I'm making a cake for my nephew's birthday this weekend. He wants a 'rebel' flag. Not a design I would choose, but it's not my birthday, right? Anyway, the big problem is he specifically asked me to make the 'X' on the cake 3D, like have that part carved out of another cake and standing up off the background of the flag. I can't even begin to figure out how to make this look halfway good. Flags are not 3D, why would you make a flag cake like that? Any ideas on anything I can do to keep this cake from looking stupid? Maybe I could just make the cake like I want to and hand out 3D glasses at the party or something...

What if you make some smaller flags out of gumpaste on lollipop sticks and put them around the edge of the cake? I think his idea would be really difficult to frost.

I'm a little confused. Does he want the X standing up with 2 "legs" on the cake and 2 "arms" in the air? Or was he thinking that the X would be laying parallel to the cake, but just raised up? If it's the latter, you could make a flat sheet cake and frost it red. Then use RKT to shape a raised X (flat on the bottom part that would touch the cake and rounded on top). Then cover the RKT X in dark blue fondant or buttercream and add the stars. I actually think it might turn out looking pretty cool.

He wants the X lying down on the cake, but raised up. Thanks for the suggestions, the idea of frosting a bunch of cut edges on a chocolate cake is giving me nightmares.