Cake BonBons

Not quite a cupcake and not quite candy--these cake bonbons are a fun alternative to typical birthday cake. Feel free to use any combination of cake and frosting flavors. My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Cake BonBons

1 prepared 9x13 cake
12 oz frosting
20 oz bark coating or candy melts

Once the cake has completely cooled, use your hands to crumble it into a very large mixing bowl. If you want the final result to be prettier, skim off the brown from the top and sides of the cake before crumbling it.

Stir in enough frosting to make the cake crumbs stick to each other and be able to hold a shape--but not so much that they are gooey and overly sticky. I've found that about 3/4 of a 12 oz tub of frosting does the job well. You can adjust it based on what type of cake you use.

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Using a cookie scoop or your hands, form the cake mixture into balls. You can choose whatever size you want. Those pictured above were about 1.5" in diameter.

Put the cake balls into the freezer for 10 minutes. This will help them stick together better when you are dipping them.

Melt the candy melts (available at craft stores) according to package directions.

Pour the melted candy into a deep bowl. It needs to be deep enough to cover the entire cake ball.

Take the cake balls out of the freezer. Gently roll them with your hands to get rid of loose crumbs. Using two spoons, dunk each ball into the melted candy. Cover the entire ball in one continuous motion. Place back onto the wax paper to dry.

If desired, you can decorate with another color of melted candy melts.

How to Make a Smooth Cake with Marshmallow Fondant

I've been eyeing perfectly smooth wedding cakes for awhile and decided to give fondant a try tonight. It's actually not as difficult as you may think! Marshmallow fondant is easy to make and functions as edible play-doh. My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Here's how to do it:

1) Make two round cakes.

Any recipe will do. Let them cool completely before you do anything with them.

2) Decide on a filling.

For this cake I chose to make lemon curd. Buttercream frosting will work if you don't want to make yet another thing for the cake.

3) Make buttercream frosting (recipe at the end of the post).

4) Make marshmallow fondant (recipe at the end of the post).

5) Put the cakes on a flat surface and use a bread knife to make them as flat as possible.

This will probably involve cutting off some of the rounded top and maybe trimming the edges a bit.

6) Place one cake on a large flat plate. Put the filling on top.

If you are using buttercream frosting for the filling between the layers go ahead and put it on. I like fruit fillings the best, but sometimes the filling will squish out and mess up your frosting. This can be remedied!

If you are using a fruit filling (like the lemon curd), first make a dam around the edge of the cake using frosting. Just put a few spoonfuls of frosting into a ziploc bag and cut off a small corner to give you a tip. Then squirt out a border about 1/4 inch wide all the way around the top of the cake. Put your fruit filling inside of that frosting dam, without going over the top, and you'll be set! No spillage!

7) Put the other cake on top of the one with the filling.

I found it was best to put the second one top down/bottom up, so the top of that cake is against the filling. This gives a smoother top for frosting. The bottom of the cake will be less crumbly than the top that you have cut.

8) Frost the whole thing with a very thin layer of buttercream frosting. Once frosted, let the cake sit for about 20 minutes so that the frosting has a chance to harden.

This is to seal in the crumbs and give you a base for the fondant.

8) Roll out the fondant. Don't put it on the cake yet.

Watch this video for a guide on how to roll out and tuck fondant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vecmy4nKT-A



9) Place 2 Tbsp of jam (any flavor) in a small dish and microwave until warm and runny. Use a pastry brush to paint the jam all over the buttercream frosting.

This gives the fondant something sticky to hold onto. The video above recommends piping gel but jam works just as well and is cheaper too.

10) Gently lay the fondant on top of the cake and tuck it as shown in the video from step 8.

You can get it fairly smooth on your own using a flat knife or spatula, but a fondant smoother (like the one in that video) will give the best results. They cost about $4 at Michaels. Either way will work.

11) Decorate as you wish and enjoy!

If you cut out little shapes of fondant, you can get them to stick by putting a dot of buttercream frosting on the back, brushing them with a little jam, or getting them slightly wet.

Marshmallow Fondant

1 (16 oz) pkg of mini marshmallows
1/4 cup water
1 (2 lb) pkg of powdered sugar

1/4 cup Crisco shortening

Put shortening in a small bowl and set aside. Put marshmallows and water in a large bowl. Microwave them in 30 second increments. Stir after each 30 second increment. Continue until smooth (about 2 minutes).

Dump marshmallow mixture into a very large bowl and add powdered sugar. Stir until combined. Use the shortening to grease your hands (don't forget to grease between your fingers) and then knead the fondant in the bowl. Add more shortening to your hands when the fondant starts to stick to them. Continue kneading until fondant is smooth and somewhat elastic. This requires 5-10 minutes of kneading. Add food coloring if desired and knead until well-incorporated.

Cover fondant with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Knead until warm prior to rolling out.

Buttercream Frosting

3 Tbsp butter
1 lb powdered sugar
2 Tbsp evaporated milk

Beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar and evaporated milk. Stir well. Add more evaported milk if necessary to thin frosting. For this cake recipe it is best if left rather thick but then applied in a thin layer to the cake. If you are doing a buttercream filling for the cake, you may want to double the frosting recipe.