I’m completely exhausted after a full, busy Thanksgiving Day. I had a great time with my family, and it went off without a hitch. Here are some photos.

The table set up for everyone.

The spread going out.

The Thanksgiving appetizer and dessert table.

More of the spread. From the left: crudites and cheese, then crackers with 3 kinds of dip (Scallion and Chive from WF, homemade Salmon Mousse, and Roasted Red Pepper from WF). The tray of crostini has an assortment of basil, prosciutto, and mozzarella then bruschetta, then mascarpone, bacon, and apples (a variation from #40 on this list). Chips, pumpkin pie, brownie bites, and down at the end the Thanksgiving fondant cake extravaganza. The layers were too short, so everyone thought it was a hat. It was not supposed to be a hat.

Crostini closeup. These went like wildfire.

And then finally, here are some photos of the cake coming together (I finished it around 1 this morning).

Frosted top layer, ready for fondant. This is the Devil’s Food Cake recipe x2, and it still wasn’t enough to get the layers as tall as I wanted. We’ll be eating all this cake for days, each tier is a 2-layer cake.

Dyeing the fondant orange.

Orange fondant ready for top layer.

Getting there, smoothing it out.

My first attempt at a fondant covered cake is a little lumpy, but done.

Both layers covered and assembled.

I think I made 5 separate colors of dots out of bits of fondant. That took a lot of time, but they were easy to cut with cookie cutters.

You glue the fondant cutouts on using vanilla extract and a brush.

Cake all finished! I used more chocolate frosting piped around the top layer to hide the imperfections at the bottom. I wanted to do that with the bottom layer as well, but the cake was so wide on the dish I couldn’t get down in there.

Not too shabby for a first attempt at fondant. I’m happy with it, and it was delicious.