Hi all,

I need to make a cake of a bottle of sweetener.



I am using three 3" high 6" rounds that I will torte, fill and stack. I am then going to carve the middle to be indented.

So, my question is, if I use cake boards and thick straws between each cake and then a dowel through the middle, will this be enough support?
Is the cake too narrow, i.e will it fall over?

It all works out in my head visually, I'm just nervous to do a tall, thin cake.

Help?
Thanks

I just did this with my topiary cake and decided to screw the center dowel into my cake drum which is about 3/4 inch thick. It worked beautifully. For such a tall cake as this one I'd definitely use dowels and cake board to give more support but then I'd do the center dowel and anchor it to a cake drum as well. Transporting this is a challenge too so keep that in mind!

Like Catlharper said you are best to be sure that dowel goes through bottom cake board and into your base board. I use 1/2" foam core from Michaels. Double up underneath to create more foam for that center dowel to secure into. I did this on my Chinese lantern cake which was a total of four 6 rounds, stack and dowel inside like you plan to do. Here's the link: http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1498719&sub=1498720

Hope this makes sense.. The height and width will be fine just be sure that whether you choose to screw or use your foam core that center dowel needs to go all the way through the bottom cake board and into what ever your base cake board is.

Hope this helps!

Thanks.
I LOVE your lantern!

I convinced the client to go with a 2-D version as they are traveling for a few hours with the cake, and I'm too nervous to send it off.

I need to carve the shape out of cake, keeping with about 30 servings - any size suggestions?

Here is a link to the sheet cake serving sizes:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1300481.html

In the galleries there is also a round cake serving chart. I'd probably make a figure 8 with two round cakes then get my shape from that. According to the serving charts if you go by wedding serving slices, two layer, 8" rounds will yield 28 servings each. There was a long thread about whether to go by party slices or wedding slices and in the end it was pretty much unanimous to go with wedding slices and that the party slice suggestion is for single layer cakes. So, if I were doing this cake I'd do two single layer (make 'em about 3" tall each) 8 inch rounds and that will give 30 servings. Or maybe do 9" since you'll be carving some away. But, for my single layers I try to make it so I can have at least one inch of cake on either side of the filling which I make a 1/2" thick and, again, I use foam core so that gives me another 1/2" and really adds to my decorating real estate. This will me more than enough for your 30 servings. It was a real effort for me to adjust to wedding serving portions because I didn't want to scale back in the design but then I realized how much it was COSTING me not to and how more I could add to my profit margin by making the adjustment.

Anyway...it's a start for you to think about! Send me a PM when you've posted the pic!!!

I was thinking of using a 10" square, cutting it in half and stacking it (so 5" x 10" rectangle) and then carving it. It's 40 servings, but I'm okay with that.

Do you think the figure 8 is an easier start, will the dent in the middle not be too big? Also, 2 x 3" high 8" cakes is about 48 servings.

Thanks for the help

Sounds like you've got the right idea.

One thing that might help carve is a tip I learned from a Mike Mc Carey DVD. If you can print out the picture of the bottle and enlarge it to the size you need then you can just lay it over the top of your cake as a template and carve it quickly and easily.

Here is a pic I finally uploaded

Thanks for the help, they loved it.

Vanilla cake with cookies and cream filling. Frosted in red buttercream with fondant details. Based on a 10" square.