My First Fondant Cake: The Pigtrooper

After years of wanting to attempt decorating a cake with rolled fondant, I finally, finally did it. I wanted to make my oldest, who just turned six, a birthday cake in the shape of a Pigtrooper (you know--a storm trooper a la Angry Birds Star Wars). I wanted to show myself that I could improve on my last cake--Orange Bird, who was coated in canned frosting dyed in a shade I'm sure doesn't exist in nature and detailed in black gel icing that literally dripped everywhere--which my little boy loved, but was laughably bad.

The result?  I wouldn't consider my Pigtrooper an Orange Bird-level cake disaster. In fact, I think I did a pretty good job for my fondant debut.

The part of the project I'm most proud of, I think, is that I let the boys work with the extra fondant, even though it was upsetting to know how much sugar, food coloring, and horse hooves (I mean melted marshmallows) they were going to be ingesting. I knew they would have fun with it...and I was touched that they wanted to copy what I had done (i.e., imitation is the sincerest form of flattery).

I'd consider this cake-decorating project an all-around success.

Here's a quick shout-out to blog posts I turned to for help:

• Easy Marshmallow Fondant (Cakeulator.com)
• Photo Tutorial: How to Cover the Cake (Funcheaporfree.com)