Well, with A LOT of help and info from these forums, I pulled off my first cake. I made a stacked cake for ds's first birthday party. This is my first crack at cake decorating, and I dove right into the world of MMF. The bottom layer is dark chocolate fudge with buttercream icing and the top layer is a white cake with raspberry buttercream icing. I made the bow with a mixture of MMF and Gumpaste (in a 2 to 1 ratio) and covered all of the red with red shimmer dust to add a little oomph.
I LOVED IT!!! Now i have the itch! Here are a few things i learned and would have done differently:
- ease up on the cornstarch ( you can tell on the bow that I used quite a bit because I was paranoid of the MMF sticking to my work surface)
- go easy on colour. I originally wanted the cake to be a light blue, but added too much colour too quickly, and ended up with a turquoise cake.
- I iced the cake with too much buttercream, and you could see it rippling under the fondant.
- i forgot to put some icing sugar, or crisco on the bottom layer, so when I went to remove the top layer, it ripped off the MMF, but I managed to recover it.
Thanks for looking, and any constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated!!!
well, you dove into the right "pool".
Beautiful cake ..Love that red bow. good job.
Can;t believe it's your first cake! Excellent job!
I think it's a great job for a first try! You really dove right in. 
Did you buy the candles on a stick or do you add the sticks? They are cute 
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Awwwww....thanks so much everyone!!! I really read up as much as I could before I attempted this, and wouldn't have been able to do it without all of the info I found on here!
The colours I used were Americolor's red and blue. Very vibrant! I wasn't expecting the blue to come out that bright. The red seemed a little dull after I rolled it out (probably from going overboard with the cornstarch) so I topped each loop with red shimmer dust.
The candles were purchased as is. I think I got them from Party City (but I'm not sure since I was running around like a madwoman trying to get everything set up for ds's bday party!)
Great job...especially for a first cake. Keep up the great work.
WOW! That is a GREAT cake! You really did a wonderful job! CAn't wait to see more of your cakes!
It is wonderful! 
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