Hey everyone I am making my best friend's wedding cake and when I asked what she wanted she said "I don't know, surprise me". OK so my idea is that this is a beach wedding only about 14 ppl will be there so it is only 2 tiers, I want to do probably a 9 or 10" round bottom tier and the top tier will be only 6" (they want to keep it) now I want to use a clear glass bowl that I got with a 6" diameter top to stack that top tier on. Inside the glass bowl I plan to used sand and seashells from the beach that they will be getting married at and I want to light a candle at the reception. My question is how can I make it so that the candle can get air and not burn out in 10 minutes? I want to use a small tea light candle so it will not have a high flame or anything. I thought abut using dashes of hot glue on the rim then putting a foil covered cake board over that to that there is a little bit of separation between those dashes of hot glue for the air to circulate a bit then putting the cake on top of that. I guess if worse comes to worse I can just skip lighting the candle but I really wanted to do something different and light the candle for extra effect. How would you go about constructing this so that the candle will stay lit?

Thanks
Amanda

They make tea light candles that are actually a LED light and a battery. They even flicker like the real thing. They should be easy to find this time of year, they sell them to use in carved pumpkins so the pumpkin doesn't accidentally catch on fire.

I found some at target: http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/601-9716901-5958555?ASIN=B000Z55RZS&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B000Z55RZS|LED_Tealight_Candle_12_pk.&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000Z55RZS&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001

but I'm sure you can find a smaller pack somewhere.

The added advantage would be that it will stay lit throughout the reception

ooo good idea I didn't even think about that! I have seen those before.

Hey Amanda
Definately use the battery operated votive. Otherwise, smoke could accumulate in the glass (because of limited ventilation) and you wouldn't be able to see anything inside.

The cake sounds beautiful!

The battery one sounds like the best way, you really don't want any heat under a cake anyway. Nothing like melted icing or fondant after all that hard work.

definitely go battery operated... if you put a candle in the glass bowl and the cake on top, the lit candle will go out because of a lack of oxygen, and there will be smoke too.

Michaels has the battery operated deals...just saw them.

what a wonderful idea. i hope i can make my best friend's wedding cake too. you're a great friend

Michael's has the battery operated ones, in the aisle where you find glass containers and candles, Wal-mart has them in the Halloween aisle and you can find them at the dollar tree too.

Thank you so much everyone!! I am so excited about this cake, it will be a simple one but I think it will end up being one of my favorite. I will be making it here traveling 8 hours with it then gathering sand and seashells and assembling it in florida.

Yes, battery. I wanted to do a similar thing once so I put a candle and held a paper over it at the height the pillars would be (about 6") and the paper scorched really fast... meaning that the plate would have eventually melted or caught fire. Not fun! That little candle is a lot more powerful than it seems.

Hi, I would use those clear stones stagered on top of the bowl. Hot glue them to the bowl, then set the cake on top. Try it first. That was just my idea.

When I read your idea (which I think is cool) I thought of this great cake I saw the other day on here http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1262496.

You could make your candle out of a small cake or cupcake (hiding the battery operated tealight with fondant or frosting) and put it in the bowl.

You probably shouldn't let anyone eat the candle cake though if you use real sand and shells!

Kim

Lack of oxigen will make the glass explode..Battery is the way to go
Edna

Oh, I meant to tell you too, sometimes there are no nice shells on the beach (at least here in TX, maybe other beaches are better or less picked over). If you run into that problem, you can buy a bag of nice shells at Hobby Lobby