I might be a fool, but can it be done?

I'm definitely not an expert at all things cake decorating, but I recently made a jack-o-lantern cake using 2 bundt cakes. After I covered the cake in fondant (and before I made a ridges) it looked like a big ball. It wasn't a perfect round shape, but if you plan to add decorations to the tops of each layer like your picture it would hide that. I had to drive the cake 2 hours to a family birthday party so I bought the thickest dowel rod I could find, which was still too thin, had my husband cut it to the size I needed, then wrapped it in fondant so it was a snug fit. I'm not saying its the best and greatest way of doing it, but it worked for me.

You don't have to carve this cake.

You can use shallow mixing bowls of different sizes to bake the cakes in two sections per tier, plus the one round that you already figured out.

But you need to do some homework here.  Your SIL is asking for a very intricate and labour intensive cake.  Get some price quotes so that you know how much this would cost her to order from a local bakery.

Then try to negotiate a fair price for all your time.

I thoroughly enjoyed your explanation, dinmauk! Thanks for taking the time to write it. Actually, charging per portion has less to do with the number of servings you will really be getting from the cake and more to do with how to charge for the size cake you're making. In fact, when most people do sculpted cakes, they charge for the number of servings you get from the cake before you cut it down to size, because you actually had to make all that cake in order to get what you finally end up with. I agree with BakingIrene - I'm an inveterate user of mixing bowls (glass or aluminum) to bake in when I need a strange shape, and if you use them, you won't have the ridge problem. The nice thing about mixing bowls is that they are slightly flat on the bottom, so even if the tiers are ball-shaped, you have a stable base to set them on. This is a really lovely cake. I hope it comes out just like you want it to! By the way, I love the quote in your signature - so true!

Added later: Here in Mexico, cake decorators often charge by weight, but not always by the weight of the final cake. When you say you need a kilo of cake what you're actually asking for most of the time is cake made with a kilo of flour.

If you could travel with separate tiers and stack them when you get there, it would probably be easier all around. I wouldn't freeze them after they're ganached, because the condensation that forms as they thaw can be a problem. My experienced is that once a cake is ganached, or frosted or covered with fondant, it is sealed and it stays fresh and moist for three or four days, at least. And that's in the hot, humid climate I live in. Not sure what the weather's like in Nigeria. Just make sure everything is stabilized for traveling and you should be okay. Anti skid material, if you can get your hands on it, can be a lifesaver. Best of luck. I'd love to see a photo of your finished cake.

Oh, lord, and I complain when the thermometer gets above 30 (yes, Celsius - don't get all freaked out all you people who live where there's snow - that's just below 90°F).

Quote:

Originally Posted by dinmauk2 

I was asking myself how and where i would get a 14inch bundt pan.

Yah I was wondering that too...there is a local factory here that makes angel food pans and their largest is 12". It's HUGE.

My local kitchen place sells stainless steel bowls from India, and they are reasonably priced and durable.  I like them on the shallow side so they can be used for baking as well as mixing.

I wasn't thinking of a per serving price but rather of a total amount that would be fair for your location.