Hi everyone. I am going to be doing a wedding cake in March with the an initial on the top tier of the wedding cake and am trying to figure out how to get the neatest look for the initial. Would I use royal icing or maybe white chocolate to pipe the initial? Or something else I'm not even thinking about? Thanks in advance.

you can cut it out in gumpaste too!

I've never made gum paste. Would you suggest that over royal icing Helen? I'm not even sure how the two differ; just know that gum paste is used for those very beautiful sculpted flowers. I need to go research.

Hi, I just finished initials for a cake on February 11, 2006. I used aluminum sheets and Swarovski crystals. Very time consuming but I am estatic with the results.

Wow, bush...those are amazing!! You did an awesome job!

Thanks a lot!!! My sister (the bride) absolutely loves it!

Those are beautiful...looking forward to seeing the cake with these on it.

I always thought this was sweet, but I don't know if it would look right on top the cake.

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=channel181643&contentGroup=MSW&site=weddings

I love that design. Seems like it would be fairly easy to make and maybe add pearl dragees.

You could do a buttercream transfer. Pick a font on your computer and print it the size you need and use it for your pattern. You could really get fancy that way and make it any color. Perhaps you could edge it with edible pearls? Just a thought.

Whoops! I was taking it for granted that the initial would be flat on the top of the cake. You probably meant standing up. Sorry.

Bush1 are those expensive to make? My son is getting married and they talked about having monagram toppers that were similar to those. I've toyed with the idea of making some. Thanks in advance.

Hi, baby new year, the aluminum sheet was about $10.00. It is lightweight and can be cut with scissors. The crystals were purchased online from artbeads.com (very good site). They are crystal flatbacks that are applied with clear glue. I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $75.00 for the crystals. The entire design used about 1,000 crystals sizes 20, 16 and 9. Check out the website. The prices are extremely good compared to the prices at regular craft stores and it takes less than a week to receive the products. I would advise you to start early just in case you don't have enough beads so that you will have time to reorder. Most stores don't carry a lot of colors. Also, because my cake size ranges from 7" to 16", my letters were fairly large. You could go a little smaller depending on the size of the cake. I will post a pic next week so that you can see the finished product and maybe let your son see. Oh, by the way, to purchase this type of topper from the internet it would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $275.00. Hope this helps!!!!

bush1, your monogram looks great. Make sure you post a photo of the cake for us!

Thank you for all the information. The ones you made turned out so lovely. I will have to show my son and his girlfriend. Thanks again

The total cost was about $80.00-$85.00 with the metal, crystals and glue. I applied the crystals with Aleene's Glass & Bead Platinum Bond purchased at Michael's. If you look at the monograms on the site you posted, the total cost with only a few crystals would average about $150.00 for a smaller size. You could actually buy regular mirrors and carve the letters with a rotary cutter.

Bush1,
That's quite a price difference. Tell me, is there a certain type of rotary cutter made to use on aluminum or mirror. I've only seen those used for cutting paper.

You can check my photos I put monogrammed initials on the side of a top tier if that's what you're talking about, I used Wilton icing writing and stamped it on . Just an idea.

I purchased a regular rotary tool from sam's with all the attachments for about $40.00. You will not need one to cut aluminum sheets as it is very thin. For the glass, there is a special disk included in the tool kit that can be used for that purpose.

I piped some out of dark melting chocolate and used them as a topper. they turned out nicely. Though not as nice as the crystal and aluminum ones. WOW!
You can look in my pics to how mine turned out. I had to attach to them popsicle sticks to make them stand up.
Good luck

I find a font I like on the computer and print it out then roll out fondant and cut the letter out using the printed one as a pattern. It's much more sturdy than royal. I would also gumpaste would work well, I just didn't have any at the time. I finish it off with a dusting of luster dust an stick it on the cake.

Kathy, what do you use to cut the fondant?

Hi Ladies, I wanted to show you all the finished cake using the crystal monograms. I also posted this cake in the gallery. Please ignore the second tier of this cake. It was chocolate (recipe by Collette Peters) and absolutely delicious but seemed to weigh 100 lbs. I had to rearrange the bottom and second tier to fit the plateau so the second tier was basically a puzzle that I put together. I would like to thank everyone on this site for all of your wonderful ideas. It went a long way with this cake. I already have 3 potential clients. I better get some business cards made because my current business cards say "attorney at law"!!!!

Great Job! They look beautiful!

Wow Bush1!! Your monogram is beautiful!! May I ask where you get the aluminum sheets, I don't think you mentioned that when telling where you got your beads and glue, anyway beautiful job on the cake and monogram and thanks for all of your help!!

~luraleigh~

Hi Luraleigh, I actually purchased aluminum sheets from Michael's (sheets were large enough to accomodate 1 letter) and my dad gave me a sheet of aluminum. I know that one sheet costs about 20.00 at lowe's and home depot. You could probably make four sets from those sheets so it is very cost efficient to buy it from one of the home improvement stores.

bush1, where did you buy your plateau? I want one so bad but the prices are crazy!