Superman 40th Birthday Cake with Homemade Fondant

When a friend of ours turned 40, I decided I would try to overcome my fear of fondant and make this cake for him. 

It turned out okay, and I learned a lot about fondant in the process! 

I know I don't like the taste of store-bought fondant, so I tried to make my own. I found this recipe for the black fondant: http://bakeyourfaceoff.blogspot.com/2011/03/black-marshmellow-fondant-badass-and.html

I altered it a little bit...

Ingredients: 

1 cup of black melting chocolate discs

1 bag mini marshmallows

3 Tbsp water

1 lb of powdered sugar plus 1 1/2 cups

1 tsp black food gel

Crisco

Put your marshmallows and water in a microwavable bowl. Heat for 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat process for about 2 minutes total. 

Add the chocolate discs. Stir. Then add the black food gel. Stir. Add about half of the powdered sugar. Stir. Add the rest of the powdered sugar. Put Crisco on your hands and knead in the rest of the powdered sugar. 

Put Crisco around the dough ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate until ready to use. I did have to warm it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften it up before I used it. 

I worked in layers for this cake. I started by making the Superman shirt and then placed it on my cake. 

Then I added the white shirt. I rolled out the black fondant and placed that on top. Then the final touches were the white collar, the black buttons on the suit, and the red tie. I wrote the message on a piece of red fondant.