Me and the Monkeys: The making of the Ocean party cake

Monkey #1 loves dolphins and asked for there to be dolphins on her cake. I had a dolphin candy mold so I used left over chololate from the gold fish pretzel snack for the party and made dolphins for the cake. Totally cheating since I would normally cut out the dolphins. Monkey #1 did ask for chocolate shapes on her cake because #3 had them on his.

As I was going through the steps of making the cake I took photos for the first time of the steps so I could share.

This is the top tier of the cake. I baked two of these and

using a bread knife I cut the top off of both cakes.

I spread the frosting on the bottom layer and then placed the top layer on bottom side up so the cake will have a nice flat top

I then applied the crumb coat and set it in the fridge to chill. Chilling the cake is very important because it makes it easier to work with. If it is summer you may need to chill it many times while working with the cake.

Quick Tip: If you don't have time to make your own frosting, you can use store bought but add some powdered sugar to it so it will thicken it up. Store bought frosting can be too runny.

While the cakes were chilling in the fridge, I worked on my fondant. I forgot to take a photo of the fondant before adding the color. I use store bought Wiltons fondant and Wilton's paste food coloring. Some of my friends make their fondant, but where I live it is very reasonable in price so I just buy it.

I rolled the fondant out like a pie crust. I have a fancy little fondant roller but I don't really care for it. I like having the hanldes on the regular rolling pin. I dusted the surface with icing sugar so the fondant wouldn't stick. If you are finding the fondant is a bit too sticking dust your hands with powdered sugar. You will notice my hands are covered in the powdered sugar. :) Also, if you hands are too warm the fondant may be too sticky. Washing your hands in cold water can help or having an ice pack handy to cool your hands down works too.

Fold the fondant in half to get ready for placing it on the cake.

I prefer to roll my fondant very thin. If it is your first time you may not want to do that because if you are not careful it can tear.

Now for the fun part. Shaping the fondant on to the cake.

Using one hand, slightly pull down on the edge of the fondant and with the other rub the fondant that is on the side of the cake. This takes a bit of practice and patience.

When you have the fondant smoothed out using a sharp knife cut the excess edge off. Leave a wee bit of length because the fondant tends to shrink up a bit.

I then took a skewer and stuck it in the bottom tier all the way and marked it. I then cut it and 3 more like it so they could be placed in the cake to support the top tier.

I put a dallop of frosting in the center to act as glue for the top tier

I wanted to add a little wave pattern to the top tier so I rolled out a strip of fondant and using a pearing knife I cut out my design.

Water is the "glue" for working with fondant.
You don't need a lot. Just dip your finger in the water
and run you finger along the area you want the fondant to stick.