Kaylen's 8th Birthday Party Cake!

Photo by Katie Kay

I've been doing fondant research for a long time but never had the desire to give it a try.  I'm WAY too fond of elaborately flavored, filled, and garnished cakes.  I don't like the taste of fondant (not even marshmallow fondant) but I think Kaylen is finally at an age where she will better appreciate a decorative (less tasty, IMO) cake.  
Perfect example: Last year she didn't like her cake because it had a strawberry jam filling and she said jelly doesn't go on cakes.  She's a sugar, butter and food-dye kind of girl.
She wanted a pink and zebra striped party this year, and I obliged.  I planned a 2-tiered round layer cake with zebra pattern on the inside, pink fondant on the bottom tier, and zebra fondant on the top tier.  I borrowed fondant supplies (2 sized rollers, smoother, mat, etc) from my friend Janet (a fondant expert) and saved a small fortune.  Thanks, pumpkin!
First I melted one 16oz package of mini marshmallows in a glass bowl.  For my black fondant, I knew I would need less so I experimented using a 10oz bag of large marshmallows and it worked fine.  I just eyeballed the powdered sugar and added half of the water.

Photo by Katie Kay

Next I added 2 tablespoons of water to the bowl and microwaved it for 2 minutes.  Check out that marshmallow puff!

Photo by Katie Kay

At this point the marshmallow was very soupy and I stirred it until it was smooth; only about 10 seconds.  Also, I should apologize for the bad lighting.  It was 11pm and we have very yellow lighting in our kitchen.

Photo by Katie Kay

At this point, you can add any food coloring you desire.  I made 3 batches of white, pink and black.  Even after kneading the dark black, none of the color bled onto my bare hands.  I used Americolor gels.

Photo by Katie Kay

Slowly add powdered sugar and stir well until combined after each addition.  Lumps are okay, just keep stirring!  I greased a sturdy spatula very well to prevent sticking.
You'll see my fondant change colors in these pictures.  I took various pictures of all of my batches and mixed them up here to show the different stages.

Photo by Katie Kay

When your fondant is too tough for your spoon/spatula to stir, turn it out onto a greased counter and knead powdered sugar into fondant.

Photo by Matt

When your fondant stops absorbing the powdered sugar, generously grease the outside with Crisco.

Photo by Katie Kay

Double-wrap your fondant in pastic wrap, put it in a ziploc bag, and refrigerate overnight, or at the most a couple of weeks.  When you are ready to cover your cake, remove from fridge and bring to room temperature, or microwave for 10 seconds at a time until malleable.

Photo by Katie Kay

For the zebra inside, you'll need to make white cake and chocolate cake.  I strongly recommend white cake, not yellow cake for much prettier zebra stripes.  Depending on the size of your pan, you'll alternate scoops of each patter, pouring gently in the middle of your pan each time.  The batter will disperse into even rings on its own.
For my 12 inch cake pans, I used a 1-cup measuring cup for each scoop.  For my 8" pans I used 1/2 cup.  During the party, the girls made their own zebra cupcakes as party favors and they used 1 tablespoon scoops.

Photo by Katie Kay

After I rolled out the softened fondant, placing it on the cake was tricky, hence no pictures.  You have to get it right the first time, and I have Janet to thank for my many fondant tips!  
As you can see below, it was tricky getting the fondant to lie flat.  Janet said the trick is to pull it down and stretch it out, then trim it flat.  This worked well for most of the pink layer, although the smaller white layer actually gave me a lot more trouble.  This was fine, because I covered my mistakes with black zebra stripes!

Photo by Katie Kay

The finished pink layer looked pretty awesome!

Photo by Katie Kay

Because my handwriting is atrocious and would only be worse trying to free-hand any script, I bought black stickers from Hobby Lobby for her Happy Birthday message on the cake board.

Photo by Katie Kay

1st tier DONE!  Only one more to go!  This is my frosted 8" 2nd tier.

Photo by Katie Kay

Then I rolled out my white fondant.  As I mentioned, this one was a lot tougher to get the fondant smooth on.  When I talked to Janet the following day, she said she has trouble with smaller tier sizes, too.  I wonder why the bigger ones are easier?

Photo by Katie Kay

You can see a wrinkle in my white fondant below.  Trust me, what was under the zebra stripes right next to it was much worse.    
I used black sixlets to do my bottom border, and black decorator frosting to stick them to the cake board.  I used white sugar pearl balls and alternated those with black sixlets for the middle row.
I used leftover pink fondant to create ribbon loops for a package bow (I watched a tutorial on YouTube) but I should have done it the night before and used sugar paste so they would harden better.  They were still floppy and soft (he he) 1 hour before the party, so I made a last-minute change and used a round cookie cutter to trace a line of white decorator frosting in a circle, and I used pink and white sugar pearls to make a border.
You can't tell in the picture, but I used white pearl dust in the middle of the circle to make it shine.

Photo by Katie Kay

When I asked Kaylen what she thought of this cake, she said it was better than anything she imagined!

Photo by Katie Kay

Marshmallow Fondant (or MM Fondant) 16oz bag mini marshmallows 2lb bag powdered sugar (just less than) 2 Tbsp water Crisco Optional:  flavoring or extract
Place the marshmallows and the water in a large glass bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes until the marshmallows are puffy and expanded.

Stir the marshmallows with a greased sturdy rubber spatula or spoon until they are smooth.  If you want colored or flavored fondant, you can add several drops of food coloring or extracts at this point and stir until incorporated.

Add 1/4 cup of powdered sugar at a time and stir well between each addition until it is too difficult to stir with your spoon.

Turn out the marshmallow mixture out onto a work surface dusted with powdered sugar.  It will be sticky and lumpy, with lots of sugar that has not been incorporated yet--this is normal. Grease your hands with Crisco and begin to knead the fondant mixture like bread dough, working the sugar into the marshmallow with your hands.

Continue to knead the fondant until it smooths out and loses its stickiness. Add more sugar if necessary, but stop adding sugar once it is smooth--too much sugar will make it stiff and difficult to work with. Once the fondant is a smooth ball, it is ready to be used. You can now roll it out, shape it, or wrap it in cling wrap to use later. 

Greased, well-wrapped fondant can be stored in a cool room or in the refrigerator, and needs to be kneaded until supple before later use.

Adapted from About.com