Taco Tuesday

There's a first time for everything and I always like taking on new challenges...especially when it comes to baking. Even if it doesn't come out the best, its still fun to put your creativity into something and make someone happy. And today we did just that for Mijo's birthday! It was either a taco or a bean dip can...the taco seemed more visually appealing, so we went with that.

I have to say that this didn't turn out hard to pull off and anyone can do it! Yes, its easier with a KitchenAid Mixer for the fondant, but the rest - facilísimo!

Here's what you'll need: 

• Cake Mix {or make your own} 
• Chocolate Frosting 
• Chocolate Chips 
• Marshmallow {large or small} 
• Powered Sugar 
• Water 
• Candy Orange Slices {in variety kind for orange and red} 
• Rip Cords {in apple} 
• Orange Food Coloring While your cake is baking, you can get going on setting up the rest of your "condiments'. 

Your taco shell is really just fondant mixed with orange food coloring, rolled out, and shaped into a opal. The opal shape allows you to have some space for the cake underneath without taking away from your taco sides!

The Candy Orange Slices will be your tomatoes, so you'll want to cut those into cubes. I used the orange and red versions for a little more realistic coloring. For your lettuce, take the Rip Cord apple candies and pull on the individual pieces. For your cheese, simply use some of your extra fondant from your taco and slice thinly. And finally for your meat, mix the chocolate chips into your chocolate frosting!

Fondant:

• 16 ounce (450g) bag of mini marshmallows 
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) water 
• 2 pound (900g) bag of powdered sugar 

To Prepare:

• Pour your marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl 
• Pour 2 tbsp of water into the bowl and microwave for 1 minute 
• Your Marshmallows will then be nice and gooey and poor them into your Kitchenaid mixer (if available) - Otherwise your mixin boo and gettin yourself an arm workout! 
• Slowly add your powder sugar to the bowl as the consistency gets thicker. If the powdered sugar doesn't end up making it firm enough for you, I suggest added a bit of flour which has helped solidify it better. 
• Once your fondant is solid enough, you can then shape it into anything! 
• At this point you'll want to take your cake out and let it cool. 

Once your cake is ready to dress, begin to assemble your taco!

• Take your taco shell opal and put on the plate you'll be serving on 
• Put the cake in the taco shell and cover the cake only with chocolate frosting to help the fondant stick to the cake (not the meat frosting yet!) 
• Then bring up the side of your taco shell - To better hold the sides onto the frosting, I used two skewer sticks I stuck through the cake so they didn't fall while in the fridge. 
• Next, add your condiments! Meat first, then your lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese! And that's it! TACO CAKE! Enjoy!!