Once Upon A Time Storybook Birthday Cake

In my last post I mentioned that I have been making a few birthday cakes recently, iced with fondant which was a new exploration for me as i'm used to working with buttercream. I said this thinking that I had already posted about the first one I made back in March for my best friend, who is a big fan of the show Once Upon A Time. Unfortunately I have a history of procrastination and apparently I got as far as uploading the photos but then completely forgot to write anything or actually publish anything- oops!
So rewind six months and my friend's mum, who has been saying every since I took them their first batch of cupcakes that I should set up a baking business, asked me to design and make a birthday cake for her daughter i.e. my best friend. No pressure! I went round for dinner and then the three of us sat down to discuss themes, designs and flavours whilst I took notes. You should know that my friend watches a lot of films and TV shows, and when I saw 'watches' I mean she can get obsessed to the point where she will know everything about them. Her favourite at the time was Once Upon A Time which features a storybook as one of the central items, so we decided that I would make a book with maybe a few little symbolic items on top which related to the characters e.g. a hook, an apple. 
Between me being a perfectionist anyway and her being a huge fan, I thought 'this has got to be perfect because if there is any discrepancy between my cake and the original, she will know it'. Add to this the fact that i'd never worked with fondant before and you can bet I was stressing about it! I also really didn't want to let down my best friend, and this was for her party which her whole family would be attending, who I also know quite well.

Above is a 'real' replica of the prop.

The final cake was huge- at least 3 inches tall! I used white and brown fondant for the base of the book, then gold paint for the letters and 3D decoration. I also used a black paint pen to add in the line work around the edges and spine. The ring was made from white and green fondant then covered in edible glitter. Sorry about the bad quality photos, I took them late in the evening when I finished so the lighting wasn't very good.

I used a scalpel to make it look like the white fondant was actually pages rather than a solid blank block of icing.

This keyring is another replica from the show- it looks very complex but I decided it was easier than trying to make an apple without the icing cracking, or me having to buy lots of different paint colours. Obviously it would have been impossible to copy it directly into fondant, so I first drew the design onto paper then stuck it onto cardboard and cut it out to create a template. 

The final keyring was made from black fondant and covered in iridescent powder, which looked less purple in real life. Despite using a template it was still extremely delicate; I had to let it dry out slightly before putting it on the cake or else it was too floppy (the original is metal), but if I left it for too long it would break very easily.
The cake took a full day to bake and decorate, and when i showed it to my friend and her mum they almost cried! As this was my first birthday cake they had no idea about how good/bad I was, so they had been expecting something much simpler. It's so rewarding to see all the effort I put in paid off!