Hi Everyone!

I have received an order for a grooms cake that is a replica of the drum I will try to attach. I am seeking any advice on how to do this. I am thinking I will stack 6 10" rounds (it needs to feed 100 people!). I did a similar cake with 8" rounds covered only in buttercream and had some problems with the cake settling.

This cake will be covered in fondant and I'm affraid that the weight of the fondant will pull and just not look good. I did use a support only in the middle on the trial run, but I definately will use them every two cakes in the final one. I also used straws in the first one, but will use wooden dowels in this one. I'm also not completely sure how I will paint the design on black fondant, but I'll probably have time to try that out before hand. Has anyone ever done anything like this? I've never really covered anything that big with fondant before. I think a 14" x 4" square dummy was the biggest I've done. I ordered 5 lbs. of black Satin Ice and I hope that will be enough. Thanks in advance!!!!!

Are you really sure you want to stack up *6* rounds.......that will be 12" tall!
Maybe 4 12"ers would be better....that would give you heigth, but not the weight problems.
There is nothing wrong w/using straws I used them for yrs on many,many wedding cakes w/o problems. OR you can find really 'fat' ones and place wood dowels inside so the cake doesn't take on the taste of the wood.

After crumb coating your cake let it rest overnight so it can settle before you put the fondant on. This way it won't bulge, and if it does you can fix it. HTH

try painting on the design with royal icing, brush embroidery. it will come up great even on the black. should be a beautiful cake, good luck

I don't see it being a big issue. it is a stacked cake - as long as it is properly stacked/doweled, etc., the height won't matter - you just serve it tier by tier like any other cake.

I'd also suggest you add the fondant in sections . . . the sides I would do in a piece going around the cake (with a seam in back). you won't see it much, if at all, once it it is painted. work it into the design if you must (i.e, make it looked like itis stitched or riveted).

then the top is a single smaller piece of fondant. and the red bit around the bottom is added at the end.

Thank you all so much for your replies! I thought I has subscribed to get notification when there was a response, but I must have missed that! I really appreciate all your thoughts. I definately think I will use the suggested royal icing paint techniques.

Here is the finished cake. I think it came out good. I couldn't get all the tassels I made attached and just ended up leaving half of them off. All in all I am very pleased with how it came out. I left it overnight to settle and it seemed completely solid. The fondant wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. I ended up using buttercream to pipe on the flower scene. Thanks for all your help!!