A Cake Fit for a Queen

This cake is for a dear woman who turned 83 this week who has more spunk in her than most 53 year olds. She is active and whops on the tennis court. She raised 8 kids...by herself...and I absolutely adore her, so I added the sparkle to the backdrop.

I remember watching my cake decorating aunt crumb coat when I little. How did she get that layer of frosting so thin? I just skip that step. Must do more cakes so I can get better. I did discover with my Halloween cupcakes, that I can make fondant. That's where we'll start. Mix some fondant: 16oz mini marshmallows, melted in microwave with 2 T of water. Combine with a bag of powdered sugar. Add a few drops of red coloring. Grease surface/hands. Knead fondant. Sprinkle surface with some powdered sugar. Roll fondant. I used my pizza cutter to freehand a crown.

While I was making the fondant, I had two six inch round cakes (and 6 cupcakes with remaining batter) baking in the oven. After the cakes cooled, I leveled one cake and left the other cake with a peaked top for the top. Then I frosted both layers with my aunt's famous buttercream icing. Back to the fondant: I rolled balls of fondant in my palms for the tips of the crown and for the cake border. Then I piped a buttercream design on the crown and carefully placed Wilton Sugar Pearls using a pair of tweezers. I secured the crown to the side of the cake with a little buttercream and propped the balls of fondant with toothpicks- tucked at an angle behind the points of the crowns.