Fondant Boot Cake

      I love-love, LOVE making cakes. Although I dislike the taste of fondant, it makes some of the coolest cakes I've ever seen and made. 

   For this boot cake I layered chocolate cake and frosting to build up the height and shape. When it was the shape of an "L" I started shaving down the sides with a serrated knife. When it was close enough to a boot shape I frosted it with my homemade butter cream (recipe here) frosting and made it as smooth as possible.  

   

     I then rolled out a piece of fondant (large enough to cover the entire cake and about 1/4'' thick) and placed it over the top, smoothing out as needed. I smoothed it out with my hands and trimmed away the excess with a paring knife. I added gel food coloring to a small portion of fondant for the orange bow and the brown heel and added them. 

     I  hand painted the cheetah print by mixing clear vanilla extract, brown and black gel food coloring. I do have a nice set of fine art type paint bushes that I use, it makes a big difference. For the cheetah print I basically painted the brown splotches everywhere and with a thinner paint brush did the black outline. This cake was so fun to make and almost too pretty to eat, ALMOST.