Birthday Cake for a Hardcore Cyclist

I made a birthday cake for my brother-in-law who celebrated his birthday on Thursday. He loves off-road cycling, so I thought I'd make a model of him and his beloved bicycle in the manly wilderness! (Hence the green-grass base and r

I have finally discovered the joy of using store-bought fondant! It is so, so much easier to handle. It is less sticky, much more pliable and elastic, and doesn't dry up too fast. Thank goodness my sister-in-law who is also a baking addict introduced it to me. All this while I was avoiding using store-bought fondant, because first it's rather expensive, and mostly because I've heard that they taste awful. However, this brand that we used tasted pretty decent and is not as sweet as home-made fondant.

*Sigh*... I should've used this earlier, it would have saved me so much time and strife!

 

So anyway, the model turned out quite well. The bicycle however had much too small wheels! I was too lazy to make new ones and just stuck them on anyway. I made the bicycle by using wire to create a frame first. Then I coated the frame in fondant.

The cake was a bit of a failure. I wanted to try a white chocolate and macadamia nut blondies (white chocolate brownies) recipe. It turned out too sweet, and I also over-baked it so it's texture was very hard indeed! I won't be trying that recipe again anytime soon.

I looove brownies though. I simply adore their thick fudgy texture. I'd much prefer a slice of rich brownie over a piece of airy-fairy sponge any day! This is why I just had to buy another recipe book; 'Brownies' by Linda Collister.

I vow to perfect the art of making brownies. Yum...