The Fondant Pirate Cake

The journey of learning how to make rolled fondant frosting was a bumpy one.  So it all started with that post a few weeks back with pirate birthday cake inspirations.  My birthday girl saw the images and was ecstatic about a pirate birthday cake.  She enjoyed "the green one".  The image with the pirate cake with a green hat.  And so the journey began.  Researching the internet for recipes for rolled fondant and watching those oh-so-helpful YouTube demonstrations took much of my time this past week in preparation for "The Pirate Cake".  When I suggested cupcakes, or cake-pops my little girl turned her nose and exclaimed "No mommy...a BIG cake, a big, big green Pirate cake!!!!!!!!"  The research continued.  Grocery list-check. Several hours allotted to pick up groceries, "just in-case"-check.  Then it happened...the great search of Northern Virginia for the cute little ingredient-Glycerin.  It's spoken of in the videos as if you can just pick it up nearly anywhere.  You know, glycerin.  Well, the only glycerin stocked in our grocery store was the suppository form.  Lovely.  The craft store was all out.  The only trace was the bar code on the shelf with no bottles behind it.  After 7 interactions with stores via phone or in person I found it.  Glycerin.  Oh, by the way, the recipe only called for a tablespoon of this stuff-Really??? Really??  Hours of scouring the city for a tablespoon. Yes.
I proceed to make the fondant meticulously just as the video showed.  I ended up with a sticky mess and still 6 out of 8 more cups of powdered sugar to add.  I recruited "muscle" to help to kneed this impossible mess.  45 minutes to an hour later the mixture was ready thanks to my husband and his strength-I surely could not have done it alone. 
The assembling of the cake.  Rolling the fondant wasn't too difficult after letting it warm up from being in the fridge for about an hour, and kneading in small portions for another 20 minutes.  Let's just say it is NOT as straight forward as the videos show.  The smoothing process was a joke.  Cutting around the edge at the bottom after you drape it over the cake was a joke.  The fun part was turning it into the pirate.
When my little girl woke this morning (and me barely being able to crack an eye open since we were up into the wee hours of the night creating the cake) she loved it! 

I made these cupcakes in addition to the cake.  It took about 20 minutes to frost and decorate all the cupcakes.  Sounds like a nice quick idea for next year :)