Hello All,

I am making a 16in round cake and the customer wants a wide, thick and very large purple "50" on top of the cake. What should I use to do this. MY biggest concerns are:
1. That the topper will be too heavy and the cake won't be able to support it
2. That the topper will not be able to support itself and collasp.

Can someone please help. Also the order is last minute and it's due this Sat, Dec. 4!!!!

make it out of foam core, you dont have time to get it to dry thoroughly enough. and insert bamboo sticks or flat lolipop sticks on the back to go into the cake for support. Dont put it into place on the cake though until the cake is set up on site.

Thank you so much!!! What is the best way to color foam core?

The "50" needs to be purple!!

you could cover it in a thin layer of purple fondant, it will add abit of weight. will the 16" cake be 4" high?

Pastillage can be rolled out very thin and it's supposedly strong but brittle. Dries really fast (as you are working). There's a recipe on the second link. If everything else fails, you might be able to try that.

http://www.sugarmuseum.org/contemporary.html

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/69493-demo-intro-to-pastillage/

Well now I have changed the design of the cake. I order a syrofoam "50" from DinosRentosStudios to fit a 16in round. I was kind of afraid to cut the foam myself so that's why I ordered one...., but now I am going to be doing a 9in crown on top of a 13 in pillow shaped caked and that will be on top of a 16in square. I should be getting the "50" today so I can see what what kind of adjustments I will have to make in order for it to fit inside of the 9in crown. I talked to the company and they told me it is 13 1/2 inches wide

and your cake is due tomorrow???? I think you better start on some back up 50's. If you have tylose add a bunch to some fondant and cut out your 50, it may set up in time, now that you dont need it so big. Get a sheet of foam core, its easy to cut with an exacto knife and cut out another 50. I think the ones you ordered are going to be way too big for your top layer cake now. Let us know how it all comes together.

Depending on what the base of the topper is like, and the design of your cake, you can sometimes support a topper in the same way you would support a tier of cake. For instance, the santa in my pics was made of RKT. But it was still on the heavy side. So I placed it on a cardboard cake circle which was supported by bubble tea straws or dowels (don't recall which) just as if it were a cake tier.

If it doesn't have such a wide base, you can use skewers to affix it to the cake. I always try to use at least three skewers/straws/dowels, with the center one offset to form as close to a triangle as you can get. That will give it that three-legged-stool stability...even if it's something like the straight, long, inch-wide base of a pair of numbers that would require three skewers to be in a straight line, I try to put the two end ones toward one long side and the middle one toward the other side to give it some added stability. Hope that all makes sense.

OK so here my paln:

I will use a 9' cake for the crown. Since the "50" will b in the middle I'm not concern about the crown standing on it's on..the cake will be it's support. That will prob b 4in tall. For the "50" i have a plan a-d

a. Try to shave off some of the foam from the numbers I ordered.
b. Try to cut the numbers out myself with a foam board
c. What about if I fill a plastic number pan half full with melted candy..you think that would work???
0r..
d. Run in a corner and cry!!!

But once I finish the cake I will be sure to post a pic of it!!!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1885606.html

The cake was perfect for the occasion. It was for a 50th bday celebration for a well known pastor in my area and they were really doing it big . So now I understand why the client wanted the "50" so big...lol. I decided to go with the "50" I ordered from DinosRentosStudios and added the gold studs to it. Thanks for you guys help!!!