Friends asked me to make a birthday cake. I agreed. It's my first carved cake so I decided to do a test run. Thank goodness!
It's a wine bottle cake. So far,the gum paste label doesn't fit, the fondant shows lines where the layers underneath meet, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get the fondant to fit perfectly over the bottom of the cake (the bottom of the bottle). I painted the whole thing with edible varnish, which doesn't seem to be drying.

The cake is due Friday, and all this disaster stuff happened on the test cake, but I'll have to do some setious brainstorming to figure out how to pull this off. I haven't even started the fondant wine bottle box yet.

I'm just a hobbyist, but I admire all of you who deal with this pressure for a living. I'm exhausted and am going to clean up and make the kids' lunches and go to bed.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Vent all you want...I had a melt down today after my cake disaster
I admire you for trying this type of cake. Don't give up!
As you said there are lots of tremendous decorators on here and I bet someone will come give you some pointers.
chin up!!

for the lines under the fondant, are you crumb coating with buttercream first? also, I make my wine bottle out of a chocolate mold then I "paint" it with copper luster dust to get a bottle shine look. Dont give up...we see our flaws, customers dont.

I'm assuming the bottle is laying down. I agree that you need a good layer of buttercream under your fondant. As far as covering the bottom, sometimes it is helpful to cut your fondant when you have a pleat where you shouldn't and then smooth the seams together with a little bit of shortening. I also use a 2 or 3 tip to kind of dimple the bottom when I make bottles I even imprint the letters "USA" or something like that on there. That would draw the viewers attention more than a barely noticeable seam in your fondant. Next, I would make a fondant label and cut it down to size, decorate it and then apply it to the bottle. I use edible markers for a lot of applications like this. I don't know what edible varnish is supposed to accomplish but if you are looking for a shine on your fondant, you can steam it for a glossier effect. I think you've made great progress in attempting this cake and I know that you will be able to pull it off.

Hi,
I did crumb coat with buttercream first, but only once I put the fondant on could I see all the imperfections (some of which may have been hidden by the label, had it fit). The bottle is lying down.

I will try cutting and making small seams at the bottom of the bottle.

The varnish did end up drying nicely - I must say that the finish is very glass-like!

I will post pics of the final product once it's done on Friday. Sometimes I wonder how people here on CC produce such flawless work. I am in awe.

Thank you for all your kind words.