Hi can anyone help me please? I need to carve a cake into the shape of a fish and it to be realistic too. can anyone give me any pointers on the carving for this as I want it to look "rounded"/3D. Is it best to create this cake off the board and move it? I'm worried that once I ice it I won't have enough time to create scales and dust it before it dries.

Any help would be greatly appreciated before I get sleepless nights

i saw an episode of Charm City Cakes where they produced a fish....looked awesome. They designed and carved the fish so it was laying on its side, covered with fondant and used a piece of foil type fabric with holes all punched out of it and pressed onto the fondant to create the scales- just one large sheet so easy! Then air brushed and glazed it. Maybe check it out online...its the fish lying next to the tackle box! Hope this helps

I used the recipe for "Durable cake for 3d and wedding cakes" when I made the fish cake in my photos. It is a great cake for carving. I just did it all right on the cake board. I baked 2 - 9 x13 layers and filled them, then just started gradually shaping it. I crumb coated and then covered it with fondant. I used a piping tip to indent the fondant to look like scales. I made the fins separately with gumpaste prior to baking day so they would be dry. I didn't have an airbrush at the time, so just used my dusts to color it and then pearled it at the end to give it a shiny look.

It's not the best looking "fish" cake on here, but my son-in-law loved it.

Recipe...
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/durable-cake-for-3d-and-wedding-cakes

My fish pic...
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1801873/bass-cake-for-my-soon-to-be-son-in-law

Hope this helps...

Thank you both so much for this, this is so helpful. I don't have an airbrush either so relying on dusts. I guess I need to work pretty quick for it to stay on the fish once i've indented the scales. Love the fish cake!

I really appreciate the replies thank you