I do have a little time for this but my daughter is requesting a cake for her class, she is graduating from elementary school and off to middle school. I want to do a stack of books with a grad cap on top. I have looked at zillions of the pics here in the gallery and I still can't figure out how to get the look of the cover being separate from the pages. I hope that I am being clear...how do I get the book cover to come over the "pages" a little bit?
Also I want to cover the books in fondant for a more smooth look and paint the details onto the books (I think it will be simpler this way to add the details)

Sorry this ended up so long.
Thanks for any help.

Cut a piece of fondant that is as wide as the cover and spine of the book plus a little more. Spread buttercream on rectangle cake, make impressions with a knife to mimic pages on one side and lay fondant down the other edge and top ""book" with a little hanging over. Then make a thin rope in same colour and wrap around bottom edge to mimic the overhanging cover on the back of book.

I was thinking to make 4 rectangular cakes...cover in buttercream, roll out the fondant pretty thin and long enough to set the cake on top of it and fold the remaining on the top of the book (cake). Either way though, with the fondant still being soft, how would I keep the top edge of the "cover" from sagging instead of looking stiff like an actual book cover should be?

When I made a cake like this, I sculpted the edge of the book a bit -- making it curving inward (concave trough) where the pages would be, and curving outward (convex) at the spine. This gives it a little dimension and helps support the fondant to keep it straight. It needs to be a sturdy cake, and freezing or refrigerating before sculpting helps.

I thought of sculpting too endymion but thought that the cake wouldn't be able to take a carve like that, I thought it would be a little too thin. I didn't think about freezing first...makes much more since and I do believe I could pull that off. What about cutting the fondant into a long strip...laying cake on top and folding the remaining over the top of the cake? Does that sound like a disaster waiting to happen?

I can't think of anything going wrong if I do it that way. Ohh, and something else...I'm doing 4 books...should I dowel through each book....3 are going to be pretty thin and I'm thinking one will be thick. Should I dowel through the entire cake AND each tier or "book"?

I just saw your books and they look GREAT!! Exactly what I'm looking for except instead of 2 books I think I'll do 4...I think I have the cap under control...it's just those darn books, I want them to look just as good as yours.

I didn't do extra support except under the cap for mine, but yours is thicker, so I'd give it extra support at least once in the middle.

I tried doing the cover as you describe, but had a hard time with it, so ended up doing fondant just on top rather than all the way around each book. (Just made little tiny strips at the bottom to make it LOOK like there was a second cover there.)

Thanks for your kind words about my cake; it was fun. I'm doing another similar one this month, myself. Good luck with yours; can't wait to see it! Post it here when you are done.

endymion,


love your book cake and especially the cap!

Thanks, Sweet Treats. It was fun; not as difficult as I was expecting it to be.