I am making this type of cake for a friend, and I'm trying to figure out how long it will take to ice and decorate. This way I'll have an idea how far in advance I need to start icing. Thanks for any tips!

I wouldn't think the decorating part would take long at all -- probably an hour or so. You'll have to start earlier on the other stuff, though, like the carving, toasting the coconut, making the scales, etc. It looks like fun!

Ooo toasted coconut! I was wondering what that was! lol!!

Well since the start tip and I don't get along this would take me a while to ice. Assuming all of the fondant and accesory details are done. I would give myself 4 hrs to ice it. That may be more time than I need but in my experience something ALWAYS goes wrong and slows me down For example the cake I did for Easter, the icing was just to thin to hold shape so I spent a good 20 or 30 minutes adding more powdered sugar to it so it would stand up properly. By the way, that is a really cute cake. I hope you enjoy it. Also since I'm not a fan of the start tip, I would probably ice him smooth and impression scales into him with a tip or round cookie cutter...that's the lazy in me Good luck. Can't wait to see the pics.

Hmm, that's a really neat idea, to use the cookie cutter or something similar to make impressions. I know the first cake I ever did was a lot of star tips, they hurt my hand after awhile and I can see myself taking a lot of breaks lol.

There's also the tri tip star that does 3 stars at a clip. It cuts the time down immensely. I'd estimate 1- 1 1/2 hrs.

I've only covered cake with a star tip once and it took me FOREVER! I'd give myself a good 5 hours or so. I'm not experienced at all with piping though so it'd take me longer

Thanks everyone! I guess the friend wants the star tip, so I think I'm going to invest in the tri-star tip!

I did one like this last year. took me about an hour and a half to carve and ice with the star tip. it was carved from 1/2 sheet cake (to give you approx size).

I have made 2 of these. The star tip is SO hard on the hands. Allow for breaks! I used a tye dye fruit roll up for the spikes. I cut it into triangles and left it out on the counter for awhile to stiffen up. The pic is a little blurry

I don't like the tri-star tip...but don't use 16...use like 18 or something and its a little easier...and then make sure the buttercream isn't super stiff.


Frankly...you really won't know how long it will take you until you try! Everyone is different speeds.... the prep work to this cake (making and coloring icing, prepping bags, doing coconut, etc) is going to take you just as long as piping it...and the piping will depend on how long you've been doing this.

Have fun!

Thanks everyone! I think I'll allow myself lots of time, just to be on the safe site.

A question for those who have done this cake, and posted pics, did you use the 3-d egg pan or did you cut an 8-inch in two and stand upright for the body? I'm trying to decide which way is best. I like the look of the 8-inch cut in two standing on it's ends, but am worried that it will fall apart? Or is that just a silly thought? lol

I believe i used the half 8"ers. I followed the directions on instruct ables.com to a tee the first time then summarized the second time. If you are worried about the hald tipping over, make sure you "glue" it together with plenty of icing. You could even angle the cut sides just slightly so the halves leaned in just a touch to direct the weight to the center instead on outward. HTH!