Ribbon Cake

Stinkie is napping, and I am rejoicing!  I have four cakes due tomorrow morning, and I was starting to stress, but I finished ALL of them!  Granted, one was done already, and two were little 6" smashcakes, but the ribbon cake looked like it was going to be REALLY hard.  I had made all the ribbon pieces out of gumpaste last night and the night before, so they had time to dry really well.  I draped them over a cardboard tin foil roll (cut in half) to keep their shape.  When I wanted the smaller loops of ribbon, I used string to tie the cardboard roll very tightly.  I made sure to leave a little wiggle room to get the ribbons off.  The spirals were 1/4" strips of gumpaste wrapped around wooden dowels.  So without further ado, here are a few pictures!

I also thought it would be a good idea to take a picture of the cake before I added the name.

I learned that making ruffles is something I need to work harder on!  I just went for folds.  Also, I should have placed the ruffle before putting the fondant on...or something.  I just know it was hard as heck to put the ruffle under without flubbing the fondant!
I also made two little smashcakes to go with the two cakes.

The little cake is a toddler friendly carrot cake (I got the recipe from RecipeZaar) with just whipped cream cheese frosting.  I neglected to remember that cream cheese hardens by itself...OOPS!  So I covered it with plastic wrap, and hopefully it will last in the fridge until they have the party!  I don't have a picture of the ribbon smashcake, but it just looks like a little pink package tied up with dark pink ribbon, with a little bow on top.
I need to get along with making my Mother-In-Law's cake.  It's going to be a carrot cake with a glaze AND frosting.  Yum.  I still have no idea what I'm going to do with it.  Hubby said he'd come up with an idea but he's been working so hard and going to school nights, so he hasn't had the time lately.  I suppose I can just google stuff she's into and find something fitting!
Another thing I've learned using fondant is that the buttercream layer needs to be thin, or it will flow underneath your fondant and make your surfaces bunchy looking.  I tried using more frosting under the fondant on these cakes so that people can just scrape off the nasty tasting stuff and have frosting underneath, but I think I'm going to start sticking with a minimal amount from now on, like 1/4" or something like that.
I do hope to learn more about decorating with buttercream.  There's this fabulous woman on YouTube named SeriousCakes (okay, probably not her name, but it's her channel name!) who can do ANYTHING with buttercream.  Watching her is amazing!
Peace out, and have long days and pleasant nights!