Ok, the background story is that I did a jungle cake for my daughter's second birthday that included fondant animals. My friend loved the cake and wants me to do a Cinderella themed cake for her daughter's birthday next weekend. What I have in mind at the moment is to do a two tier, the top piece being a pillow cake, and a sugar glass slipper atop that. Now, here are my Q's:

1. Given that the pillow cake is carved and needs a sturdy cake, what types of recipes work best? She's requesting chocolate flavored, and I'm not confident I know which type of cake will work best and also taste good enough for a six year old, lol!

2. I've come across recipes for marshmallow fondant, and want the opinions of experienced users if this is equally workable as regular fondant, is it softer/more fragile? And does it really taste better?

3. I've never worked with poured sugar, so I'm probably overreaching with this idea, but I want to do a sugar slipper. I've searched and searched for silicone molds, but no such luck. Only molds for chocolate, and I'm not confident they'll hold up to sugar temps. Any suggestions? I may just resort to a toy slipperfrom Disney or something, but I'd rather it be edible.

Thanks so much in advance for your input!!

Hmmm, I\\'m not the most experienced, but I will try to answer some.

1. I haven\\'t carved a cake yet, so I\\'m not sure about this one.

2. I have covered cakes in MMF before, but it can be soft. My instructor recommended a mixture of half MMF and regular to still have the MMF taste but have some of the stability of regular.

3. Sweetwise sells a chocolate mold for a shoe like you need, but I\\'m not sure it it would work for poured sugar. Pressed sugar would work, but I\\'m sure that\\'s not the look your going for. I\\'m not sure if the gelatin method on the website would work for a shoe, but their are others on the site that have much more experience.

I can\\'t wait to see the replies that you get.

Christy

Chocolate molds cannot be used for poured sugar.

Theresa

Hi, I can't help you on the shoe, but I've used this chocolate recipe http://cakecentral.com/recipes/6093/durable-cake-for-3d-in-chocolate for carving and it tastes great and is very sturdy (as long as you're ok with using box mix). As for marshmallow fondant, the softness is no problem for covering cakes, but can be a challenge if you're trying to do ribbons, strips, etc., because it can be very stretchy. I also recommend mixing it, or using MMF to cover and regular fondant for accents.

Wilton sells pillow cake pans that work like a charm. Use MIchaels 40% off coupon.

Well I also use WASC cakes for carving and everything else for that matter. You can look the recipes up here on cake central. It's pretty sturdy for everything.

I also use MMF for everything and I have never had any problems with it and yes it does taste better, well that's just my opinion. Good Luck!!

Thank you all for your input! I certainly do not mind box mixes (haha!) and I had the idea to use MMF for covering and regular fondant for the decor. The cake theme has changed (woohoo! the glass slipper idea was flustering me!) to Little Mermaid. I've mapped out what I'm going to do and hopefully my fondant Flounder and Sebastian turn out better. My first fondant animals I did the night before the bday party for my daughter, and by that morning... well perhaps I'll post it in the disasters forum, lol! Anyways, thank you!!!

The durable cake for 3d recipe that was posted is very good and so is the WASC. Both will hold up great for carving. Since the new Elite by Fondx came out I don't make MMF anymore or Fondarific both taste really good! (Especially the chocolate-Yummy!) You might want to try a fondant slipper or a gelatin slipper, might be easier for a first try. HTH