Need to make a realistic pirate chest cake for a very special September birthday. How can I make the wood look realistic? Thought about trying to cover floor planks (new) with plastic wrap and pressing fondant. Think that would work? And I have never painted a cake. Any suggestions?

I have seen people use those paint tools to make wood grain just like you would get at Lowes or Home Depot from the home paint section.

Hi
I have one of carol deacon's books where she just scores irregular lines on fondant then paints with watered down brown food colouring. The other method she shows is to knead and colour the way you would to make marbled fondant - personally i think the first idea is more realistic.
HTH

I did something similar to what marksmum said. I iced the cake in cocoa buttercream and then mixed brown luster dust with lemon extract and painted the grain lines with a small lightweight brush.

I help my daughterand we always use MMF and brown americolor - we knead it to a marbleized finish and then roll it out - it looks real. If you would like to see some of her cakes, go to sweettreats.myphotoalbum.com\\

Duplicate post, please also see:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-599399-.html

HTH

Hello the way I do my wood effect is to colour some sugarpaste [ fondant ] chestnut brown, cover cake. Mark the paste with a ruler to get even spaced planks. Use either a craft knife or dresden tool to make random cuts on the paste. When dry paint with a mixture of brown paste colour and clear spirit ie. gin, vodka. It doesn't matter if the painting is uneven after all wood is different colours isn't it.
Hope this helps


Sue