Have a Jelly Belly Birthday!

My friend Megan celebrated her 27th birthday over Memorial Day weekend. As she was debating whether to have 2 parties within a matter of weeks (bday and graduation) I asked her if she did have a birthday party, if I could make her cake.

I am not so talented with decorating but I hear practice makes perfect. Seeking inspiration, I recalled an incident where I saw first hand (and survived!) how she acts around popcorn flavored jelly bellys, and decided to make this the inspiration for the cake.

Components of the cake were the base (which I did not make from scratch for she requested a funfetti cake), fondant (my first time making the stuff!), rice krispies treats, and frosting (from scratch and pre-packaged). The idea of the cake was to have a base and 3 fondant covered jelly bellys on top.


I was out of town most of Memorial day weekend in Reno with other friends. Her birthday party was on the Monday we got back. I prepped the cake the day before leaving and popped the cake and rice krispies into the freezer and kindly asked Dean and Greg to take them out before I got home so they had time to defrost. The fondant I just placed in the fridge.

Knowing that corn syrup is the main ingredient for marshmallows, I looked for a fondant recipe that used them, as that is what I had in the pantry. I came across this website that I used for guidance. To be honest, I don't really even like fondant but I heard that it is very forgiving of mistakes when covering up imperfections.

Marshmallow Fondant ingredients
16 ounces white mini-marshmallows
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening

Looks pretty simple, right? Melt the marshmallows in the microwave or in a sauce pan with 2 tablespoons of water. After it is melted, place 3/4 of a 2 pound bag of the sugar into the pan and mix a little (coat spoon with Crisco). I then put the concoction into a kitchen aide mixer and had it do a majority of the work as it can take up to 8 minutes to 'get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake'. I greased up the kneading hook and sprayed the inside of the bowl with vegetable oil as I hear that it can be super sticky. I added a few drops of yellow food coloring. After all, what color is buttered popcorn? In hindsight, I would have put more coloring in but now I know for next time! If it is a little loose, add more sugar. If it is too dry, add more water, a tablespoon at a time. When it began to be a homogeneous clump of sugary goodness, I took it out from the mixing bowl and placed it onto the greased counter where I kneaded it a little by hand. I wrapped it in plastic wrap and placed into the fridge until I needed it in less than a week's time. Not to toot my own horn, but Greg and I usually have pretty good luck having baked goodies turn out great on the first try. The actual decorating part, well, that still needs practice.

I get back into Fremont and my friend Erika was there to help me decorate the cake on the actual day of the party.

We used the funfetti frosting on the base of the cake. Not remembering that I needed extra frosting for the rice krispies treats, we had to make some frosting from scratch. Powdered sugar, milk and butter worked great. I was not shy to put the food coloring into this frosting. Erika frosted up everything and I laid the fondant onto the treats. The day was pretty warm and always being critical of my work, I felt that it was going to melt into a soupy mess so after the decorating was complete (as good as it was going to get) I put the cake in the fridge to set.

Turns out I am not the only person that isn't a fan of fondant. Erika heard a girl at the party say, "I don't usually like fondant but this tastes pretty good." I'll take that as a compliment any day!

As I look at the pictures over a month later, I realize the cake turned out well for it being my first time working with fondant. I like to learn something each time I bake or cook. I need to cut myself a little more slack when trying things out for the first time and need to remind myself that even if I don't get it right the first time, it doesn't mean I should just give up and never try again. And I still need to remember that things usually take longer than expected to be completed. :-)

Happy Birthday Megan!