Disney Fairies Cake

My god-daughter was turning 3 years old. She has been one of the few people who taste-tested my first fondant cake and she loved it. So, for her birthday party, I made this birthday cake for her. I had a month to prepare and plan for it. Her parents (my friends) were very supportive and really believed in me that I was both excited and anxious about it. They give me this Disney Fairies figurine set to put on the cake.

Every time I would go to a store or surf online, I was on the lookout for something I might be able to use on the cake. I decided I would go with pink, green and purple colors on the cake. When I saw wired butterflies and ribbons in those colors for sale, I just got them with no clear idea on  how I'm going to use them later. I also bought a pair of 10" round pans and some Frill Cutters using an Amazon Gift Card my friend gave me. I wanted to learn how to make my own cake board covered with fondant this time. So, I also got a the Wilton Graceful Vines imprint mat.

Here's how I put everything together.

TOOLS I USED

• 2 - 6 in pans
• 2 - 10 in pans
• Leaf Cut-outs
• Star Cut-outs
• Flower Cut-outs
• Round Cut-outs
• Decorating Brush
• Wooden Dowel Rods
• 14" Cake Circle
• Wilton Graceful Vines imprint mat
• FMM Straight Frill Cutter Set 1
• 20" x 30" x 3/16" Foam Board
• X-acto Knife
• Aluminum Foil
• Scissors
• Adhesive Spray
• 3/4" Purple ribbon
  

 INGREDIENTS I USED

• Favorite Cake Recipe
• Marshmallow Fondant
• White Rolled Fondant Icing
• Violet Icing Color
• Leaf Green Icing Color
• Pink Icing Color
• Purple Pearl Dust
• Pink Pearl Dust

 HOW I DID IT

• 1 week in advance: Cake Board. Made a 14" Homemade Cake Board.  Here's a video I watched to learn how to do it.

 

Kneaded White Rolled Fondant Icing and colored it green using the Leaf Green Icing Color. Rolled it out and used the Wilton Graceful Vines imprint mat to create the design. Then, covered the homemade cake board with it. I saved the left over green fondant for decorating later. I used Gum-Tex diluted in water to glue the purple ribbon for the border.

Lightly coat foil-wrapped board with piping gel to help the fondant stick to the foil.

• 2 days in advance. Made Pink and Purple Marshmallow Fondant. 

• Night before the party. Baked and cooled 2-layer 6 in. cake and 2-layer 10 in. cake. Filled and crumb-coated them.

Cake Cover. Rolled out Pink marshmallow fondant (MMF) and covered the 10 in. cake. And then rolled out the Purple MMF to cover the 6 in. cake.

 Stacking. Placed the bottom tier on the cake board about 1-1/2 in from the edge of the back side. Stacked purple 6 in cake tier over the 10 in cake tier. Instead of stacking the top tier right on the center of the bottom tier, I placed it about 1-1/2 in from the back of the cake. This gave me enough room for placing the toy figurines. Here's a video I watched to learn about stacking cakes.

Tinker Bell's leaf floor. Rolled out remaining Green fondant (used to cover cake board) and used the largest leaf cut-out to place on top of the cake as shown. I used a toothpick to draw the veins of the leaves. Then used Green icing color to tint all of the remaining green fondant darker. I repeated the process to finish off the leaves.

Green Grass Border. Rolled out the remaining Green fondant (darker tint) and used #2 of FMM Straight Frill Cutter Set 1 to make the grass border.

Celebrant's Name. I didn't have alphabet cutters. So, for the celebrant's name, I used this alphabet stencils I got from Wal-mart to trace the letters on White Rolled Fondant with an X-acto knife.

Small Stars. Since I still had the White Rolled Fondant rolled out, I used the smallest star cut-out to make 5 small white stars to place randomly on the top tier. Rolled out the remaining Pink MMF and repeated the process for the 5 small pink stars. And then added more Violet icing color the my remaining Purple MMF for the 5 small purple stars.

Medium Flowers. With the White Rolled Fondant, Pink and Purple (now darker) MMF already out. I used the medium flower cut-out to 6 flowers of each color. I used a toothpick to mark out the petal shapes. Then used the smallest round cut-out to make 9 pink and 9 purple circles to go in the middle of the flowers. I just placed these flowers around the bottom tier at random spots.

Bottom Ball Border. For the purple and green border, I rolled out the Purple MMF, and what's left of my Green (now darker) fondant into same-size logs about 1/2 in. diameter. I, then, used a knife to slice each log into 1/2 in. wide pieces. I rolled each piece into a ball then put them on the cake. I put a green ball after every 4 purple balls.

Finishing Touches. Using a decorating brush, I brushed Purple Pearl Dust on all the purple decorations. And brushed Pink Pearl Dust on all pink decorations. Then placed the wired butterflies I bought from Michael's as well as the toy figurines.

You may be interested in reading the Fondant for Beginners series:

• Tools to start decorating with Fondant
• How to make home-made Marshmallow Fondant
  
• Preparing your cake to be covered
• How to cover cake with Fondant
• How to make a Fondant Bow