I had a call today from a lady I know, asking me to make a cake for her Husband's Birthday. (He is in his 80s). She wants a sheet cake that will serve between 20-25 people. I said yes I could do it for her. Then ------ she said she would like the cake divided ito 3rds. She wants 1/3 with a putting green (for her husband) and 1/3 with a bulldozer, and last 1/3 with a horse (her 2 sons in their 40s and 50s also have birthdays coming up.) I can't imagine a cake sized for 20-25 people with 3 completely different themes!! The only thing I can come up with would be to make 3- 6" round cakes with a theme on each one, and place cakes on tiered stand? Any and all ideas are welcomed. What can I do that won't make the bulldozer and horse seem childish? I am definitely not a professional. I have only had Wilton level 1. I have done baking for people, but have only done 2 decorated cakes that I have sold. How do I get myself into these situations? lol. I'm desperate for help

Well, that's an interesting set of requests! But then again, that's the way it always seems!! Let me ask you this, do they have to be 3 "separate" themes or can they be combined into one single cake?? You could easily make the entire cake green with grass and stuff, put a golfer, bulldozer and horses?! Maybe?
If they have to be separate then the 3 smaller cakes might be a good idea but you are going to have limited space anyway on those?!

The request was for all 3 themes on 1 cake. I can't imagine it. It sounds much too busy for me. I wish I had a more creative mind! I will probably lay awake tonight thinking about what I can do.

Hi there!

Mamafrog has a great suggestion! make the entire cake green and 'sort of' divide it up, make a small round fondant cut out of a putting green and make a little golf ball to put next to the hole and then lay a putter/club next to that.
Then for the bulldozer, you could make a small trail of 'dirt' with crushed up oreo's (not the cream) and put the bulldozer on top of that (I am not sure how you would MAKE the dozer, you could do a flat fondant piece and just have it laying flat on the dirt trail or if you are really good, make a 3-d dozer.
Then for the horse, make a horse (either flat or 3-d) and put him next to a fence(if your horse is flat, then lay the fence over the horse.)

Here is a great picture of a cake that Grem did using 3 different themes:
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=favpics&cat=0&pos=5
If you can't see it, just go to Grem's profile and look at her pictures. There is a cake that she did with tennis players, skiers and horse/people. It is great and the cake didn't look that big, but I couldn't tell really well.
Ok, I take that back, it looks a little bigger than I thought at first. But you get the idea....

Hope this helped a little!
Good luck!!!
Leslie

I don't think it sounds like too much at all...you could do a 1/2 sheet cake and make it all green. Sugarcraft has very cute things http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/novelties/vehicles/vehicles.htm and http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/novelties/animals/animals.html. Look in my profile, I did a golf themed cake and used the little golfer guy. You could do this general cake and then just add the bulldozer and horses. Like Leslie said, add a "dirt" trail and then the horses in another area!

I would probably divide the cake diagonally... make the putting green with a grassy hill dividing it from the next section of the cake and then for the center of the cake behind the hill make a section that looks like sand with a bulldozer pushing the sand like the golf course is under construction and then for the third section put a fence (a plastic one or one made of chocolate covered pretzel sticks) with a horse hanging his head over the fence like the golf course is next to a pasture. I think it might be cute...if a little busy.

Thanks for the great suggestions. Now I can begin to picture how the 3 themes can work together! I will probably buy the little novelties to help decorate the cake. I would love to be able to do the fondant figures like on Grems 3 themed cake, but unfortunatly I'm not to that level. Since I'm new to this what do you think I should charge?
The cake needs to serve 20-25 people. I was thinking of making an 11x15. I will probably use a yellow cake mix and add pudding and almond extract.

Where are you located?? For a 1/2 sheet cake I would charge $40, but prices will vary between locations.

I live in Maryland. I'm not sure what the bakeries in the area are charging. It's been a long time since I have purchased a cake.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I had decided to incorporate your all of your suggestions and had in my mind exactly how I wanted the cake to look. I called the lady who had ordered the cake and gave her a price of $40 for an 11x15 with the 3 themes. She called me today and said she had called a local supermarket and was able to get it cheaper through them. I don't think people realize how much work is involved and think because you are making a cake in your home it should be cheaper. I have seen the quality of the decorating in the supermarket and it isn't good. I do baking and decorating for fun. I don't really need the stress of haggling over prices. My policy is going to be --- If they want a supermarket cake, they can have it!

EXACTLY! Let them go eat their frozen ugly Walmart cake!

You were right, look how much you have already put into planning the perfect cake. She won't get that from the supermarket.

Rose