I am 20 years old and I have never made a cake without my mom's help. October 13th is her birthday and I have no idea what to do. I got a vanilla cake mix and i also have fondant because i am doing cookies for Christmas. BUT I have never used it for a cake before any help or ideas on what i can do would be WONDERFUL!

-Bethany distraught first time baker

Take a deep breath, let it out & pull your shoulders down Relax!! You will do fine.
I think fondant is harder to use than b'cream for a 1st timer....I'm sure some will disagree w/that......
What borders or other techniques do you know how to make? Shells? ZigZags? Have you ever used a pastry bag & tip?
You could use cookie cutters to make decorations...
flowers, diamonds, ?? Just roll the fondant out like pie dough and cut your designs. If you let them dry over the next few days you could even icing glue a toothpick on the back to they stand up.
If you don't know how to use a pastry bag to pipe with, roll out long, thin snakes of fondant in 2 or 3 c olors and twist them together; wrap around the cake for a border.
Find out what mom's favorate color(s) is/are to work with.
Just remember simple is elegant. You don't have to put all kinds of stuff on it to make it look good!

kakeladi, Honestly all i really know how to do is bake. I am a quick learner and have a few books. I believe we do have the bags, I know how to do the stars rosettes and kind of know how to do the borders. Is fondant really that hard to do with the cakes? I am sure i could do decorations with them but as for covering the whole cake I have my doubts. I know how ever it turns out she will like it but i just want to really shock her with a pretty cake. thanks for your help

UUUUuuugggggggg my edited post didn't come thru.
Go thru the 'first cakes' gallery on this site for ideas.
If you can roll out pie dough and move it from the table to a pie pan you can cover a cake w/fondant. You might not get the bottom perfectly smooth but some/most of that can be covered w/decos
What kind of fondant do you have? Wilton's?

I agree with going with the buttercream. The fondant work itself isn't difficult, but covering the cake in it is. Fondant is not cheap, and if you mess it up - then you'll have to start again. MMF is difficult if you've never worked with "real" fondant before.

You could do a simple looping pattern to cover the top (like a squashed cursive L over and over - start in the middle with a couple inches wide, then do another column next to it on each side). Then do a shell border on the edge and bottom. Simple yet impressive looking.

Just remember your mom's going to love it either way! So just have fun with it.

FBCT's are easy, too! Look for the tutorial in the tutorial section here on CC. Pick a picture of something she likes, line it & fill with icing, freeze and flip onto the cake.

There are lots of videos on YouTube for cake decorating. Some very good ones, too.

Good luck. Your Mom's gonna love it!

I bought the Wilton's ready to use white fondant.

Ew. Have you tasted it?

I never thought of youtube thank you so much!

I don't think that you should cover the cake with Wilton's fondant. It is basically inedible (yuck!). You want your cake to taste as good as it looks. If you are stuck on wanting to cover your cake in fondant, go with MMF. It is easily made, but it can be tricky the first time. But, it is inexpensive enough to practice before the big day. Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Good luck

I tried it i didn't think it was too bad not amazing, but what do I know. I have never heard of any of this stuff until I got on the sight. Is there any way I can get the wilton's to taste better? or should I just go get something else

Make marshmallow fondant.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm

You're looking for the consistency of the Wilton's. Wilton's fondant is good for modeling figures that are less likely to get eaten.

Ok what about this... what if I just ice the cake and use the wiltons for decorations? that way i can get a feel for the fondant and know for next time that wiltons doesn't taste all that good Thank you all for the help so far!

Yes, that's what I'd do Ice in b'cream (which you have to put under the fondant anyway) and use the fondant for your decos.
You can knead in flav orings....vanilla extract or what every goes w/the cake flav or or is your favorite. Use up to 2 teaspoons, adding about 1/4 tsp at a time, knead it in then add another & so forth.

Now this might sound dumb but I have to learn some how, why do you have to use buttercream? why cant you use regular home made icing or stuff from the store?

NO your ? is not dumb......there are no dumb ?s around here. As you said people have to somehow.

You can use any icing/frosting you want. You can also use piping gel or jam or jelly to cover the cake before placing the fondant on it. You need something for the fondant to stick to....it doesn't stick to cake.

Oh ok, its just that every cake page i have been to said nothing but buttercream, buttercream, buttercream, i was so confused so you don't need that kind for fondant? Good to know

If anyone is still looking at this what do you think a good color scheme for the cake would be? I asked he what her fav. colors are and she said all of them obviously I am not going to do all of them but any opinions would be awesome (I am using homemade white icing so any color works) THANKS

Since it is fall how ab out yellows, oranges & maybe some red?

Otherwise I'd go w/a light pink and maybe lime green (leaves, writing etc)

You can use the store bought icing if you want but you can't smooth it like you can buttercream because ut stays sticky. Hope this helps and good luck.

I love chocolate icing under fondant. I think most people use the word "buttercream" as the would "icing," just in general. Like I use "Coke" for all soda. (Apparently that's a Texas thing, btw.)

It'd be funny if you made a rainbow inside cake (tint the batter different colors and then dump them in one at a time to layer them.) "Mom, you said ALL the colors!"

I like the fall colors idea! Fondant leaves are so pretty.

I love all of those ideas fall colors would be really pretty. With the rainbow cake itself do i just kinda dump them for lack of better words on top of each other when its still batter? Or would I bake them then stack them? Ps: I don't know any of you but I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! You have helped me so much with my questions and I will be sure to show pics of the cake

Yeah, you just dump them in the pan. Don't try to spread them or you'll ruin the effect.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1265930.html

THAT IS SO COOL!!! I can make the cake all pretty and simple on the outside and crazy on the inside (like my mom) !!! Great Idea...

Also it is kind of weird for me to hear people say soda because in Pittsburgh we say Pop (soda) gum band(rubber band) Clicker(remote control) Chipped ham(A type of lunch meat) We are an odd group of people haha

On the other hand, "Pop" bugs the heck out of me. My friend is from Minnesota and he says it. Haha. I'm used to clicker, though. My mom says it.

Here's instructions to help you along with the picture of the cake I really wanted to find. (There's an issue with the galleries right now.)


Oops, the link might help.
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-585413-rainbow.html

She does two colors per layer, but as you can see in the other picture you could do more.

That is great! I am going to try that. I may use a little less coloring or just stick with only a few colors I AM SO EXCITED NOW!

Well tomorrow is the big day i will keep everyone posted thanks for all the tips!!!

Battle of the sodas! The only "coke" I drink is Dr. Pepper. Waco, Texas!