Hi Everyone

Been quite a while since i have posted on the forum

Life gets in the way sometimes.

Anyway i have a Beer Barrel cake coming up and was wanting to ask for some advice.

I am thinking of doing 4x 12inch rounds, with ganache in between the layers.

Would this give me some height? I am after a tallish barrel not a stumpy one IYKWIM?

TIA for the advice, also would adding brown colouring to the fondant and not kneding it in thoroughly give me the wood grain effect with some scoring?

Havent done this type of cake before and i am a little nervous

If you are talking four one layer 12" cakes you will have stumpy mcStumpkykins.

If you have four tiers that are 4 inches tall you will have a 16 inch tall block of cake that will not be particularly barrel shaped.

Average barrel is 2.5 tall and 1.5 wide at the widest point. So take that times 7, you would have a cake 17.5 inches tall and 9.5 inches wide. So you'd want four 9-inch tiers where three tiers are 4.5 inches tall & One is 4 inches tall.

If you want a barell cake that is 12 inches around at the widest point you would want it to be 18-20 inches tall.

If all my math is correct. And I mean you can certainly fudge those figures but that's just a barrel full of for instance. You could go a ratio of 1 unit wide to either 1 & 1/3 to 1 & 1/6 tall to get an average barrel shape.

>>>You could use 1 wide to 1.5 tall for an easy ratio.

So how many servings you want?

On the wood grain--I would get the fondant a light brown and paint the food color on, use a fork or find something cool to make the wood grain effect. I would mix the food color with alcohol so it has a chance to dry. It might remain a bit tacky.

Also important is to build a nice piece of foam into the underneath of your board. This way you can sink those dowel into pay dirt --where your beer barrel won't go off on a binge on yah

K8memphis

Thankyou for your mathematics skills

Servings, doesnt matter, its a 21st and not everyone will be eating cake, 200 approx guests and most will be on a liquid diet IYKWIM.

I will take your maths skills and hash it out on paper, wish i caould just do a "normal" cake

I found a Utube Vid on the wood grain last night, they didnt colour first but i think your suggestion is better to colour it first, makes more sense

Thankyou for your help

Ummmm.....what does IYKWIM mean?

I did a beer barrel cake recently and did exactly as you said. I tinted the fondant with color, leaving it a bit swirled and then painted with gel color mixed with vodka. After it was complete, I hit it with the steamer which brought the grain out even more.

Thank you, Cake Buddy--hope it works out great for you!!!

Means>>if you know what I mean

I think i may have found an easier way, the Chef at work has given me a half barrel size bowl, going to have a crack at doing 2 halves and see what i get

As a back up i have also been given a Champagne bucket, he told me it should be fine in the oven, so if worst comes to worst i can do a champagne bucket instead. The Chef is also bringing me in a range of cake tins in rounds so i can work it out

Gotta love where i work ( sometimes)

If any Aussies are reading this, has anyone made icecubes? As we dont have Isomalt here ????????

I think i may have found an easier way, the Chef at work has given me a half barrel size bowl, going to have a crack at doing 2 halves and see what i get

As a back up i have also been given a Champagne bucket, he told me it should be fine in the oven, so if worst comes to worst i can do a champagne bucket instead. The Chef is also bringing me in a range of cake tins in rounds so i can work it out

Gotta love where i work ( sometimes)

If any Aussies are reading this, has anyone made icecubes? As we dont have Isomalt here ????????

Well the cake was a HUGE hit, pulled my hair out quite a few times too

I went against what i felt and what you ladies advised ( due to work not coming through with the tins Grrrrrrrrr ) and muddled my way through, thank goodness my husband does alot of wood carving is all i can say

Thankyou to all who replied and gave their advice , its much appreciated !!

Hope you like it

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1910986

Thanks for posting a picture, it looks Fantastic!!!

For some reason i cannot comment on the photo , a couple of ladies asked for advice on colour etc and help with a barrel.

Keep getting a Fatal Error msg?????????????????

http://bakingpleasures.com.au/ss/isomalt

they sell isomalt and ship anywhere in OZ

Love the cake, can you tell me how did you put it all together.  I see you put ganache in between each layer, did you then cover in butter cream and then still fondant on individually in planks or as one?  Also did you use any supports to keep it together?

Great job nice cake!!