I received an inquiry for a wedding cake like this - http://pinterest.com/pin/220324606743584415/ I have a few questions if anyone is so inclined to give me a hand... :)

1) I'm a little iffy on creating the knotty wood look... I've done it before w/ a gumpaste plaque... but that was a 4X6 rectangle... this is a whole cake...I'm thinking score it and paint in the knots?? would it be better to airbrush this? I don't have one yet, but am getting one at the end of the month and this is a cake for February so I'll have plenty of time to practice...

2) How to go about creating the staggered wood slat look on the middle tier. The top and bottom seem to be one large piece of fondant wrapped around w/ the different slat look shown by simply scoring the fondant every so often. The middle tier it's actually staggered... I'm thinking - cover the sides and then every so often attached a rectangle piece of fondant on top of the main layer? does that sound right?

3) Her colors are watermelon pink and royal blue and she wants them incorporated obviously... she suggested in the flowers, I'm thinking of suggesting replacing the green bands around the barrels with royal blue and doing the flowers in her watermelon pink color... thoughts?

Thank you so much :)

AWhy not just do individual boards? I think I would cut "slats" after rolling and texturing the fondant. Maybe sponging them and wiping to get some color into the texture. Then airbrushing the fine details after putting the "boards" on individually.

But I think your way would work well too.

I just want to say I'm jealous. I'd love to do a wedding cake like that .

I can really only weigh in on question 3...I find that hydrangeas and little filler flowers like forget-me-nots are a good way to bring in blues in a natural way.

I did individual planks on the bucket part of a Fantasia bday cake. I would cover in a tan/brown layer of fondant and attach individual planks on top of that. I carved the wood grain with pick tool and painted them with food coloring /vodka, but I don't have an airbrush so that might be a better option. Just go over the knotty parts a second time to get the darker areas. The individual planks were really easy to do, it might be harder to handle a much wider piece. 

It's a gorgeous cake!!

AI'm no match for this cake artist but I did have a customer give me the same pic for a bridal shower cake. This is what I did. http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2986532/bushel-baskets-of-hydrangeas-cupcakes-to-match-done-in-buttercream/u/880904/flat/1/ She wanted hydrangea instead of the roses and the shower colors were navy and burlap. I used buttercream on the cake and tinted it to match the wood slats and then made the wood slats from fondant. I used an impression mat for the wood grain and then hand painted them. Hope this helps.

Thank you so much!! The more I think about it I think individual planks is the way to go... I don't have to worry about them stretching while putting them on as much as I do if it's a whole piece wrapped around.

I'm super excited about this cake. I'm working up my quote right now and really hoping to get this opportunity I think it's a unique cake and would be a lot of fun to do. :)
 

Awesome cake! I would do like Sixinarow says - cover with a layer of fondant first, then add the rectangles to make the slats. You can let them set up some before adding them so they are not so floppy and you can get them on straight. You could use an airbrush but I would be inclined to use a wide paintbrush to help get the wood grain effect from the bristles. And I wouldn't worry about making "knots" too much, there's none on the original cake. Don't forget to include all those Oreo crumbs on top of the tiers and on the base in your quote 

AThank you! I did include the Oreos... Anyone have any guesses in what the flowers all are? Roses for sure, what about the big open ones? Magnolias??

APeony, perhaps?