I have recently found this website and immediately joined due to all the wonderful information I have found. I am so impressed with the wealth of knowledge and the talent I have seen so far. I immediately became an addict, albeit a silent one. I haven't posted anything yet (I'm a little bashful), including any pictures of my work (mostly because I'm not sure how it would look compared to some I've seen here!)

I have been decorating cakes as a hobby for about twelve years now. I have strictly used buttercream icing and have never tried fondant at all. (I have been told that the fondant doesn't really taste good.) I took Course I and II from Wilton at the beginning, and I've been hooked ever since. I basically make cakes for family and friends and have never specifically made a cake for money (usually just ask for money for supplies.)

In about three weeks, I'm going to make a cake for a band banquet for the high school where my husband is the band director. The theme is jazz, and the decorations will be mostly in black and white. The invitation shows a silhouette of a city skyline. I would love to duplicate that affect for the cake, so I started looking for similar pictures on the internet.

I found the perfect model for what I want to do, but I can't figure out how it was done. (I am afraid to post the picture here since I can't credit the creator, so I'll do my best to describe it.) The cake is a two tiered stacked cake. The lower tier has a silhouette of a skyline in black. The upper tier has small instrument silhouettes randomly attached also in black. These almost look like stickers because they are so thin and detailed! Could these be cut from fondant and applied to the cake, and if so, how could they be so intricate? How would they be cut?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to cake central. Fondant can be rolled very thin and then cut out. For an intricate pattern, you may want to make a paper template.

Is it possible that these were stencils and not fondant? Can the edible art be trimmed into small objects?

Yes it could. they might be a bit transparent.

If you post a link to the cake, someone might be able to give you a better idea of what was used.

Sorry I didn't think of doing that before.

Here's the site:

http://www.bakemeacake.net/birthdaycake02.html

I'm wondering if they placed white fondant over black and then cutout the white. I can also see how it could be done with a cutout chocolate transfer.

[quote] I'm wondering if they placed white fondant over black and then cutout the white. I can also see how it could be done with a cutout chocolate transfer. [quote]

I was thinking the same thing. But, what about cutting that thin fondant in black and maybe carefully roll it on the white as if you are mending it together? Would that distort the image though?...hmmmm I think I like the last idea better! but would THAT come apart where you cut it at..Or how could you keep them together??

(I don't think I was any help! )

those palm trees are definitely not cut out from fondant.
IMO the way to do this cake is to make a paper template for the border of the sky line, and small ones for the instruments. Place them on top of fondant and dust slightly with cocoa powder. Fill with thinned black paint. Use a fine brush for the borders

For the chocolate: I just bought some of those heavy cellophane-type transfer strips for chocolate. What I would do is: print out the pattern on paper (slightly longer than it needs to be). Tape cellophane strip over pattern and cut it out with exacto knife to length needed to circumvent cake. Lay cutout strip on flat surface. Coat with chocolate. When set enough to move, lift and lay out on full, uncut transfer strip. When set enought to place on cake lift and move both sheets together so full strip will support thin cutout areas.

I did a similar idea (sillouettes, anyway) just recently. I printed out the pictures I wanted on regular paper, then I put overhead transparency on top of it. I melted chocolate-flavored candy melts and with a very small tip outlined the figures, then filled them in, let them set, then went back over it for strength. Once they were set, then they just easily came off the transparency, and I used icing to stick them on.

I did have trouble getting the chocolate to a very black color, so I ended up painting them black with black candy coloring. If you click on my photos, it's the western cake with little cowboys. (Got that idea on CC!)

TxAgGirl, Did you have any trouble forming the candy melts to the surface of the cake, since the cake is a curved surface and the trasnparency surface was flat? Or, did you actually let them dry on a curved surface?

paolacaracas, What do you use to paint the surface, thinned color? Also, can you paint buttercream as well, or only fondant?

Thank you all for the tips so far!

[quote

paolacaracas, What do you use to paint the surface, thinned color? Also, can you paint buttercream as well, or only fondant?
[/quote]
You can use thinned color or airbrush color used with a paint brush.
I only do fondant. Im sorry I can't aswer about buttercream