a cake with it before.  

GULP.

Looks like a stroll through the park on TV, but it gave me a little trouble. Think I might need to read myself a tutorial two (or five...).  

I piped some lace detailing on it as a bit of smoke and mirrors to camouflage imperfections in the fondant.  This brought me to realize that piping on a flat cookie is WAAAAAAAAY easier than the sides of a cake.  Sigh.  Long story short, it took a rather insane amount of time to make this cake and it was equal amounts of fun and frustrating.


 And maybe, just maybe I need to start reading directions.