I have been asked to do a cake for my neighbor's 75th birthday. He is majorly into gardening/flowers. So I was talking to my husband about doing flowers...maybe a trellis, etc. Anyway, he says don't make it too "froo froo". I said flowers are flowers.... and he loves flowers. I needs some ideas. I don't want to make gardening tools, gloves, etc. So, how to do flower garden theme without it being too "froo froo"? Uggh Men!

I just posted a picture of a cake that I did this weekend for my MIL. It's in my gallery. It might give you some ideas.

HTH

Chrissy

one i like from gallery:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_64807.html

What about just a simple "flower basket" cake? Not too fussy, but still has flowers that go along with the gardening theme...

Needs to be for quite a few people... may need to do a 1/2 sheet cake... thanks for ideas.... keep em coming. I do love your basket java....

What if you did a 1/2 sheet and used dried crumbled chocolate cake to look like soil. and then make some Gumpaste Tools, a small hoe and digger or a mini hand rake. Those could be laid about and you can make blooming flowers in little rows.

Humm what if you make a flower box but instead of doing a white one you could make it look like woodgrain planks going around it. Pust some thin strips of fondant or gumpaste around it and paint it silver to look the metal strips that hold those boxes together. In that you can put the "soil" like i mentioned above and some sugar flowers on stems and mabe a few "new growth"ones that are just coming up from the soil.

Those are really cute ideas Hulagirl! Thank you.... Will think about those!

Here's a garden cake I did for my mom:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=7879

I saw one once that I loved...maybe Martha Stewart? Anyway, it had a gumpast picket fence, crushed chocolate wafers for soil, and little fondant carrots and tomatoes and gardening tools. There was a little fondant rabbit eating a carrot too, I think. Maybe the veggies and tools would make it a little less froo froo.

Here's a link to Martha's Secret Garden cake

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=8ed443e303a0f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=secret%20garden&rsc=ns2006_m1

Theresa

drat ... with gallery search not working, can't find a really cute cake I saw...

so...here's an idea I "germinated"

large sheet.

fence is on side but sticks up above the edge of cake (made of fondant or gumpaste)

then trellis w/ bench inside (make out of royal -- 3 pieces -- 2 sides and top; bench could be royal or gumpaste/fondant)

pathway (graham cracker or similar crumbs) leading over bridge.

stream leading to pond (lower left w/ deformed fish in it -- hopefully you can do fish better than I can draw them)

then for flowers --- all chocolate lollipops. can get molds for several different kind and "plant" them all over the top...

even arrange in patterns or to spell out message!

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of course -- if he has a garden that he's really proud of (his baby so to speak) -- could get photo of it and use as guide for layout of top of cake.

HTH

Holly that cake for your Mom was so cute! And Doug...thank you I do get the gist of what you sketched.....

Not sure if a 75th birthday cake for a part should be a little more formal. But the things you guys are suggesting was what I kind of had in mind....

Not sure how to do flowers...which is what he loves... and not make the cake too froo froo.... Their yard is like a botanical garden of flowers.... just gorgeous. He works on it all the time! You guys are really helping me get some good ideas....

I thought about doing that. It is basically a huge patio...huge. with planted areas and rose bushes and pots of flowers. It's always an explosion of color. How would I make roses for rose bushes that small? ... Like if i did 1/2 sheet cake. ... tile floors, block walls on sides with open fence with roses in front of it in back, ... etc.

Maybe this will work. You could try piping them out of royal icing using the smalled tip you can find.
Or you can make them yourself, roll out some gumpaste and use maybe a #4 tip to make the rounds for the petals. Or if thats too big maybe go with a #3 and use something to poke them out for you.

thank you again!

Patio Garden... impression mat for floor (would prefer to use chocolate where I can instead of fondant...where it will be eaten), something for the staggered concrete block walls between houses... rice crispy treats covered in fondant with brick impression mat used... paint gray?.. dowel them in? Black RI wrought iron fence across back.... Easy to break? how to support? Then I can put flower vines and rose buds on the fence. How to make the rose bushes and tiny pots with tiny flowers. Chocolate cookie crumb planters on sides with some kind of brick thing edger (what?) How to make trees? Sugar gun trunk.. how to do bushy tops? Now for another hurdle.... a man sitting on a chair with artist easel in front of him...painting. (another hobby of his)...

OK now help with how to execute this! I can use 1/2 sheet cake pan.... Don't leave me now guys!

For the Concreat wall....my first thought would be to either get a candy mold of little squares and just mix grey with white chocolate and mold all the bricks. If thats not possible I would do form them out of Fondant or White Chocolate Modeling paste colored with Dove Grey Petal dust (this will help give it an inconsistant color like cement has). Then when you go to stack your little bricks let them semi dry then use toothpicks or BBQ skewers to hold them vertical. If you assemble them upside down then you'll have the extra wood to stick into the cake when you put it in, you can also create a nice curve or a soft
S" shape doing it this way
If you want to make a Wroght Iron R.I. fence I'd say start with supports, a heavy gauge wire and pipe the royal icing over it for the sides then maybe pipe all the stuff in between, it will still be very delicate so make a few. Or you could use the wire then cut a square of fondant and pipe it all onto that so it's less likely to break.
For the mini's I would use Modeling Chocolate, these will make your eyes hurt after doing so many so start with enough time so you can rest your eyes. For Pots I'd just form little balls of the Chocolate then work them into the shape of pots, do some kinda spanish and round and others can be made in that "V" shape.
For a tree I would use gumpaste or Modeling Chocolate that has an internal bbq skewer then wrap heavy gauge wire around em and use superglue and floral tape to give it support. Once you have your support set you can roll strips of your product and just attach them to the tree stucture and use modeling tools to smooth the junctures but still have that rough root like look (see pic attached). Then you can pipe green royal icing or marshmellow to make leaves. I wouldnt use the sugar gun just cuz you'd want that hand rolled inconsistancy to give it a natural look.
To make the man I'd go to micheals and pick up those Silicon face molds used for Clay making. Maybe you can cheat on the chair and use one from a doll house? Then mold him onto it with his easel.

I hope I posted the pic right, sorry if it does it twice, I'm new to attaching.

Thank you Hula girl...wonderful ideas ...again!

Jopalis,
Did you ever make this garden cake for your neighbor? I would love to see a picture of it.

No... I ended up making the really large chocolate cake in my pictures that has the chocolate star tranfers and candy clay roses.... The party got a lot bigger and more formal than expected.... I still love that idea though. Jo

Oh well, you can keep that idea for another time. BTW: I just looked at the chocolate cake you made for him. It was truly awesome. You did a great job! I really loved the roses.

Awwww shucks.... Thank you so much!!! It was a chocolate monster! LOL! My kitchen smelled like chocolate for days.... LOL! It was very well received. It was also a very expensive gift! But it was worth it.

All those ideas sound great, but I have one more that I think he would really appreciate. Look up what his birth flower is, and use that on the cake. If he's really into gardening he might recognize it and find that really thoughtful. My birth month is May and the flower is Lily of the Valley, I used it in my bridal bouquet.

I made this garden cake for my uncle. I even made the marzipan watermelon red on the inside and put a layer of green and then stripes of lighter green on the outside. I sliced it and served it with the cake. I made them the night before the party and everyone raved how fresh and soft they were!

Oh how precious. I have never worked with marizipan though I have wanted to for quite some time. Keep up the good work.