Montreal Canadiens Cake

I did it!  My first real experience working with fondant!  To tell you the truth, it's not quite as simple as it looks, or as simple as I thought it would be. For a rookie though, I think I passed the test. This cake was the hit of Rich's birthday get together. 

Since my fiancé is somewhat obsessed with the Habs, I decided to make it the theme of the night.

However, when I went to Party Packagers (an awesome party supply store in Toronto) looking for Habs decorations like plates, napkins and tablecloths, there were none. Here's where the teacher in me really came out. I was left with no choice but to be creative and make my own decorations, so I printed the Canadiens logo and some Habs jerseys and taped them onto the table cloth!  I think it looked pretty cute!

Okay...onto cake making and decorating with fondant.  Remember, this was my first time making a fancy cake using fondant. For all of you experienced cake makers and decorators, please bring on the criticism and suggestions!  All I really know is what I have learned from watching Cake Boss, as well as the few pointers suggested to me by a very helpful woman who works at Creative Cutters where I bought the sugar paste, color tints and the cake board. 

First things first...I needed a picture of what I wanted to accomplish.  My friend Liz sent me a picture of the amazing Montreal Canadiens jersey cake that she made (which was way better than mine) and that gave me some ideas. I then went online and ended up having a picture of the jersey up on my computer screen as I was working.

I began by baking two cakes; one vanilla and the other chocolate. Once the cakes had cooled completely, I piped a minimal amount of buttercream icing onto the cake board so the chocolate layer would stick to the board. I placed the chocolate layer in the center of the board.  I then piped more icing on top of the chocolate cake and placed the vanilla layer on top of it. It became quite clear to me that the cake was a little uneven, so "a carvin" I went.  I sort of eye balled it since I did not have a level, trying my best to even out both sides of the cake.   

Next step was to dirty ice the entire cake with buttercream icing.  The buttercream acts as glue for the fondant to stick to the cake and keep the cake moist. I first piped it onto the cake and then used an offset spatula to spread it out.

Since the fondant I bought was white, I had to color it red and blue. These are the tinted colored powders I used to tint and paint the fondant. 

Although not perfect, I managed to roll out the white fondant thin enough to cover the cake.  Notice the creases above.  They made me so sad. But...I found a solution!  I managed to cover them up with the sleeves of the jersey. He! He!

As anticipated, when I mixed the red color tint with the white fondant, it became pink. YIKES! I didn't know what I was going to do until I remembered what the lady at Creative Cutters suggested. She told me that by mixing the tinted powder with a small amount of Gin or Vodka, paint would be created. It worked! To make the C, and the red stripe as bold as they looked, I painted the cut out pieces of pink fondant red with the "paint" and let them dry before adhering them to the cake.

Here's how I made the logo. I printed the size I needed on regular paper and placed it on top of the rolled out fondant.  Next, I cut out the areas that I would need to trace. 

I used an exacto knife to trace along the edges of the stencil. Using a paintbrush dipped in water, I painted the back of each piece of fondant in order for it to stick to the cake.

I very carefully placed each piece into position. 

Finally, with the leftover buttercream icing, I piped a birthday message.

Go Habs Go!

I must admit...this took me quite some time to put together, but it was worth it.

I was very happy with the final product.

I think that Rich was too!  I couldn't believe that I kept it a surprise from him.  (I made the cake at my mom's after work all week!)

Happy Birthday Richie!

Enjoy.