Banana Cake with Fondant [Happy 1st Birthday!]

It was our son - John's 1st birthday yesterday. We had a surprise celebration at T's office with his colleagues, followed by a small celebration at home. J loves his bear puppet, so I thought it would be nice to have a bear figurine on the cake. Peek-a-boo!

J loves banana so much, save me times thinking what cake to bake (thanks ah yi for the idea too). The banana cake was baked in a 9" square pan, then trimmed into number one shape. Yeap, it was a small cake. I used turntable as cakestand (as in photos), J seemed to be more interested in the stand than cake!

Here is the fondant recipe I used for this cake:
Ingredients (9" x 9")
150 g liquid glucose
50 g glycerin
2 tbsp gelatin
25 g shortening
60 ml warm water
1 kg icing sugar, sifted


Methods:

1. In a microwaveable bowl, mix gelatin with water and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
2. Stir in glucose, glycerin and shortening.
3. Mix well. Put in the micro on high for about 20 seconds, take it out and stir well. Then put in back into micro for another 20 seconds.
4. Stir well. Mix 3 quarters of icing sugar with the liquid to form soft "dough". Add more sugar if the fondant is sticky.
5. Keep fondant in an air-tight container overnite before use.
6. For covering the cake, roll out fondant to about o.5 cm or a bit thinner and lift it up with the help of a board.

Notes:

1. If you don't have the professional tools like me, trim the edges with what you have. I used scissors, knife and even a pizza cutter (best tool!).
2. Try to leave some allowances on the edges, you can always trim a bit more if it is too long or too big.
3. I am a beginner with fondant, do share some tips and good recipes with me!
   
   
   If you have been following this blog and wondering how's John doing.... here he is!