Fondant Fun

Mrs Shanks and I would like to congratulate our good friend Jo and family, of The Cupcake Gallery on the safe arrival of their 3rd beautiful bundle of joy, Little Miss M. She (even though I had all my coins on it being a boy!!) is absolutely gorgeous and we can't wait to see all the marvelous baby-inspired cake creations you have in store.

First Prize: The Last Supper depicting the true meaning of Easter

While heavily pregnant, and raising two very active 4 and 2 year old kids, Jo has managed to submit 4 cake decorating entries in this year's Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Super women you say?

First Prize: Japanese Udon Noodles

In fact this year's cake decorating entries were of an amazingly high standard, even with her and her family having moved house just months prior to this, and despite the new home's oven requiring an Ocky strap to hold the door shut... these are just some of the obstacles faced in preparation of her entries.

First Prize: Disney Princess cupcakes

The result...
Not to gloat on Jo's behalf but I think three 1st prize blue ribbons and one 3rd prize white ribbon out of 4 entries is enough said in regards to gloating - simply amazing!!

Third Prize: Easter Show pig & piglets

And as icing, or should I say fondant, on the cake she was awarded two extra ribbons. One for Most Successful Exhibitor in the cake decorating/sugar art category and another for Most Successful Exhibitor in the novice class.

But why stop there...
The Cupcake Gallery has now published their first book, Fondant Fun. The book covers the basics of fondant preparation, equipment, and has 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional designs. The book can be purchased here, and The Cupcake Gallery are still holding workshops later this year. For more information, go to The Cupcake Gallery's website or blog.

To say the least, family Shanks have embraced our own stodgey version of sugar art (maybe it's due to our love of playing with play-doh) and had a bit of our own fondant fun in the past year.

Above was my 1st attempt. Cupcakes made for the Sydney Food Bloggers Mad Hatters Party, what better than to design different styles of hats ranging from Indiana Jones, Crocodile Dundee, Wicked Witch of the West and of course the Mad Hatters top hat.

Shankette's princess cake topper for Mini B's birthday. This design was kept simple as we had an ultra busy month, plus this was to be one of 2 cakes we made to celebrate the same occasion.

Shankette's veggie garden patch design for a joint birthday. The theme was also in celebration of a good year of harvesting. For all of you that aren't fans of eating fondant you must try chocolate fondant that was used to cover the base of this cake. The bitterness of cocoa balances the sugary sweetness of the fondant and forms a less grainy texture.

Dibo the Gift Dragon. A cake topper designed and created by Shankette for a friends 3yr old birthday. For those who don't frequent ABC2, Dibo is a stuffed toy dragon that has a zipper on his tummy which unzips to reveal gifts he has for his friends. The recipient loved it so much he wouldn't let anyone eat it and I believe it's been intact for over 2 months now.

My Chinese New Year offering, celebrating the year of the Rabbit. With this design I also experimented with the flavor of the cake. Instead of the standard vanilla or chocolate I made a Matcha (green tea) and Lychee mud cake to give it more of an Asian theme.

So get out there an have a go at making you own cake topper.

Till next time ... we eat!!

Shanks.