I was asked to make a wedding cake and the bride sent me this picture. She put the cake together with fabric to show what she wants (I know - it's terribly ugly!!) Anyway, she gave me 7 inch "Crystal Spike" Wilton pillars that I am supposed to use.

Instead of using fake flowers I have made several gumpaste roses that I will use but how am I going to fit them underneath the top tier so they don't looked crammed in? The top cake will be an 8 inch but I only have about 3 inches of space to work with between the middle and the top tier.

She also gave me 1-1/2 inch royal blue satin ribbon that she wants wrapped around each tier -she I cover up some of that ribbon with the border? I just think that wide of ribbon on each tier will overpower the cake!

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Can you do a drawing of something you think she will like, and that you will feel comfortable doing? There's always such a fine line between pleasing the customer, and keeping up your quality of work. I'm sure we have all done cakes that we didn't care for, but if you think it's just going to be terrible.... I would make some suggestions to her.

I would make some other suggestions to her. I've had customers "design" their own cakes before and after I scetched their idea on paper and they saw (in most cases) that it didn't look so good I'm not a fashion designer so I don't design the clothes that I wear. I leave that to the folks that make my clothes. Same thing should apply to cake decorating. Just my opinion.


Make some other suggestions to her and if she still wants the cake just as she described make it for her but do have it in writting that it's what she wanted

Thanks for your advice! THe problem is that I don't have the brides' contact info as her sister (?) said she would take care of the cake. I spoke with her and she agreed that her sister doesn't know anything about cakes and design. Having said that, I do want to respect the bride with her wishes so I'll try to maintain the overall effect she came up with. My main question is how can I get more height underneath the top tier so I can add some flowers?

What about using a Styrofoam round cake dummy that would fit inside the pillars. The dummy will be light enough not to weigh down your bottom tiers and you could stick the floral wire stem into the styrofoam or attach with royal icing your roses to enclose the whole space and hide those pillars.