looked at a picture of a cake and have absolutely no idea how it was done....until now! Could someone help me, how was this cake made???

I've spent the past couple of days looking up that exact thing! What I have gleamed from my research is that it is strips of fondant/gumpaste that are then rolled on one side with a large ball tool to flatten and ruffle the edge. Then the strips are applied, top down, to the sides of the cake. Some people use a Garrett frill cutter rather than cutting strips. The cake I am planning is all one color, but if you are grading the color like your photo, some suggest airbrushing but most say you just use gradually darker fondant as you make your way down the cake.

There are some videos around, I'll see if I can backtrack and I'll post links. HTH!

Such a pretty cake - looks so fragile.

Bluehue

that's beautiful... and fragile I would imagine!

I did a tutorial on this design

http://www.keeponcaking.com/2011/11/pink-ruffle-cake/

I used a pasta roller to get the thin strips. It's not hard but it can be time consuming.

Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial..that's about what I had figured out but it was great to see it written out like that!

Your cake is beautiful, I wish I would get to attend a party like yours! Sure sounds like a great reason for a party.

Thanks we had a lot of fun celebrating girl time!