Icing or Fondant.

[aramsey1980]

Hi all. This year my little girl will be eight. Everyone in our home is an avid Doctor Who fan and she has decided that she wants a TARDIS cake for her birthday. (I will include a picture at the bottom for those that do not know what a TARDIS is.) I have two questions. The first being should I use icing or fondant? I have tried using fondant a few times before and it did not turn out well. I do not know if I am not working it right or if I did not have the right tools. Question two is, if I use fondant, what is the best way to dye it? I do not see regular food coloring working as it is liquid and I think that would just make the fondant tear easier. As you can see from the picture I need a pretty deep shade of blue. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Tina Nord]

I think Fondant would be your best bet so you can get the details right. I have never been able to get it to work just right so I can't offer any advice there. The best way to color it would be to use a gel food coloring so it is not as liquidy and therefore you fondant would hold its texture better.

 

[Jessi]

I agree with Tina. If you want lots of detail, fondant is going to be your best bet. Gel dyes work really well. Since you're going for a deep blue, make sure you mix in some black instead of just pouring in a ton of blue.

If you're good with icing and don't want to fiddle with fondant, I have seen some really good iced Tardises:

 

[SaturnMoonie]

I guess it depends on how you want the cake to turn out. If you want the cake itself to look like the TARDIS, then I would go with the fondant. It'll make the cake smooth and easier to decorate. Gel dyes work great, just knead the dye into the fondant, adding dye (both blue and black like someone suggested) until you get the color you're looking for.

If you just want a cake with a TARDIS on it, you can still use the fondant and cut out the shape, place it on the cake and decorate it. I personally don't like the taste of fondant so I would try to do it out of buttercream or royal icing. I like the idea of royal icing because you can just get a picture, put it underneath some wax paper, and trace is with the royal icing. Then fill it in, let it dry, and transfer it to the cake. Depending on the size of the TARDIS you can always do it in sections, kind of like a puzzle; that way you're less likely to break it as you're peeling it off the wax and putting it on the cake.

Good luck!

 

[dorannmwin]

If you were simply looking at the taste of the cake, then I would say that you should go with icing. However, if you are looking at the authenticity of the cake that your are creating then I think that fondant is the way to go. One of the things that I like about fondant is that it is pliable and you are literally able to mold it however you want.

 

[pot_star]

Well when it comes to aesthetics, fondant is the best way to go specially on themed cakes. The problem with fondant is they only have one taste and most often too sweet for the consumers. I'd go with both though. I sometimes design a fondant cake then wrap it up with a thin layer of icing.

 

[VTEC 9/12/44]

Everyone in our home is an avid Doctor Who fan and she has decided that she wants a TARDIS cake for her birthday.

Oh, that is *brilliant*! You know, I once tried to make a cake that for my mom that was decorated with her favorite companion: Donna Noble. It wasn't very professional at all but she loved it. Another time, I made a cake for my dad that had the TARDIS under the multicolored nonpareil stars with the Doctor (a male figure) and a companion (a vaguely female shape). We love Doctor Who here too, as you can tell by my username.

Anyway, as for how to dye it, if you're going with fondant you can either look for the color you want already there or maybe you can find some way to sort of brush it on carefully like paint. I'm not sure how that would work, actually, as I don't work with fondant. Mom dislikes the lack of flavor. I usually make my own frosting from a buttercream recipe.