Decisions, decisions

So, I've decided I'm going to make some special cakes for the parties this season.

No, not fruitcake, thank you muchly for the kind thoughts, though. *chuckles*

Indeed, these are a little off the beaten path for holiday cakes, I do believe.

One that I really like the idea of is devil's food cake with caramel and fudge in the center, wrapped in rolled fondant and ribboned in chocolate.

Another is red velvet cake with rich chocolate and brandied cherries in the center, wrapped in rolled fondant and ribboned in chocolate.

I'm also considering making a white cake with a fudge center, wrapped in rolled fondant and ribboned in chocolate.

The thing is - which to make...or should I make one of each? See, none of these will actually be cake size. More like 4" (10.16cm) squares. Little "presents" that are quite delightful...someone could even take two - so they could have their cake and eat it, too! Ok ok...yeah, that was bad.

Anyway...suggestions on which to run with?
There are two types of fondant. There is French fondant which is a sugar syrup that is poured over the cake - you'd recognize it if you saw it. It makes a beautifully smooth, generally shiny coating over the cake/pastry and is oh so yummy.

Then there is rolled fondant. Rolled fondant is also known as sugarpaste (not nearly so lovely a name). It is an icing that gets rolled out into sheets and then can be molded or formed or cut out. Most wedding cakes and other fancy pants cakes are made with fondant icing.

Fondant in its liquid form is also often used to smooth out cakes so that more decorative icing can be applied over the top of it with a much smoother finish.

You can cut rolled fondant into shapes and airbrush them with food colouring to make decorations for your cakes as well. The bows I plan to make for the cakes will be done in fondant. And, I could make the ribbons in fondant, too...especially if I wanted to make the ribbons various colours. I could just knead in the colour I wanted until it was thoroughly mixed through the fondant, roll it out into thin strips and trim it up to be neat and then lay it in place and apply the "bows". The "bows" will be "stuck" on with corn syrup.

You can see a picture of (and instructions for) the kind of bow I'm going to attempt...well, if I have enough fondant!...at BakeDecorateCelebrate.

There are also great pictures that show French fondant, and rolled fondant at that site. I love it muchly...probably too much. *laughs*

[edit: I decided to make a holiday picture as well, instead of using one that was so premade, since I put the effort into the others...I'll tweak it when I get home and have access to my actual editing tools. My knitter friends should be amused. I hope, anyway ;-) ]