I am so glad to have found this site!! I have two boys and have made all their birthday cakes, so I would call myself not a beginner but not a pro either! I have made a sandcastle cake (with crushed nilla wafers and edible candy shells), a pirate ship (from Family Fun magazine), and monkey cupcakes with formed chocolate faces. This year, I want to make a penguin cake. I've looked at some of the ones on the site, but I don't want to attempt little fondant penguins. What I have in mind is basically a big sheet cake, and I'm thinking of just carving out the rough body shape and frosting white in the center, black around the outside areas, and black eyes/orange beak. So, here are my questions: I know black can be really hard to color; should I buy black fondant, or try to make it out of the marshmallow recipe, or is there some other way? I have never tried fondant before. Also, I have always used box mixes. Is it better to make from scratch? The only complaint I have is using boxes is that they are so moist they can be crumbly... so I have put them in the freezer.
Sorry for the long intro and question... I look forward to reading your replies!!
Darlene
Welcome to Cake Central.
If you can find it locally, buy black fondant. It will save you lots of frustration. Satin ice makes a good vanilla flavored or chocolate flavored black fondant.
There is nothing wrong with cake mixes. It should hold up to the fondant project you want to try.
It helps to start with a commercial fondant, so you have a good idea of how it should feel. wilton doesn't taste that good, but it is very easy to use.
If you want to use buttercream, you can make chocolate buttercream and then you don't have to put in as much black coloring.
I learned this the hard way. One of my first cakes was a Mickey Mouse cake for my bosses 3 year old. It was for a kids party so I told them to be careful with the black areas because it will probably stain and they did for the kids. Well his dad ate a piece with the black icing and his mouth was black...for a day..then it turned blue the 2nd day.
Buy black fondant...Satinice, FondX or Chocopan are good tasting. Buy it, get the feel of it...then make some MMF (marshmallow fondant) so then you'll know how the texture and elasticity should be.
Yep, a coat of bc underneath the fondant.
p.s....your gonna LOVE this site 
Black BC will stain, but typically black fondant will not (except during the making of it!LOL). For your first time, definitely buy some black, (or chocolate and add black gel color). Attempt making your own later if you decide to, but for this I say buy it! Once the black color is "in" the fondant, it is less likely to color everything around it like BC! I have used black fondant on kids' cakes and haven't had any problems - black BC on the other hand was an absolutely horrible mess!!
Welcome to CC!!! I am not sure if you are interested in this, but I have a tutorial saved in my favorites that is a penguin cake!! Here's the link...
http://blog.josephhall.com/tutorials/tuxcake/
Here's a good doctored cake mix recipe:
(WASC with variations.)
http://tinyurl.com/2cu8s4
Best Fondant/s:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-323663-.html
HTH
Thank you to everyone!! I will buy the black fondant, try to make my own (maybe for the white center area), and try the doctored cake recipe. I read through the tutorial, and although it does seem doable, I will stick with a flat penguin for this and try a smaller 3-d cake out first. I learned alot by just reading it- thanks!!
Darlene
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