2016 … the year Joseph Schooling won the first Olympic gold medal for Singapore.

2016 … the year I made my first fondant Slam Dunk Cake.

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“Wow dear, you made me a Ang Ku Kueh cake …. so red and errm … shiny “ exclaimed Hubby with a sheepish look.

*Side note*

Ang Ku Kueh – a local sweet snack made of red colored glutinous rice flour, usually filled with peanuts or green bean mush and often shiny, with a sheen of oil glistening off its red surface.

😱 😱 😱 Nnnoooooooooooooo!! This is not an Ang Ku Kueh Cake! This is a Slam Dunk Chocolate Cake, and it is RED because that’s the team color of the Slam Dunk 🏀  folks, can’t you tell???!!!!!

Honestly at that moment, if my eyes could roll to the back of my brain, it would have.

So shiny, it does look like Ang Ku Kueh ..

Fondant is a thick paste made of sugar, water and hydrogenated oil. It is often used in cake decor and has never been on my list of favorite things. To me, it’s that oh-so-pretty layer on the cake which I will always (& I mean always) peel off because simply, it doesn’t taste good. I mean, it’s like stiff sweet clay and tastes like it too ….. yucky.

But fondant is also incredibly versatile. It can be flavored or colored or even textured and patterned to create amazing cake designs. Think novelty cakes, wedding cakes, spectacular sculpted cakes etc …. I think you get the idea.

Slam Dunk, Hubs’ fave comic 🏀 team

Not sure what possessed me but for this particular Hubs’s birthday, I decided to chance it and make a fondant cake. I thought to myself – how difficult can it be? I’m getting better at frosting and besides, I’ll frost using thicker chocolate ganache which will be delicious and give me those nice crisp sides. Lay on the red fondant, slap on Hub’s favourite Slam Dunk figurines and Voila! … it shall be the most striking cake I have ever made!

You know why they say ‘Practice makes Perfect’? Because you will always find out new things that you never knew when you try something for the first time. Things that would floor you & absolutely not set you up for success!! 

The Man’s still happy with his AKK cake

The fondant was difficult from the get go. It was hard to roll out smoothly and drape over the cake without creasing. And because the weather here is pretty humid, the fondant tended to get sticky if you work it too much and when that happened, one had to flour and start over again.

When I was finally able to roll out the fondant properly, the draping was the next headache. No matter how much I tried, those smooth and straight sides eluded me. My cake covered in fondant was bumpy and there were many folds which could not be smoothened out.

I can still see all the imperfections ..

And then fondant got sticky again. Next, frosted cake with smooth sides got soft with all the handling and needed to be fridged. So arrgghhh … frosting needed touch up, fondant needed work …. start over 🙄 🙄

After countless attempts and start-overs, I finally finally managed to cover Hubs’ cake quite well (it was decent) with the fondant. Needless to say, I was relieved and quickly popped the cake to chill in the fridge before Birthday Boy sees it. Victory is within reach!!  I just needed to display the Slam Dunk stars on top, bring out the cake with candles & birthday song and it shall be Sweet Success!!

My ugly delicious chocolate cake

Have you heard of the oxymoron – a cold sweating cake? This was exactly it.  Straight from the fridge onto the table … Slam Dunk stars ✅  … Candles ✅  … Birthday song ✅  but wait ….. why is the beautiful fondant cake melting before my eyes?!!

Ah, life’s lessons on success. Never underestimate Fondant, your enemy. The change from fridge to room temperature plus lighted candles has caused condensation on the whole Slam Dunk Cake and it has started to glisten with water droplets looking like it has just finished gym workout. Humidity is my Kryptonite. Fondant has won.

Little sugar crumble who tried to save the day ♥️

And so …. my Slam Dunk cake did look like an Ang Ku Kueh cake in the end. Red and very very shiny.

Little sugar crumble (only 2nd grade then) did the sweetest thing. She made pretty hearts & fondant flowers to try and save mommy’s cake. Well, the Slam Dunk Cake was so sticky and shiny, the flowers had no problem ‘growing’ on it 😬 😬

My Slam Dunk Cake was kinda a hot mess but … it was a labour of love. Hubs and kids celebrated noisily, peeled off all the red fondant and ate the chocolate cake inside. Still delicious but just ugly….really ugly 😅 😅

And that was, and is the story of the One and Only fondant cake I ever made.