A relaxing weekend in a resort.

The man and the lady sip in their juice, looking out into the sea from their balcony. A table is set by the hotel staff with lots of food. As the sun sets, the lady sighs at the mere beauty of it.

And that’s the point when I get up from my sleep. Always. No relaxing weekends, but grinding weekdays and tiring weekends. Weekends are horrible because we hardly step out of our place.

Coming to think of it, our apartment is kind of a resort. Far off from everything and a weak mobile signal!

So here is my way of getting back at my sleep, for making me miss all the picnic food.

A beautiful cake – layered with a white table-cloth. A cake with a candle on top, another topped with strawberries.

A couple of hot dogs and some sandwiches.

The picnic table is perched on top of Monday’s Banana Honey cake. The table is also the same cake, baked in a rectangle small cake pan. The miniature picnic food is made of fondant.

How to put together a picnic table with mini party fondant food:

For the table, you need:

• Any cake, baked in a small rectangular pan (mine was a 2″ X 4″ pan) or a cake cut into a table of desired shape.
• White fondant for the table cover and plates
• Butter cream for crumb coating
• Tools : a rolling pin to roll out the fondant, knife for cutting, water for binding, palette knife for spreading the buttercream, piping nozzles – one big and one small

How to:

1. Cut out the desired shape table from a bigger cake or bake in a smaller pan. You can even use a big cake as a base for the picnic table. You will need more food to fill in, though :-). Crumb coat with butter cream icing using a palette knife.
2. Roll out the fondant to cover the table and cut into a rectangle (per your table’s shape, this was a rectangular one, so a rectangle table cloth). Don’t roll it out too thin, then it will tear when you lift it.
3. Carefully lift and place it on top of the crumb coated table. Make the pleats using your hands, by lightly pinching the fondant together. You can wet your fingers with water a bit for the fondant to hold the pleats.
4. For the plates, roll out the fondant into desired thickness and cut a circle with a bigger piping nozzle. This is our plate. Now, press the smaller nozzle inside the ‘plate’ to leave an impression, don’t cut deep. Proceed to make more plates like this.

How to make the chocolate cake:

• Brown fondant (White fondant + cocoa powder would do)
• A tiny amount of red fondant, for the strawberries
• White fondant for the icing
• Tools : Rolling pin, Piping nozzle – small size, knife, water for binding

How to make:

1. Roll out brown fondant and white fondant. The white should be rolled out a bit thinner than the brown fondant. Cut out three circles from brown and two from the white fondant using the piping nozzle.
2. Stack on top of each other, so that it forms a cake with three layers of chocolate with white icing in between. Use water as a glue. You can either use a brush or even use your fingers to lightly spread water on top of each layer before keeping the next layer. You can slightly stretch the white icing, so that it looks as if it oozed out a bit.
3. For the strawberries, pinch a tiny bit of red fondant, roll it between your hands to get an oblong piece. Using a knife cut off 4-5 equal sized small bits. Shape them into balls and then slightly pinch the end to give a strawberry look. Place this on top of the cake, using water as the glue.
4. Place it on a plate made with white fondant. Use a dash of water to stick it to the place.

For the white cake, you need to change the colours to white and pink and finish off with a white big piece to cover the whole cake. Make strawberries as before and place them on top of the cake. Roll out a small white piece and shape it like a candle. Poke a hole with a skewer in the middle of the cake and place the candle. You can use water as glue. Now using a sharp knife, cut a small piece and place it on a plate. You have a beautiful slice of cake now!

For the hot dogs:

• Light brown fondant for the bun (again white fondant + with a little less cocoa than for the cake fondant)
• Red fondant for the roll
• Tools : Skewer and water for binding

How to make:

1. Take a small piece of the brown fondant. Roll it in your palm and then shape it into a slight oblong shape.
2. Use the skewer and press in the middle. You now have a indentation for keep the sausage.
3. Roll the red fondant in your palm and then slowly roll it into a sausage shape. Place it in the bread and you have a hot dog now!

Jam Sandwiches,What you need:

• Light brown fondant for the bread (again white fondant + with a little less cocoa than for the cake fondant)
• Red fondant for the jam
• Tools : Knife and rolling pin.Water for binding

How to make:

1. Roll out the brown fondant. It should not be too thin, you should be able to lift it without tearing.
2. Roll out the red fondant into half the size of the brown. Again not thin that the fondant tears off.
3. Place the red fondant into the brown fondant from an end to the middle.
4. Fold over the brown fondant. You now have a top and bottom layer of brown with a red jam layer in between.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut off the edges to form a rectangle and then cut it further into small sandwiches. If desired, cut each sandwich into two triangles. Place on a fondant plate.

Arranging the table:

• Once the mini party food is ready, place them in the plates and serve them on the table!

I found the pictorial for mini party food/picnic food from Bronnie Bakes. I have included a mini step by step pictures as well, but hers is more detailed.

This is my entry for Bake-a-thon 2013. Check out the linky tool below for entries from other participants.

This cake also goes to

• Vardhini’s Bake Fest hosted by Lail of With a Spin
• Cakes Mela
• Christmas recipes
• Favourite recipes Event: Christmas Recipes
• Let’s Cook Christmas Party Food
• Srivalli’s Kid’s Delight, hosted this month by PJ – Baked Treats