So for months my nephew Kj's birthday had been looming and I was dreading making this cake. His mother Tash, asked for my assistance in making the cake and she was not backing down from the challenge. She was all in guns blazing! But I was apprehensive. I had never worked with fondant before in my life and I was scared as hell! But with her encouragement and insistence we turned out a pretty decent cake. The family and friends loved it and from what I hear my nephew Kj was happy too. So that felt good.
*SideNote - When I got done with the cake I was dog tired but I loved making it. It was fun and kind of relaxing at the same time. It was one of the greatest accomplishments of my life. Which speaks to how much time I have on my hands. LOL I am blessed and highly favored.
Ingredients
1 Box of GFS Yellow Cake Mix
2 Boxes of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
1 Box of Duncan Hines Marble Cake Mix
1 Jar of Apricot Jam
1 Jar of Strawberry Jam
4 to 5 Jars of Vanilla Cream Cheese or Whipped Icing
1 Box or Tub of White Fondant (We colored our fondant but you can buy it in the colors you want. Just a heads up)
1 Container of Blue Icing Coloring
1 Container of Black Icing Coloring
1 Container of Yellow Icing Coloring
A #3 Cookie Cutter
A Set of Baking Rings
A Cake Board
Foil
Ingredients for Glossy Fondant
1 part Vodka
1 part Water
or
1 Egg White
2 tbsp Water
To Make the Fondant Glossy:
Various Methods & Tools You'll Need
1- Shortening (Cheap)
3- Nonstick cooking spray (Cheap)
4- Vodka (Cheap)
4a- Vodka & Corn syrup (Cheap)
5- Luster dust (A Little Expensive)
6- Handheld clothing steamer (Expensive)
7- Egg Whites (Cheap)
8- Refrigerate
Tools
Paintbrush
Instructions for Glossy Fondant
#1 Shortening: Rub your hands with shortening and smooth your fingers lightly over the fondant on the cake to make it glossy. Be careful not to press too hard as you may create finger impressions on the cake. If your cake is flat like mine and doesn't have a lot of intricate design then you can use this method. Just be careful of your fingerprints.
#2 Nonstick Cooking Spray: Use a paintbrush to apply a very thin layer of nonstick cooking spray on the fondant.
#3 Refrigeration: Refrigerate the completed cake as another option to create a glossy appearance to fondant. If you prefer to only have a portion of the fondant shiny, refrigerating the entire cake is not the best option.
#4 Vodka: Another method of brushing includes using only water or a one-to-one ratio of vodka brushed on the fondant. The alcohol evaporates but leaves a sheen when using the vodka method.
#4a Vodka and Corn Syrup:
How to make corn syrup glaze
Step 1:
Mix together equal amounts of corn syrup and clear alcohol. You can use vodka or a grain alcohol, like Everclear. The amount you make depends on how many decorations you need to apply the sheen to. Usually 1 tsp corn syrup mixed with 1 tsp alcohol is sufficient for any small items.
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| Pictures via Craftsy.com |
Step 2:
Create the fondant or gum paste element you wish to glaze.
Step 3:
Pictures via Craftsy.com
Leave to dry. The length of time this can range from an hour to overnight, depending on the thickness of the glaze. Additional coats can be applied for a super high gloss.
The glaze would be perfect for adding a high sheen to sculpted car cakes.
Pictures via Craftsy.com
#5 Luster Dust: Brush luster dust over the cake fondant to make it shiny, resulting in a glittering sheen. This method requires the use of even strokes and a small amount of dust to prevent getting an uneven amount on the cake fondant.
#6 Steamer: Steam the fondant using a handheld clothing steamer to create a glossy look to fondant as another alternative. Use caution so as to not burn your fingers with the steam, or hold the steamer in one place for too long to prevent watery fondant and streaking colors. Steaming also rids fondant of excess confectioner's sugar.
#7: With a brush lightly brush the egg whites all over the cake. Let it dry and you'll have a beautiful shiny cake. Use pasteurized egg whites from a carton to ensure you meet food safety standards for fondant decorations that may be eaten. The disadvantages of this method are that the egg whites can drip and pool, so be careful to tap any excess liquid off your decorations before leaving to dry. Do not touch until dry to avoid fingerprints.
Directions:
Start with the cake. You want to ensure you follow the instructions on the box. We used GFS yellow cake mix. You can use whatever you want. But this particular cake mix was in a huge box so it saved us a bundle of time. Mix the yellow cake mix up in a large bowl, add the half of the cake mix in a greased pan and bake. In a separate bowl mix the chocolate cake mix. Add the remaining yellow cake mix to a pan, shake it slightly to release any air bubbles. Then pour the chocolate cake mix on top take a knife or cake tester and begin to swirling the 2 cake mixes together to give it the marbled effect. Place it in the oven and bake it according to the instructions on the box. The remove it and let it to cool completely before adding any filling.
Once the cake is completely cooled you will need to start building the cake. We used 2 types of filling: strawberry jam and apricot jam. Warm the jam slightly in the microwave and spread each on side of the cake. Basically the left side of the cake should have apricot jam and the right should have strawberry. Place the other cake on top and begin shaping the cake. Using a serrated knife shape the cake into the shape of the minion. Its gonna take some time before you get the shape of the Minion down but its all about trial and error.
See it's all about trial and error. So once you get shaped to your liking get your fondant together. You have to work fast with fondant it dries and cracks quickly so time is of the essence. If you are coloring your fondant like we did you need to get your fondant coloring and add it to the fondant. A little of the food coloring goes a long way. Color each piece as you need them to keep the fondant from drying out. Roll out your yellow fondant first. You need to lay down some confectioners sugar similar to the way you roll out dough. Roll it out so that it's large enough to cover your entire cake. Then you need to press the fondant gently on to the cake. Shape the fondant on to the cake and cut off the excess.
Cut out the eyes, the goggles, the overalls pockets, and the number 3. To glue down the fondant pieces use icing or water to wet the icing slightly. You have to be creative. This cake wasn't easy to make but we improvised and we made it work!
The end result is this beautiful Minion Cake! Shoutout to Tash for pushing me to make this beautiful cake!
1/2 Bottle Smirnoff Sorbet Light Mango Passionfruit
