LMAO.. whippersnapper.. I'm not that young anymore at 32.
I haven't done over piping since I decided to try my hand at the wilton courses at home.. no thanks. I can do it.. I just prefer not to. My cake zen is not squeezing a piping bag for hours on end. I'd rather be carving something up. 
I've done some stringwork here at home with leftover royal.. it is sooooo pretty.. but I don't think I could ever do a whole cake.
Mencked.. thanks.. but seriously, see the drop ropes or whatever? Horrible. LOL.
I'm trying to figure out how much I can hide with more piping. LOL
thank you cakedout, i really didnt get an answer until you... thank you for helping us newbies out...
That's ok Debi. JKalman is an old fart too!
*ducks and runs*
remember Debi, you are only as old as the people you surround yourself with!!!!
at 40+ i'm still learning from some too. JK to be at 30+ again.... 
seriously though, i have wanted to at least try this Lambeth, i have a show in January, i might do one for a show cake. still undecided if it will be good enough to share. 
donna
children! I'm surrounded by children!
Oh MY! How old are we? LOL My son (birthday today) is older than jkalman! YIKES!
PLUS! I'm one of those 70's brides who had the "old fashioned" cakes! Not sooo much overpiping...but, most of it was royal icing instead of buttercream. Fondant? Not heard of in my little hamlet way back then.
Flowergirl: NICE JOB! At LEAST 15 a serving, if you can get it!
Beth in KY
Old Fart huh?? *throws some Bettercream at ya*
children! I'm surrounded by children!
Dang, I may be the oldest person on here. I've got socks older than some of these gals.
Me AND Thee KY Sister! LOL The good thing is.....I think us Kentucky Gals just get BETTER with age....don't you? LOL
Beth in Madisonville
Lard????
Gimme a break! I guess they are really trying to play up their buttercream use with the whole fondant schpeal, but lard???
I've never seen a cake recipe that called for lard.. and I've seen MANY.
My favorite white cake recipe uses lard. I only make this recipe for my family because other people are grossed out at the thoughts of it. It has a real compact texture and is very moist. We love it.
WHITE CAKE
oven temp 375°F
4 egg whites
Beat until stiff; fold in
1/2 cup sugar. Set aside.
3/4 cup lard ( I know this sounds crazy but it is really good)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 cup water
1 3/4 tsp, vanilla
Cream lard, water, sugar, and salt. Sift flour, measure, add baking powder
and sift again. Add flour alternately with the water. Add vanilla to cramed mixture.
Carefully fold egg whites into batter.
Bake in 2 8-inch layer pans in 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
Don't get me wrong.. I'm all for lard.. can't make a good biscuit without it. I may just have to try that cake. I'm not afraid of eating pork (or whatever animal your lard is made of) fat.. pork fat is your friend..
I don't care about lard either, but there is a connotation to that.
I just have a problem with this company declaring something to be the industry standard, when it's not.
FlowerGirlMN
I understand what you are saying, and I agree. I only posted my recipe because I had it and use it.
I have never heard of anyone else using lard in their recipes and I certainly have never heard of a bakery using it. I would think of all the people who try not to consume animal fat, their customers would not approve. I find their claim hard to believe.
FlowerGirl, your cake looks great! You are right, the more you practice the better you get. I took that picture of the cake from the san diego cake show (I can't remember who did it but I can find out). I have a pic of Lambeth work in my gallery. I have done these on real cake (used a cake mix ) and it only took a day (about 4 hours). Don't be fooled by using buttercream for this overpiping, Lambeth did too! He just didn't make the real elaborate cakes with it, but he did do it.
Not only do I sell my Lambeth cakes ($15 a slice and up), but I teach it too, and proud of it! (I have a DVD coming out soon I hope). But I also code in COBOL and am proud of that too. That also tells you how old I am Up there with the 50's gals. I believe ShirleyW also has quite a few Lambeth cakes in her gallery.
BTW, the key to not getting your hand too tired is to work with a small bag when using tip 5 or smaller, and keep the bag no more than half full!! The more icing in the bag, the more tired your hand gets because it has to work harder to squeeze out the icing. 
Ok seriously... how on earth do you guys do that weird tube thing??
Hi FlowerGirlMN
I love, love, love Lambeth, but would never do one for sale. Too time consuming! Here is one I did as a "Present" and had to pipe like mad for a solid day to complete it before the cake became stale as it was a sponge cake.
hey tiptop.. I remember that cake... gorgeous work! Lambeth is indeed a true art; but I would never do that much work on a cake to be eaten. So much beauty should be reserved for the eyes only.... Who said that, anyway?
BTW, the key to not getting your hand too tired is to work with a small bag when using tip 5 or smaller, and keep the bag no more than half full!! The more icing in the bag, the more tired your hand gets because it has to work harder to squeeze out the icing.
Why has this never occured to me? It makes so much sense. I'll have to start doing that. The hay bale cake in my pictures will be the death of my right wrist one day. If only I had known then...
The 'tube' is just a bunch (like about 60 for me) of tip 5 or tip 4 rings made from royal icing. I let them dry, then piped tip 199 shells around the top, inserted the rings in carefully (hence the extras for breakage), inserted the flower and leaves and then connected them with tip 2 strings, only about 8 on each ring. Lambeth himself did about 24.
I really love to do these cakes, but I'm not near as good at it has my original teacher or some of the other's I've seen do them, they really do improve your skills so I keep practicing
Just an FYI-My tricks for drop stringwork:
for piping drop strings from left to right-'attach' string to starting point, then gently squeeze while pulling your tip AWAY from the cake and slowly to the right.
*keep the tip level while moving from left to right-do NOT dip down! Let the icing drop by itself.
Somewhere around the middle of the string I begin to release pressure to control the length of the string and bring to the ending point: touch the end point to attach the string.
During classes, I sometimes have my students practice dropping strings from their finger. 
HTH
Flowergirl, your cake is beautiful. You obviously do have talent with buttercream and not just fondant. If it's just being said to be hurtful, forget it. There are people in this world that just aren't worth your aggravation. If someone says something to me that is just honest observation and it would help me in some way, I listen, though.
That being said, WOW. The cakes I've seen on here are gorgeous. I can't imagine how time-consuming that must be. I hope one day to learn that method. I like minimalist cakes, but deep down in my soul I love a good 'over-the-top' look, victorian look. I can't help it. I was an '80's baby and we were over the top: big hair, big fun!
I'm in the over 40 club. (Obviously.)
Lisa
They're lovely cakes, but who in this economy is going to pay for that kind of additional labor for food?
If I honestly had to figure that no one would pay any extra over the minimum in this economy, realistically.. I'd close the business.
There are plenty of grocery stores that cater to those people! Sure, not everyone is going to go for something $10-15 /serving, but people do every day, all over the country!
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