Little Miss Sunshine turned 4!

We had a low-key birthday party since we had the cousin party before we moved. We decided against inviting other kids, so it was just the three of us. I made pinatas the last two years, but since it was just us I didn't do one this year. That and I've been busy unpacking, sorting, and organizing and didn't remember till it was too late to make it in time.

The last two birthday cakes I made were iced, but this year I decided to try fondant. I really like the look of fondant and figured it was worth a try. I used a marshmallow fondant recipe (thanks for the link V!),  and the process was a bit messy but fairly easy.

I made two 8 inch layers of gluten free yellow cake, iced them, then put the fondant on top.

I really like how it turned out- it's not perfect, but I am happy with it. The polka dots didn't turn out as neat as I'd have liked, but I also did them with by using a knife and cutting around the bottom of a pill bottle. I'd have liked a round metal cookie cutter the size of a donut hole, but I don't have one and I wasn't about to go find one at 9 pm on Saturday.

It was a learning experience, and I think I'll experiment with fondant again. I didn't care for the flavor of it, so I think I might try some flavoring, though it would need to complement the cake flavor.

I'm not happy with the lighting in the pictures- we have crappy light in our kitchen. The kitchen gets no direct sunlight, and the lights are very dim. If this was our house, the first thing we'd have done was change the light fixtures in the kitchen.  I need to find a lamp or two to bring in more light. In the meantime, every picture I take in there has bad lighting.