My First Cake Gig

Well, I told you in a prior post that I had some info concerning me preparing a real cake for pay. Well, for the details it's for the school my husband teaches at - they're senior/junior formal that they are having on Saturday. Somehow it got back to the organizers that I have made cakes for people and they called out of the blue. I talked with them and got some of the basic info so I could make a decision as to whether I could do it without it costing way too much. After taking most of the weekend (they called last Friday - so only a week to prepare) to decide, and after much deliberation with Stephen, we decided I (we - Stephen helps a LOT!) that I could go forward with it. So I called them on Sunday and got all the final details pinned down and approved.
Monday I prepared a very simple contract of the terms and started my preparations. Went to the store found out prices for things, started collecting coupons for the necessary items, and made my final sketch of what the cake will (hopefully) look like. This is a very daunting yet exciting task. This is one of the things I thought I'd love to get into doing as a side job - when I had the time - that I find enjoyable. It is a lot of work, but a very cool artistic way to express myself.
So today starts our test run at homemade fondant. Hopefully all will go well and it will be doable. We are trying regular rolled fondant and poured fondant, and we might try marshmallow fondant (have to check and see if anyone would be opposed to it.) My only other hurdle is that the majority of the cake is black. To tint icing or fondant black you need a lot of black and it tends to taste bitter. Hopefully I'll be able to find a way to overcome that hurdle and not compromise the color. The theme is masquerade and the colors are black and gold primarily with hits of silver and white.
I've gotta run go prepare some cupcakes to try my homemade fondant on and get ready for small group. Stay tuned to see the outcome of the test ...