Mass Effect Cake - Working with Fondant

Yesterday we celebrated my not-so-little brother's 21st birthday and I decided to make him a cake based on one of his favorite games - Mass Effect. Mass Effect is a series of science fiction third person shooting game produced by BioWare which my brother introduced me too and I've personally played in the past. Another reason why I chose this game is because it has the easiest logo to make while all of his other favorite games/movies are just slightly more advanced for me. Before I go into the actual experience I just want to mention that I googled 'mass effect cake' and you can find my inspiration on this blog. She certainly did a much better job and she used a different fondant brand which gave it a very silky look while mine ended up more on the matte side. 

I'm not going to talk about the cake as much but rather my experience working with fondant but just to break the cake down, I baked a simple chocolate cake on 2-9 inch round pans and I made a super simple and quick chocolate ganache filling.I took a little bit of the ganache out and made a whipped buttercream ganache version for the crumb coat (this step is completely unecessary, I'm just used to using buttercream as crumb coat so I made a little crumb coat batch) and I whipped the rest for the filling and coat. 

I had to go to two different stores to get the fondant supplies. I went to A.C. Moore first to get the black fondant which is the 24 oz package for the size cake I wanted to make. A.C. Moore did not have a 24 oz. white fondant. They had  5 pound box for $14, I can't imagine making cakes with that many fondant. So I went ahead and went two blocks down to Michael's and picked up the 24 oz. white fondant package. They are both from Wilton which apparently some home bakers don't prefer. But since I had no experience working with fondant, I figured I wouldn't know the difference and I just stick with what I can get that day. 

So the black fondant is to cover the whole cake and the actual decoration is the logo which you can see here. I need the white fondant to make the letter 'N' and the number '7' and I figured I could dye the white fondant red for the end piece.  I also decided to get a cake decorating kit from IKEA because it's cheaper for the IKEA kit than purchasing one leveler from Michael's or A.C. Moore. The kit comes with the wire leveler, piping set which includes two reusable plastic cloth bag and a 4 sided scraper icing smoother. 

On to the fondant! 

I worked with the fondant on a marble surface I have in my kitchen with lots of powdered sugar because I did not want it to stick. I started by cutting a small piece of the white to dye it red and thus began my first lessons in fondant making which are- wear gloves when you want to dye your fondant and if you want a bright red fondant just go buy one. I think I used two different red coloring agent to get it this maroon-ish color. It's a lot of wrist work just rolling and folding colors into the fondant so make sure you are well rested before attempting to roll fondant. Also, while working with a small part of the fondant, I would cover the rest in a slightly damp towel so it's not dry.

The supplies

Work with a small amount and wrap the rest

Keep on folding

The second part is a little easier because I just had to roll out the white fondant so I could cut it to the shapes that I need. I printed the logo out and I cut the paper to size and I used an exacto knife to trace the fondant. Since I won't be working on it right away and I didn't want it to stick, I placed it on wax paper with a little bit of powdered sugar on the bottom of it so it won't stick and I placed it in the fridge.

The third part which I think is the most difficult is covering the cake with fondant. It took me about three or four time trying to roll it out evenly on each side so that it's the same thickness and width. It was very challenging and I did end up making a few dents here and there but by the fourth time I just went ahead and covered it. Now remember I worked with powdered sugar so there were lots of sugar dusts which was easily remedied by using a wet cloth and just wiping it gently. 

The next section is smoothing the fondant. Now I don't own a fondant scrapper and I know that I could use a leveling spatula but I actually found this woman on YouTube where she actually smooths the fondant on her cake with a ball of leftover fondant. Which is genius to me. I don't know if I got it as smooth as I wanted, but I was scared of tearing it that I just stopped when I thought it was good enough. 

Finally, when the fondant sets, I took out the decorations out of the fridge and I placed it on the cake. I made this on Tuesday night so I placed the cake on a glass cake stand we have and covered it with the dome glass top.

I think the final product turned out pretty good for my first time working with fondant. I was genuinely terrified. I'm pretty good with piping and decorating with icing and buttercream but fondant was a whole new experience. I was also very scared about the taste, I didn't want it to be overtly sweet but it turned out great with the chocolate ganache filling.

I do have leftover fondants that I wrapped tightly in plastic wraps and placed in a zip lock bag and stored in my pantry closet which is about room temperature.

Here's the final product with an Instagram filter:  

If you have any interesting experience baking/decorating cakes please write below. And if you also have any fondant brand or coloring agent recommendations let me know!

Until next time,