Hi everyone. I was called upon to make a replica of this purse, out of cake, at the following URL.

http://www.sofiasreplica.com/Handbag_Damier_Azur_Saleya_PM_--463.html

I've never done a purse cake before, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Now, I'm assuming cutting a sheet cake into three layers, stacking them, carving the stack into the shape of this purse, frosting it, then covering it with (peach? flesh? I can't quite figure the color in the photo) colored fondant will suffice for starters.

One problem is, the blue squares are not solid, but made of elongated dots or slashes. The thought of painting each one would be tedious, not to mention messy! Does anyone know of any tool, something we all have, or something I could purchase, that I could use to 'stamp' the patterned squares on?

Also, the handles of the purse have me perplexed. It doesn't seem as if fondant, shaped and dried to make the handles, would hold up. Any other ideas short of wrapping the fondant around something inedible to get it to stand up like the handles of that purse, without worrying about them collapsing?

If anyone has any ideas that could help, I'd be so grateful!!

Not sure about the deco on the purse, but as for the handles, you can use 1/2 MMF & 1/2 Gumpaste. It wll dry & hold up. I used this for a basket handle...in my photos. I believe that you can use all gumpaste & it will be harder.HTH

You can form the fondant/gumpaste around strong wire bent into the shape you need, with a little wire (2ins or so), sticking out at each end of the handle - then you can cover these bare wires with clear wrap and stick them into the cake. This will give you the most stable handles. For the pattern, I would just stamp it with dense sponge cut into a square shape and dipped (then blotted) in thinned gel colour. I don't see how you are going to do tiny dots/dashed without the painting - but someone else might! Good luck!

Having never made a purse cake I'm certainly not one to give directions. There is a tutorial on the Home page, how to make a purse cake. You might find your answers there. Good luck, it will be a fine looking cake.

Hi Lisa2k

I have made a couple of purse cakes.
My starting point for this shape would be loaf cakes - 2 different sizes, stacked & then carved.
for the colors, the lighter color looks beige to me; I think Wilton's Ivory would be a good match.
The pattern will not be easy. From a distance it just looks like a checkered pattern, close up, the 'tots' in the dark blue look like it might be woven. If you can get a checkered pattern cut on acetate (check craft shops, scrapbooking crafts, ) . Wrap the pattern around the purse. I would use a square tipped brush, or a small sponge brush... dip into your dark blue color, blot slightly on paper towel and then dab gently on every other square till you have the right look.
This will take time...
Hoping to see your final product.
ciao for now

Thanks for all the replies! I was thinking of just using a dense sponge, but I know she really wants those details, and as I said, hand painting every elongated dot in each square, would be a shaky hand's nightmare! lol

Also, what does MMF stand for? I know gum paste very well, but the abbrev MMF eludes me.

Lastly, you think the purse is ivory? It looks like there's some kind of very light pink of flesh in there. It's so hard to tell by the photo! I'd need an actual purse, but this person lives far away, and won't be here until her Birthday!

Thanks, katy. I use pettinice fondant, which tastes exactly like marshmallow, so I'm wondering if that's what it is, resulting in my not having to make it (too many other things worrying me now..lol)

You know, I was thinking..some cake supply place(s) must have different shaped stamps with dots, wouldn't you think? I wouldn't even know where to start when searching a site for one. Embossers? Stamps? LOL

Just looked at the pictures. I read about someone else using stamps on fondant. In the various pictures it has all of it has the dashes. Looks like an ivory base with beige horizontal (-) dashes and blue vertical (l) dashes.


Judi

I called a few, but they don't seem to have anything close to what I need. Mainly roses, leaves etc. That said, I'm now searching 'texturing fondant stamps', to see what comes up. I keep trying different terms..lol

this is one thread about stamping
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-41176-rubber.html+stamps

and this talks about making your own custom stamps....

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-52938-rubber.html+stamps

Judi

my two cents!

I think i'd cut dense sponge to maybe 1" square? use that dipped in a very pale blue watered down royal(i think using straight paste might drip).
i have a fondant spong that i use for smoothing.... that would be perfect for stamping for this.
test on spare fondant, of course.
you can probably find better pic of that purse on a differnt LV website or ebay. it looks ivory/blue on my laptop but i could be wrong.

When you are done don't forget to post a picture of the finished cake. Would love to see how you over came the stamp look. May all your decorating be easy.

The only problem with using just a plain, dense sponge, is that I lose the detail of the vertical dot/dashes. However, if I can't find anything to replicate that, I just may have to!

Anyway, I will definitely post a pic when it's finished. I have a month, so I have time to figure something out..hopefully!