I can't decide on how I should go about decorating this cake. I thought I would do the animals in fondant and then place on the cake but I'm not sure how to go about doing the green stripes and the plain white center.

I'm not exactly sure what I would do perhaps frost in a plain white buttercream and then cover the perimiter in alternating colors of green fondant? sorry I wasn't more help

Do you have an airbrush?

personally, i think i'd make the cake striped, like the boarder, then make a plaque out of gumpaste with her name (if it's a birthday cake) or whatever saying you wanted. then i'd do the animals out of fondant or fondant/gumpaste mix and lean the plaque agains the cake, animals on either side at base of cake and on top of it.

An airbrush would make this easy. You could paint airbrush colors on with a paintbrush but it won't look quite as smooth. You could ice with white first and then use the large icer tip from wilton to add the green and then smooth it with the hot spatula. You would have to pipe a boarder to transition the the green into the white. Then for the stripes you could pipe swiss dots in a stripe pattern in a slightly darker shade of green. then add the fondant animals.

Option 3) A giant frozen buttercream transfer would allow you to get the geen and the white together before placing onto the top of the cake.

Thanks for your responses. I've been out of pocket for a few hours and just got back on the computer. I do have an airbrush but I haven't had a chance to practice with it yet so I'm kinda of leary of trying that. This is a baby shower cake that just came up for this weekend and I wasn't sure what would be the best way to proceed. I've done FBT's before but on a smaller scale. If I did all white buttercream and then used my airbrush how do you get the different color stripes? Do you lay strips of heavy paper down to protect one color while spraying another color?

Paper is usually not a good idea to block areas off for airbrushing. It could either stick to the BC or the airbrish ink could bleed through it. Acetate sheets (if you have them), or any kind of thin lightweight paper with a coating to keep it from sticking. I usually save the backings from my frosting sheets I use for edible imaging to use for airbrishing later. Waxed paper might work...

Make sure one color is dry before you start another color. And practice a bit with your airbrush before you use it on the cake. It took me about three cakes before I figured out that the reason it was splattering and spitting on my cakes was because I was holding the button down all the way (with mine you should only hold it about half way down).

I would only use the airbrush for the background colors. I would use CT or FBCT for the animals. It should be a cute cake!

PS I use cling wrap and painters tape to section areas. But, I've only painted fondant.

~Mindy

I don't do a lot of fondant work, so I will tell you what I would do in bc.

1. Ice in white.
2. Make a square or rectangle using a toothpick.
3. Using the flat part of a basketweave tip, pipe flat lines in the alternating green colors.
4. After the green crusts, Melvira the stripes lightly to flatten them. Be careful not to press much or the lines will distort.
5. Use a pattern transfer method (I use piping gel outlines) to do the animals.

Thanks everyone for your tips. I think I will try what JammJinks said except that I will probably do the animals in fondant.

Bettycrockermommy wrote:
jammjenks wrote:

4. After the green crusts, Melvira the stripes lightly to flatten them.



I love that Melvira is a verb now! Only here at CC!!


I knew everyone would know exactly what I was talking about. We CCers seem to speak the same language.

Yeah, I knew exactly what she meant.

I was just at the cake supply store and they suggested an edible image. Sure would be easier considering the short time frame. Would that cheating?

I don't think that it would be cheating. Whatever makes it easier for you.

Here's what I ended up with. What do you think? Would you be ok if you received this?

You did an excellent job on the cake. I am sure they are going to love it. Great job.

Elaine, I don't know about anyone else but I would be delighted to receive the cake. Well done to you!

Hey, if you feel like it you can make that cake for me, too! I wouldn't mind at all getting a cake like that. You did an incredible job replicating that invite! I'm very impressed with how precise it is!

I think that it is beautiful! Great job!

Thanks for all your comments. I will be leaving in about thirty minutes to deliver this cake and I was nervous about how my customer might view the cake. Oh, I wanted to mention, I can't take the credit for details of the invite it's an edible image.