ok i need help! i have my first potential wedding cake to do and they sent me a pic and there is a part that i can't figure out. on the middle tier, what is that effect? that kinda smeared thing, what is it? oh and the shells look real to me and while going to the dollar store and buying some shells to stick on sounds nice and easy, i am kinda skeeved out by putting shells on something people would eat. i know i can make them out of chocolate so any advice on that wold be appreciated too. TIA

I don't know about you, but that middle tier looks a lot like my crusting bc before I Melvira it....

It's hard to see, but could it be paper-thin fondant imitating flat-leaved seaweed?
Candy melts in a mold work very well for shells. There are several instruction posts around here somewhere on them.

This looks like a fondant covered cake, and the middle layer is "spackled" with some royal icing - or at least that is what is seems to be to me.

Make the chocoalte seashells - they are easy!

deb

I mean it just looks like buttercream or royal smeared over the fondant covering. I don't know what it's supposed to be but it's really working with that whole effect of the cake. Maybe it's supposed to represent random beaches they have know and loved.

To me it looks like spackled royal icing with fondant underneath.

Hi Sandra80 -

Check out a cake done by CakeDiane. She just posted a very similar cake. It is beautiful. Maybe she can help with the shells!

Here is the link:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1237248.html

Thanks and Good Luck!

Jeanene

to me, it looks like it's spackled on to look like fan coral or something. You could probably get a more realistic effect for that if you did brushed embroidery for that part. JMHO

Definitely make the chocolate shells.

Pretty cake!

It looks to me like a spackling effect to look like sand.

The second tier does looked spackled on top of fondant but it looks to me like they might have pressed something sandy looking to it. Maybe cracker crumbs, brown sugar or turbino (raw sugar-looks brown). It would create a sandy look! Just taking a guess.

i would try to talk her out of it, i think it ruins the cake personally..but thats just me. i like the clean-ness of the other two tiers and the swiss dots would of made it even nicer on all three. jmho.

The 'smeared' part on the second tier looks like it matches whatever was used for 'sand' on the top tier, so I'm guessing it's just like what cocobean suggested (first thing I thought). Maybe it just didn't show up in the photo.

As for the shells, you can either use chocolate, as many suggested, or you can use gp or fondant. Also, I've read (here on CC) where people have used real shells after boiling them in a bleach solution or boiling them after soaking them in a bleach solution (well-diluted, of course). Personally, I'd rather have chocolate or fondant.

I think royal icing too. But to be honest, I think it would look better without it.

I think royal icing too. But to be honest, I think it would look better without it.

When I did a cake for my daughter 3 years ago, it was a luau. I wanted the seashells too so I went looking at Walmart. If you go to the candy section they have a box of white and milk chocolate swirled seashells. If you can't make them, these are really nice and they taste great too.

i think if it were me and it were a summer wedding (in or out) i'd try to use the molds and make the shells out of gp or fondant or a mix thereof. do you really want melty chocolate shells on a wedding cake? i love chocolate, but melty chocolate is not a pretty look.

thanks guys, you confirmed what i thought it was but i just wanted to make sure. i like the way that smeared thing looks but i'm gonna have to practice it once or twice first. this is a seriously last minute cake (wedding is 7/21) and i don't have time to experiment too much, i might just do the dots and sprinkle some "sand" around it. now you have me worried about the chocolate melting though. i know it's a backyard wedding so what do you guys think, switch to gumpaste or fondant? anybody do chocolate shells on a cake that would be outside in july in our lovely humid NJ weather?