What is the best tasting, easiest to use and easy to make fondant/buttercream??

I am going to try and make a wedding style cake for my sister's friend. she suggested me after I made my daughter 2nd birthday cake (which I was just playing around with). I had no clue as to what I was doing. Heres the pic if you to see it.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1176705

Anyways, I have some ideas on what Im going to do (she wants it to be purple and/or neon purple). Im not for sure how many tiers shes wants but I planned on using the plastic dowels and plates thing.

Basically any help that I can get would be much appreciated. Also how much would I charge her to make the cake? My sister said she would buy all the ingrediants.

I make the fondant from the Wilton Yearbook... I make the liquid part in the microwave and knead the sugar into it. i f you have a kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook you can do it in there also ( faster). Just cut back on the shortening and use Pam to keep the fondant from sticking to your dough hook.. When I am ready to use it i pop it in the micro for about 20 seconds or so until it loosens up and I knead it until it is smooth. roll it out with my big rolling pin ( actually a piece of 3" pvc pipe). Make sure you either use a fresh coat of butter cream underneath or put a thin layer of piping gel over the whole cake so the fondant can stick.
I tried the MMF recipe once put noticed that it seemed to get over worked easily. Hope this helps

I have been using Satin Ice. I use to make my own mmf but never came out the same way twice. Satin Ice in my view is the way to go and a dream to work with. Saves me a lot of time and bad words.

For fondant I love Michele Foster's recipe. You can find it here on CC in the recipe section.. just type in Foster and it'll come up.

For BC it really depends on your personal tastes. I use a meringue based buttercream but most people don't. Debi's BC is popular as is Sharon's recipe.

Purple is notorious for fading.. the red in it fades in the light and leaves a nasty blueish color. I'd definitely experiment with the colors. As for price.. until you know exactly how big the cake is I have no idea. Is this person your friend too? If so I might just do it for the cost of ingredients.

For the fondant I will highly suggest Michelle Foster's fondant (recipe in recipes section). I just started using this about a month ago and its the best home made fondant I've used so far. I've done MMF and Toba's. Toba's was great in taste but Michelle's is by far the best workable fondant I've made. And the taste is great too! It handles so well.

As for what to charge? First you need to figure out how much cake you need - how many guests will it serve? Figure out what size cakes you'll need then you need to figure out how much cake you need & icing and figure out the cost. Costs varies a lot from state to state on groceries. Then if she's just paying you cost of materials there's your price. But you won't know any of that until you figure out how big your cake will be

I dont have a kitchenaid but I would love to get one. I do everything by hand in a mixing bowl.

And i dont know the girl. She is a friend of my sister. My sister is the one that will be buying all the ingrediants. The girl will be paying me to make the cake.

How long does Michele Foster's fondant last? Do I leave it out just in a sealed container?

It lasts a long time. I had some for 6 months and I tasted it and it tasted the same as when I first made it. I didn't use it on a cake (there was just a little left) but it was more than fine.

It's my favorite fondant by far!

I love Satin Ice. I tried and tried to use MMF, and started hating to do fondant, so I decided to try Satin Ice and LOVE it. I really don't think the price is bad either and tastes really good.

I don't like Toba's fondant.. it's way too sweet for me. I have tried so many fondants.. MMF and regular fondant.. and Michele's is the best by far. It is comparable to Satin Ice and Fondex.. it is just as good and tastes a lot like Fondex. I don't like the smell of Satin Ice.. it smells like vanilla play-doh to me.