The 50th birthday is something of a milestone and the perfect reason to try your hand at working with fondant. Fondant is a type of decoration for cakes and pastries, made from sugar and glycerine. The fondant has a dough-like consistency and rolls flat for applying to cakes. For a 50th birthday cake try using fondant in an unusual way, like creating an upside-down cake. Or keep it simple and add brightly colored decorations to a traditional cake. Does this Spark an idea?
Over the Hill
Make an over-the-hill 50th birthday cake with black, gray and white fondant. Once the cake is cooled, trim the edges to form a tombstone shape. Roll gray fondant into a thin sheet, approximately a half-inch thick. Coat the cake with a thin layer of frosting, which acts as a glue for the fondant. Carefully transfer the fondant to the cake and gently drape it over the top. Smooth out any air bubbles with your hands. Roll the white and black sheets out to the same thickness. Use cookie cutters or a sharp knife to cut shapes, letters and numbers from the fondant. Decorate the top of the cake with small skulls and spell out "Happy 50th Birthday" with cut-out letters.
Upside-Down Cake
An upside-down cake is similar to a traditional stacked birthday cake, except that the smallest cake goes on the bottom and the largest on top. Coat the cakes with a thin layer of frosting and wrap each cake in a different color of rolled fondant. Place a dab of frosting on your cake plate and place the smallest cake on the the plate, using the frosting as "glue." Insert wooden dowels, cut to the same height as the cake, through the top of the cake. Use a minimum of three wooden dowels in the center of each cake, placing the dowels in a triangular formation. Set the second smallest cake on top. Keep inserting more wooden dowels and placing a cake on top. Decorate the top with a five and zero cut from fondant.
Dotted Cake
Cover the birthday cake with plain white frosting. Roll out brightly colored sheets of fondant and cut small circles or dots, fives and zeroes from the fondant. Arrange the colored dots all over the cake, alternating with the fives and zeroes. Place the fondant shapes on the cake, while the frosting is still soft to the touch and slightly moist, so it will keep the fondant in place.
Wrap it Up
Decorate a multi-tiered birthday cake in the frosting of your choice. Roll your fondant out to a thickness of a half-inch and cut into a three-inch wide strip. Wrap the fake ribbon around the cake and secure with wooden dowels inserted through the ends. Cut a second strip from the fondant and wrap into a bow shape. Press into the front of the cake and decorate the top to wish the person a happy 50th birthday.
Tags: birthday cake, cake with, from fondant, wooden dowels, 50th birthday, smallest cake, 50th Birthday