Wilton Castle Kit Plus Stacked Cake

Decorating By tootsa Updated 5 Nov 2009 , 12:09am by tootsa

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tootsa Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 11:30am
post #1 of 7

Good morning, everyone!!

I am about to embark on making the castle cake using the Wilton kit. I also haven't made a stacked cake in a couple of years. So I'm quite nervous!! (especially since it's for a client....)

I've seen photos in the gallery of this cake, so I know many of you have used the kit. I was wondering if anyone has any advice or suggestions when going about it that will be helpful!?!?

The ride to the house is also very ...hill-y. I'm wondering if it might be best to have someone hold the cake in their lap rather than putting in the trunk of the car....

Would it be better to attach the towers to the cake after I get there??

Any help is appreciated! Thanks so much!!! icon_biggrin.gif

6 replies
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leepat Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 12:03pm
post #2 of 7

I have done this cake several times and it is such a pain. What my DH and I finally did was to drill holes in the bottom of the turrets and put dowels in them and drive them into the cake and cake board. Also the ones that go on the cake board we attached with melted candy melts to be more secure. Whether or not you add them when you get there is your choice.

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tootsa Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 1:01pm
post #3 of 7

uh oh...
thanks, lee! do you know what size drill bit you used to make the holes? (the dowels fit securely in there? or did you use more icing or candy melts?)

also, the directions call for 10 and 6 inch cakes. that won't give me enough servings. so i'm using a 12 and an 8.... icon_surprised.gif

oh yeah..one more thing....it says to use candy melts to attach the dowels to the towers. couldn't i use royal icing?

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__Martha__ Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 2:38pm
post #4 of 7

I agree with using the candy melts to attach the turrets around the base to the board. Don't skip the step of attaching dowels to the turrets that will be on the next two levels.

I made a castle cake recently for my granddaughter and drove about 35 minutes on back roads to get there. It was fully assembled, with a dowel driven down the centre. I had no problems, even with the turrets. For transport, I placed in the back of the SUV with a rubberized mat so it wouldn't slip.

A word of advice: start making the flowers early. I think I used over 300. I covered the pointy part of the turret with royal and sanding sugar, but I think next time I'd use fondant and lustre spray - it's a much neater look.

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KHalstead Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 2:53pm
post #5 of 7

I used a 1/4 " drill bit because I put in 1/4" dowel rods (the regular wooden dowels), I pushed the dowel all the way up inside to the top of the tower and then put a bead of hot glue around the bottom edge of the dowel to secure it to the bottom of the towel HTMS....make sure to sharpen the end of the dowel first (i just measure it to be about 3" long coming out of the tower since all my cakes are at least 3-1/2" t0 5" tall each layer. It's nice to use a couple thicknesses of foam core for your bottom board , like above poster I put melted chocolate or candy melts on the board where the tower will be and then leave about an inch of sharpened dowel out the bottom of those towers and pound it into the board, they're very secure and don't move during transport (but I do leave the turrets (cone things) off for transport and just set them on top once the cake is where it needs to go). Once you go through the motions of drilling them you won't have to spend so much time the next time you make it (as long as the customer returns the things) I generally charge a $40.00 deposit (the kit costs 20.00, but all the time spent anchoring those stupid things has got to worth 20.00 if it doesn't come back!)

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tootsa Posted 4 Nov 2009 , 4:40pm
post #6 of 7

Ok....First of all thanks so much for all of the wonderful advice!!! I'd hate to be running into all these problems at midnight the night before it's due! LOL!

I have started making the flowers already. I think I made 385 over the weekend..just need to add the centers. I was thinking of making 100 more...since I am making the bigger cakes. Do you think that would be enough?? Oh yeah..and another 6in smash cake that I wanted to use them on so it would match...

I thought the fondant might look nice, but I already bought the stuff for royal and the cake sparkles. I thought I could dip the cone things into the icing (instead of trying to actually ice them with spatula or bag)...what do you think??

Hi K! I don't know if you remember me...I haven't been around in a LONG time. But you and I always wind up in the same conversations. And you have always been a HUGE help on anything I was working on!!

So what you're saying is that there is a hole in the bottom of the tower. Put a dowel through it..with glue on the top part to be inserted into tower. have about 3inches of dowel sticking out of the bottom (sharpened). these will always be in there..so any time you use them again....they already have the 'posts' in them... did i get it??

Also...I am using on of those decorated cake circles from Wilton for the bottom base...they are silver and a couple of inches thick. That's good, right? -to stick the dowels in??

As far as the candy melts go....I don't have any, but I do have chocolate chips. Can I use them?

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tootsa Posted 5 Nov 2009 , 12:09am
post #7 of 7

ok...i'm getting out my drill.... icon_surprised.gif

where'd all my help go??

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