My beautiful niece Melody (yes, we have the same name) turned 5 years old yesterday and I had the privilege of making her birthday cake. She is definitely a girly girl so I thought I would do pink, purple, and green for the colors and do a flower/princess theme for the cake. I really haven’t done many fondant cakes before, since I am not a huge fan of the taste, but I wanted the cake to look a certain way and so I thought that fondant would be the best choice for it. The birthday girl loved the cake and so my mission was accomplished!
I am going to share a couple techniques that I used to get some of the details of the cake…hopefully they help you out. First, I think that covering the cake board that the cake sits on top of looks so much better when it is covered in fondant, so that it matches the rest of the cake. I taped two cake boards on top of each other so the base would be more stable and then put a little glucose on the board to make sure the fondant stuck well (you can also use cornsyrup). You can roll your fondant quite thin to cover the board and then you just cut off the excess with a knife. I then added ribbon to the edge of the board to give it a cleaner look. Simply rub your glue stick on the ribbon and adhere.
I then covered my cakes in buttercream and rolled the fondant out to about 1/8″-1/4″ thick. I covered the cakes in three different colors of fondant to give it a fun look, but you could cover it all in the same color if you wanted. I placed the bottom cake layer on the board and then inserted cake dowels into the cake and cut them to match the same height as the cake. (Note: all the cakes have a cardboard cake circle under them) I then stacked the middle layer on top and doweled that too.
I used the leftover fondant to make various sizes of flowers and then adhered them with a dab of water. Next I made large pearls to go around the bottom. To make the pearls you need to roll your fondant out to about 1/4″-1/2″ and then cut out circles with a small circle cutter. You can play around with the size of the pearls depending on the thickness of your fondant and the size of your cutters.
To make the tiara I rolled out fondant to about 1/8″ thick and then stamped it with a swirly design stamp. Next, I cut out the shape with my crown/tiara cookie cutter and trimmed the bottom so that it was straight across. Next, I placed the tiara on a cup with a small width and let it dry for a couple hours until it was stable. I adhered the tiara to the top of the cake with a dab of water or you can use tylose glue. I also added small dragees to the top of the tiara with a dab of buttercream to adhere. In some of the photos you can see that later on I added a small “M” on the tiara for “Melody”. I made this by forming fondant into the shape I wanted.
I was going to leave the cake like this, but then I decided to add some funky leaves and dots in green and I’m really glad I did because I think it made it “pop” a lot more.
To make the leaves and dots I just colored some of my leftover buttercream green and added it to a pastry bag with a #2 tip. Here are a couple of close up photos of the designs so you can see how I did them.
I also forgot to mention that before I piped the leaves and dots I brushed the whole cake with pearl luster dust to give it that extra shimmer and shine. Hopefully these tips help you out next time you make a cake!
Tags: birthday cake, flower birthday cake, fondant, tiara
Wow! What a gorgeous cake! Melody must have been absolutely delighted to see such a beautiful tower with that perfect tiara at the top made just for her! You did an excellent job. Best!
Quite lovely! Thanks for the details on all the how-to, newbies like me need those little tips!
wow!! so beauticul!!!!
That is fantastic! I am in awe. Thank you so much for sharing your tips. I check your site everyday in anticipation of your next stroke of genius!
That is just lovely! I would have loved to have a birthday cake like that when I turned 5. Well done!
Wow, no wonder your niece has that wonderful big smile on her face – who wouldn’t having such a gorgeous cake for her 5th birthday?! Lovely cake – the tiara is really cute!
There is my little girl with the most beautiful birthday cake ever! Mel, thank you so much for creating a masterpiece for my sweet princess. She is still talking about her cake:)
Thanks for all the nice feedback! It makes my day every time I read a new comment!
This is beautiful! The details are amazing!
Stunning birthday cake! I love the colors you chose, perfect for a princess.
Oh wow! I love that cake! and your tips & techniques are great…I’ve got two girls and this cake would be amazing for future birthdays. I just love the stamped tiara. It’s a fantastic idea.
Wow, this is seriously stunning! I love it. My little princess turns three next weekend so I’m going to give this a go!!
Thanks for sharing your cakes and idea’s with us. You are inspiring people everyday!!! You can’t do better than that!
One word~BEAUTIFUL!!!
I thought that was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! I was looking for ideas for my Daughters 1st Birthday, and we too are doing a princess theme!!! That just inspired me more to do a little bit funkie princess cake!!!!! Great art work!!!
Beautiful Cake!My daughter will be turning 2.Thank you for the detailed instructions and pictures!
I am having a surprise birthday party for my almost seven year old daughter, who wants a “Princess party”, and I came across this website when I googled “Rolled Fondant Princess cake”. This has got to be the cutest princess cake with awesome photos and details on how to make it, that I have found so far. Thank you so much, I can’t wait to make a similar cake!
Thank you so much! I am going to attempt this cake for a friend’s daughter’s birthday……..wish me luck! You are awesome for posting the step by step instructions. Adorable picture!
Thank you for the details and helpful tips on how you did this! My daughter turns one tomorrow, and I wanted a princess cake to go with the princess party we are having. Your cake & instructions inspired me to try my first-ever tiered and first-ever fondant cake. I’m totally thrilled with the results (albeit not perfect). I may have just found a new love I never knew existed for cake creating!!
This is absolutely breathtaking! Please tell me you have a natural gift for making such wonderful cakes and you’ve been doing it for years so I will know whether to attempt this or not!!!
Dear Melody,
I was your student at Mira Costa College once. Ever since… I always check your website and I enjoy it every time. I am so happy for you. You are amazing!
I want to go visit you with a friend that makes cookies, I told her about you and loves your work to.
Have a wonderful day!
Maria
Maria Arguello
I absolutly love this cake. I am going to atempt it for my sisters 5th birthday:) I am very excited to do it;)