Fondant Covered Cake of The Luggage (Discworld)

[RoaneFaery]

So this is my first attempt at cake.  It was my husband's birthday and I wanted to try make something with marshmallow fondant.  I let him pick out the cake type (boxed) and frosting (canned.)  I have never made cake from scratch and figured trying out the fondant was enough to learn this time around.  I have forced all of the Terry Pratchett Discworld books on my husband and figured I would try and make the Luggage since it's just a box.  With feet.  And a tongue.

I don't have a lot of cake pans so I just made it in a 9" x 13" pan.  I figured I could cut it and add to it from there.  I made my marshmallow fondant a couple of days before I used it and refrigerated it. 

So the first issue I had was that one box of cake in a 9" x 13" pan is not a lot of cake. I cut in half and stacked it but it was not nearly as tall as I would have liked.  Then I went to add food coloring to the fondant.  I wasn't able to get to as dark a color for the box as I would have liked. I just didn't want to spend too much time on it and I had my 6 month old puppy wandering around as I tried to knead the fondant.

I ended up with way more fondant than I needed based on the dimensions of the cake.  I did have fun and the fondant wasn't that hard to work with.  Next time I may be more ambitious or at least have more cake.

So here are my pics:


In progress:
First layer of fondant.

Adding the straps.

Front Detail.

Tongue.

Top view with feet.


Any tips on how much food coloring you need to add to get good colors?  I was just using the Betty Crocker gel food coloring.

[pickled_peppers]

I knew what this was as soon as I saw the thumbnail!

I love it! Great job!

[sparrowlegs]

I loveeee your cake its fantastic,
the colouring....I would add the colouring to the melted marshmallows, add a little at a time, until you get the colour you like, its easier to add colour to a sloppy goo I think (well thats what I do)

[beccas_song]

Wow! This was your first attempt with fondant?? You did a great job! You definitly have a future with cake decorating! I've been doing cakes for about 6 years and I'm still gun shy about covering whole cakes with it- I always seem to rip it. Great cake- looks like fun. I've been wanting to read those books!

Oh, one hint- box mixes are great for basic shapes, but if you DO plan to cut up a cake to shape it, you might want a denser cake that won't crumble and can hold up really well to the weight of the fondant. Good luck! Can't wait to see what you make next!

[RoaneFaery]

Wow!  Thanks for the responses!  Great tip about adding the color to the marshmallows, sparrowlegs.  I'll have to try that.  I suppose I can just melt them in batches for each color I want. 

And thanks for the tip about the cake beccas_song.  I was having a little bit of trouble just frosting the cake. It really wanted to crumble and peel apart.  I guess I'll have to get more adventuresome with the baking.  But hey, I passed a couple of semesters of chemistry in college. I should be able to bake.

And I do really recommend the Discworld books however the first few (which feature The Luggage character) are not the best of the series.  Pratchett wrote the first couple of books as a parody of the fantasy style and they don't quite have the same depth and feel as his later work.  The overall Discworld series also has a number of other series with in it. I really like all the Death books, and the witches ones are good, as are the Watch books.  But if you want a good sense of writing and the world you could read one of the stand alone stories like Small Gods or Pyramids.   That being said I still love The Luggage and read the Rincewind books because of him. (Yes it is a him.. he meets his lady later in the series)

[KCMonkey]

As soon as I saw it on the front page I yelled Oh my God it's the luggage!  I love Discworld and the Death ones are my favorite too.
You did a great job on the cake.  I love the tongue.

[Knitting_Chemistry]

Wow this is amazing! I love those books too and I agree with you the later ones are better.  Great work, I am jealous!   

[Nostrum]

Fantastic work!!!

Not only adding colour to the marshmellow, but I'd suggest making up a food dye 'wash'. That is, REALLY watered down food dye that's stippled onto the cake, preferably before the fondant is fully set. That way you can get textures.
Like in painting, add extra colour to grooves, cracks, and the sort, and think of places that might have wear and tear and might be a little lighter than the rest of it. Experiment with different strokes [long smooth strokes for wood grain, with a knot or two, or stippled/dimpled for the tongue].

Keep up the AMAZING work!

[kawaiimaru]

man, if i hadn't actually read your post i would never have guessed in a million years that you aren't experienced in the cake world.

this is fantastic!

[mynameis_jinx]

That's beyond amazing!  The Luggage is my very favorite "character" in the Discworld books, and you captured him quite well.

I've never worked with fondant before, but if you want a darker, richer brown color, you might try mixing some cocoa powder into it.  Good luck in your future fondant endeavors!