It's My Birthday and I'll Bake if I Want To

(homemade fondant)

It was my birthday.  I spent the day decorating my cake.  The cake I baked.  Dark chocolate, if you must know.  Layered with bittersweet ganache.  OK fine, the rumors are true. There were also 3 layers of Rice Krispie treat madness infused with about a cup of my salty caramel to make it a wee bit more dangerous.  The aforementioned breakfast cereal goodness was sandwiched between the cake and the ganache.  Again, it was my birthday.  I can bake with Rice Krispie treats if I want to.  
And if that isn't enough, I also made fondant.  You heard me.  I made it.  I didn't think it possible either.  Who makes fondant?  Well, I did.  But it wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't found this handy link (please work, you silly link.  I'm adding this link to the recipe sidebar in the event this leads you nowhere).  Some lovely woman named Peggy has shared with the world what I once thought impossible:  a recipe for marshmallow fondant.  I didn't follow Peggy's recipe exactly.  I did nuke 1 bag of marshmallows with a few tablespoons of water at 30 second intervals until it transformed into a white viscous goo as she suggested.  And then I dumped the whole  lot into my Kitchen Aid mixer along with 2 pounds of confectioner's sugar and let the machine do all the exercise.  Peggy recommends kneading the stuff by hand with a hearty glop of Crisco.  I'm lazy.  So I subcontracted the heavy labor to my trusty machine.  And it worked.  I might, the next time around, add a few tablespoons of shortening to keep the stuff from becoming too dry.  But for the first go around, I was quite pleased.  And compared to the usual hideous flavor of packaged fondant, the marshmallow variety is, well, marshmallowy.  Which is fine by me.  

In other news, here's the cover of my baking memoir.  I think seeing this was the best birthday present ever.