Hello fellow artists! I have an order for the weekend for a first birthday smash cake for a photography session and I would like to hit it out of the park because the customer is the photographer. I believe if I can do great with this one, I can expect a ton of business from her in the future! I am relatively new to the business side of cake making and just wanted to post the picture here and see what the great artists' before me's approach to this cake would be? and wondered if there are any tutorials on this ruffle technique so I can SEE it done. I have a game plan in my head but it seems every time I have one, there's someone who shows me how I am making it complicated on myself. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Also, this is the only picture that was sent so I can't really see the top of the cake so any ideas on what to do to the top would be great! Or maybe it would look better in photos just smooth?

I think it's piped with a star tip in a kind of backwards forwards motion, for the top, I would do the same kind of thing but spiralling in towards the centre of the cake. ( does that make sense??). Good luck!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHYX0qXDVy0&feature=player_detailpage

thank both of you for your input and reply! :)