Help needed with decorating kids cake

[Madison Mae]

HELP!

I am making a birthday cake for my son's first birthday (theme is Noah's Ark as he loves animals)

I have never decorated a cake before, but thought hey, lets go all out and try.
I have a few questions and wondered if anyone could help;

a) The Tescos near me doesn't do brown food colouring and I have bought ready to roll fondant icing to cover the cake once I have shaped it like a boat. How can I colour it without having to make the fondant from scratch and use cocoa powder? (which I have just in case). I have red, black, yellow, blue and green colouring.
b) Does a cake have to be covered in marzipan to be covered in sugarpaste/fondant?
c) I also have Betty Crocker icing in a tub in chocolate which I was going to use on cupcakes, would this be better than fondant to make the cake "boat like"?
d) Finally, once iced, do I have to keep cakes in the fridge, or does it depend on the icing.


I would be so so grateful for any advice.

xxx

[silvermaid]

I haven't made any themed cakes for a while as the boys are too 'grown up' now.
A, Going back to my school art lessons, blue+red+yellow makes brown. I would suggest a 2x red,2x yellow, 1x blue ratio. You could mix it in a pot and paint or sponge it over the fondant icing once the cake is assembled ( try on a spare piece for colour first)
B, You can put fondant icing straight on a cake or over a very thin layer of jam if you like so it sticks better.
C, You could make lines for the wooden sides easier with fondant icing. Use a ruler and press along the sides.
D, It depends how hot it is in your kitchen. A Betty Crocker one would be better in the fridge though.
I just found this
You may prefer this way to make brown: a deep "orange or vermillion" plus just "a little bit" of dark blue makes brown; mix well; that is roughly: 1/3 yellow + 2/3 red + a "dab" of blue: that's brown. Add another dab of blue if it is still too much of the orange shade.

Melanie

[fairycakes1972]

The cake doesn't need to be marzipaned but the fondant icing will need either buttercream or jam underneath it to make it stick to the cake (you could use the betty crocker if you wanted to).

If you cover the cake in fondant, don't put it in the fridge!! The cold will make the icing damp and melt it to a sticky mess!!!

As Melanie said you can make the sides of the boat by pressing a ruler into the icing to create the planks, then use a knife to mark in the grain.

Good luck and enjoy!!!

[Madison Mae]

Thank you both for your advice, it really helped. The cake was a success, although it wasn't as perfect as I had hoped, but nobody seemed to care or notice. Yay!

[beadsbydesign]

Thank you both for your advice, it really helped. The cake was a success, although it wasn't as perfect as I had hoped, but nobody seemed to care or notice. Yay!


Have you got a photo?