Patriots Cake

In honor of that really big football game that happens every year (Superbowl?), I've decided to make a cake!  It's my first bake of 2012 and one of my first bakes for the blog in a really long time... so, it's nice to be back!  To start off, I'm baking two nine inch rounds (you can use whatever size depending on how big you want the cake), with a cake mix from Make it Sweet (formerly: All in One Bake Shop).  They've make a cake mix that is super easy to work with and is dense enough to make shapes.

Then, I grabbed a picture online of the Patriot's logo, stretched it out on a document, and printed.  I'm going to use it as a stencil for the cake because it's a pretty simple design.  The cake I'm making in tiny (because I just can't afford to pack on the pounds people!  I've got a wedding this year!).  BUT if you're dying for a super mega large cake, you can print the image from your home printer in sections using programs like PosteRazor - and make a mega stencil... much like I did for X's grooms cake.  

After leveling the cakes, slapping some icing in between, the cutting the cake into the shape of a Patriot's man logo thingie, icing the entire cake, I put in the freezer to set (maybe 1 hour?  This is NOT a science, just check back every once in a while to see if it's frozen).  This is going to make it easier to have a smooth finish on the fondant (you'll see this later).

Right before you take your cake out of the freezer, roll out enough fondant about 1/4" thick, so you can cover the entire cake.  Take the cake out of the freezer.  Smooth over the "sharp" edges with your hand, and slap another layer of buttercream, and then put the fondant on top of that (trim and smooth it out).

I'm literally going to paint on the Patriot's logo with food coloring and some fondant fairy dust.   I have to mix either lemon juice or vodka with the fondant fairy dust, but not for the food coloring.  I just just the food coloring like paint.  Remember that stencil you made earlier?  Now's the time to use it.  I personally like to work on the outermost part of the stencil and work my way into the image.... just pick the one that makes you feel most comfortable.

Voila!