Lisa a Chef for the A Thyme to Cook Catering company and a dear friend asked me to make a cake for her son’s Eagle Scout celebration. It could not have been worse timing, in the throws of the wedding cake season. Her offering to buy the cake topper on line was a huge time saver, and she was cool with getting her cake days before the party. Which is not always easy when you are throwing the party yourself and fridge space has suddenly become prime real estate. She did not want fondant to cover the cake, so I had nightmares of the fondant flag, ropes and fleur de lis that I rested on the buttercream in the heat of the summer and with the extra waiting time pulling away and or sliding right down the sides of the cake.

God, luck, Buddah, or the love of this particularly proud mother prevailed and the cake made it to the party, looked fantastic and was a wonderful hit. She said every bit of  the vanilla butter and chocolate marble cake with a nutella filling was finished before the party had wrapped up for the evening.

Some helpful hints for attempting this cake or one like it: The fleur de lis on the side of the cake were made with candy molds that Lisa also found online, Amazon.com has a huge selection of these. I pushed the fondant into the molds after a sprinkling of corn starch to keep it from sticking. If you decide to do a flag on a cake apply the stars after the draping is attached to the cake and the draped colors of the flag were easier applied in strips. If you decide on rope for your cake edible copper lustre dust adds just the right amount of sparkle.