Hi, I am an absolute amateur when it comes to cake decorating......BUT I really want to make my son's first birthday cake, and I wanted to do some stacking blocks.......does anyone have any suggestions for doing this, or have you done it before?

Also, please be honest......do you think this is too big of an undertaking for my first time? or if I practice (I have 2 weeks) do you think I can pull it off? I'm usually pretty good w/recipes and following instructions, and I'm creative.......

Any ideas would be helpful! Thanks!

Here's a link to a picture of what I want to do (similar at least):

http://www.trifleschocolate.com/largepicpages2/babyblock.htm

absolutely doable! It's just 3 different square pans about 2-3" apart, doweled, and stacked just like a wedding cake. There's an article that should help with how to do that.

Here's the link: http://www.cakecentral.com/article49-Building-The-Cake-Combination-Pillar--Stacked-Construction.html

the picture is an excellent one to work from. perfectly doable, and very elegant in its simplicity. the shapes are nicely cut out of fondant, and a nice, big round tip is used for the borders. what you'll want to do is to put the two cakes that you're stacking on top of the bottom one each on their own board, cut to the size of each respective cake (the bottom cake should be on a board that is larger than itself of course, so you can pick it up without getting your fingers in it). ice and decorate each cake, except for the bottom borders and perhaps the vertical side borders of the middle and top cakes). after icing the bottom cake, dowel it where the middle cake will sit with plastic drinking straws (measure them to the top of the cake, cut them with scissors, and then push them in vertically...these will provide extra support for the middle cake, distributing its weight, so it doesn't settle and sink into the cake below it.) at this point, place the the middle cake on, and pipe the bottom border, covering the board so that the joint between the cakes is seamless. repeat steps for the top cake.

if you're having trouble picking up the cakes that are on boards cut to their size, push the cake by touching the side of the board gently, and slide it slightly over the side of your table, and then slide your hands underneath it to pick it up.

i also really like the writing on the cake in your example; my cake writing is kind of like that, with those heavy, round/teardrop "serifs".

Thank you both so much for your replies! I am going to do a 'trial' this weekend and see how it goes. I will take pics to let you see how it comes out

I'm wondering if the faux fondant will work as well?

I haven't worked with faux fondant before...my favorite is MMF (marshmallow fondant). It's cheap, easy to make & tastes great, too! If you haven't ever used fondant before, I would suggest MMF.

Forgot to say...
You can find the recipe for MMF here on this site. Here's a link: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1949-Marshmallow-Fondant-MMF.html
Hope that helps!

thank you! I"m going to try it!

Good Luck!!! That cake is adorable!!! I don't know about using drinking straws to support it, though. You see, the longer the straws are, the more likely they are to buckle. I can't tell how big each block is but it looks like taller than the average layer. Maybe it would be better to use dowels or the plastic tube supports.

What size are the cakes?