I started a new topic and I think I accidently posted it before I was finished.

I am making a wedding cake. bottom is 14" then there will be a fountain on top of that then pillars and then a 10" cake with a 6" cake directly on top of that.

Bride wants a fondant looking cake, but does not like the taste of fondant. I found the MM fondant recipe and I think this may work.

What do you use to color the MM fondant ? I need pink and black.

The cakes are smooth-pink in color with a larger size black polka dot about 1" diameter. How do I stick the polka dots onto the cake so they don't fall off ? Do I need to be concerned with the black "bleeding" onto the pink.

I have read that some prefer using straws as opposed to dowels- given the size and height of this cake which would work better ?

I have been told that using a pound cake mix works best for a wedding cake-because a regular cake would not hold up under the weight of the fondant and everything else- is this true.

I am trying to imagine how all of this works together-tast wise. I want the cake to look good, but I want it to taste good as well.

Any thoughts on using Pound cake for the cakes-canned vanillia frosting for the filling and the crumb coat-topping it with MM fondant. I thought that since this is a June wedding, having a big bowl of fresh strawberries with a juice to add to the sliced pieces might be a nice touch.

One last piece of advice: I have conflicting information on the number of servings this pan set will make. I have the 6-10 & 14" cake pan set from Wilton-they are 3" deep-but instructions say only fill 1/2 way.
I am not sure if I should go with 3 layers for each cake or only two.

Thank you to anyone who can help

I am guessing this is your first decorated cake. My suggestion is that you start reading this and other forums from top to bottom. All of your questions will be answered plus some you didn't even know you needed. Try the topics under Cake Decorating first. There is a Sticky with at least a hundred tutorials on it, most are from youtube and quite easy to follow. I am not trying to be mean or unwelcoming, it's just that most of your questions are pretty basic and can be easily answered without this topic becoming pages and pages long (with a lot of conflicting info). Happy searching!

Each cake needs to be 4" tall to get the number of servings suggested on a chart. I would not recommend using canned frosting. You should use a white chocolate ganache or buttercream under your fondant. You say this is a June wedding... There is time to enroll in Wilton classes before then, and I would if I were you. You will learn the basics of cakes in Course 1 and it would be a great help to you... Good luck!

Wow....ok.....where to begin....
First, what flavor did the bride want? If traditional white, I would definitely use WASC (white almond sour cream) in the recipe section. This will stand up to the weight. With fountains, I would definitely recommend strong supports. I use bubble tea straws from Boba tea direct I believe. This have always worked good for me. I would use Sugarshack's bc recipe as can frosting under fondant probably would not work. It's not very temperature stable and I can see the fondant sliding off in the heat right now! For the fondant, I always use Michelle Foster's fondant. Handles better for me than MMF. Especially when coloring with dark colors. If the polka dots are the only black, and the cake is pink, I use gel colors. But, if it's major areas of black I airbrush.
I usually stick the polka dots to the side with water if it is fondant on fondant. I use tylose and water if it is fondant polka dots to bc.
I have served fresh strawberries and raspberries on the side and ppl loved it, but without the syrup. Hope this helps and someone else can help more I'm sure.

I'm with minniecuppie. Read every thread you can find on cake decorating and watch as many tutorials on youtube as you can. My advise to you is don't let this wedding cake be your FIRST decorated cake. You're headed for disaster if you don't do practice runs. I would make a cake exactly like the one you're planning on making for the wedding for practice. That way you will be able to see how much time it's going to take you to do your cake. If the wedding is in June you should start NOW. If you've never even made fondant before you definetely should start practicing that technique as soon as possible. I've made MMF several times and still can't get it to work for me . I do however have excellent results with Michele Foster's Fondant.

I use only 2 inch pans myself and bake two layers so I can't offer any info on your 3 inch pans. Your support system is the key to your cake holding up. Some use straight box mix without any problems. I suggest the "origional" WASC cake receipe by kakeladi. You can find the receipe in the "most saved" receipes on this site. DON'T use canned frosting! It maybe ok for the filling but I suggest Indydebi's buttercream receipe (receipe also found on this site) Canned icing will not crust.

For your sake and for the sake of not having a "cake wreck" I would strongly advise that you start baking and caking NOW. You don't have much time to figure all of this out. You can do it but it's going to require practice on your part to pull it off.. I'm not trying to be mean but the reality is tha if you've never even made a stacked cake before you're going to have trouble. Other than baking your cake you've to level your cake. If you've never covered a cake with fondant you are going to have to learn that technique as well. What I'm saying is from baking to covering with fondant you need to practice, practice, practice

Thank you very much. After the first response I was afraid that no one else would respond. I have mad many many bithday cakes using the Wilton method and buttercream icing. This will be my first wedding cake, and my first attempt at any type of fondant. I have been asked in the past to make wedding cakes, but I have always declined-I know my limits. The only reason that I am going to attempt this one is my son. He said he only has one decision in the whole wedding/reception process, and that is that I make the cake.

The bride has requested that it be pink with the black polka dots, and a black ribbon around the bottom of each cake. Flavor, etc. is all up to me -as long as I don't use chocolate cake-I think her mom hates chocolate. The bride also requested using the fountain.

I have checked on the recipe suggestions and I will be attempting to make either the 6" or the 10" this week just for practice.

You may want to check the sizes for what you have in mind.....the plates that need to be used for the fountain are pretty big (16" if I remember right) That 10" cake will look kind of odd sitting on a 16" plate above the fountain. I also agree with all the above.....read and practice!

I pulled out my pans and the seperator plates, pillars, etc. that the brides family gave me. (An Aunt used to decorate cakes).

I think this design may work.

Use a 15" base plate
use 10" pillars with another 15" plate on top. The fountain is small enough and will fit inside.

Place the 14" cake on top
then use a 12" seperator plate with 5" pillars-another 12" plate on top
then the 10" cake with the 6" cake directly on top.

Do you think this will look okay

I don't know I'm trying to picture this in my mind. Honestly I don't do fountain cakes because I absolutely loathe them Maybe someone else will chime in that can answer that question for you.

I did want to add that if you've never covered a cake with fondant you're going to need alot of practice with that as well. I know that you said that you've never made fondant so I'm assuming you haven't used it either.

Since you've got your pans out why not go ahead a bake a cake for practice and see for yourself just how it's going to look? You're going to need to actually make the cake BEFORE you make the cake anyway. It may cost a little money for the practice but worth every penny not to disappoint your new DIL and son on their very important day. I noticed that you said you were going to make the 10 inch and 6 inch this week for practice. I'd strongly suggest that you make the ENTIRE cake just like you're planning on making it for the wedding. I just cannot stress enough how many things can go wrong if you don't go ahead and attempt this cake on a trial run. From start to finish.

Good idea. I do not like fountains either, but the bride does.
Since I am practicing anyway, I think I might try different fillings, buttercream-ganache, etc. Might as well try and figure out the flavor combos while I am at it.

I do appreciate all of the advice. Please keep the hints, tips and tricks coming.

This is by far the best advice website I have found.

I would also suggest pre-colored black fondant. For just the polka dots a 2lb container of black Satin Ice would be plenty and would not be expensive and will save you many headaches of trying to get fondant colored a true black. SI fondant tastes good too.

If the bride doesn't like fondant, are you sure that covering the cake in ANY type fondant will be OK? Are you sure she doesn't want buttercream iced that is smoothed to mimic a smooth fondant finish? That is what I interpret "bride wants a fondant looking cake but does not like the taste of fondant" to mean.

Good advise on the premade black fondant. I'd certainly buy that color rather than trying to make it myself. Once ya get that practice cake done post a picture will ya? I'm betting you're not going to do so bad

I tried making one with buttercream, could not get it smooth enough and the polka dots were a bust!

I told the bride that I found a MM fondant and Michele Foster's fondant recipe that say you can acheive the same effect, but taste much better-she is ok with me trying them.

I plan on making cakes left and right until we can get the right look and taste. Thanks for the tip on buying the satin ice black fondant, I am going to buy some tomorrow to try. I want a true black and it is probably better to buy it than create it.

The 12" plate will about cover the entire top of the 14" cake.....are you going to put some decor on that plate? Just the plate showing would not be pretty.

You wouldn't have to fondant the entrie top of that 14" cake too, if you do use that 12" plate....since it won't be showing anyways.

I am working on different ideas for the plate and the pillars, thinking about black and pink ribbon tied at the top of the pillars with a metal ring (just like on the cake) to the tops of the pillars and have them curl down to the other plate

Question: I understand that the 12" plate will pretty much cover the cake-but shouldn't it all be covered to make it even, and all have a frosting?

I just did a fountain cake with those sizes. I would definitely make sure that the edges on the plates are covered. It looks kinda unfinished without it...learned that the hard way..lol Take a look at my pics and maybe my fountain cakes can help you.

I would also recommend buying the black fondant. However, if she is opposed to the taste, you could also make it by making chocolate fondant and then adding the black in. I am only a hobby baker so I don't like to spend a lot of money on purchasing fondant. I tried it and it actually worked for me!

I never, ever cover a cake in fondant. I use a crisco based icing that crusts quickly, using quite a bit of water to smooth it out. Then, after it dries, you could use fondant accents.

Joybeth, that's a very elegant fountain cake! Great job, and a very helpful pic.

WIth you not having much experience with the fondant, please disregard my previous post. It would be easier for you to cover the whole cake with fondant than to try to do what I posted.

Good luck, and please post a pic when you are done with it. I am sure you will do fine....and your son and new DIL will love it that you made their special cake.

Thanks mpetty!

I edited my above post..... I wouldn't hesitate to just cover the part that would show with fondant.....but I have a lot of experience with it. I just got to thinking about it, and think it would be harder for a newbie to do it that way...

If we were closer, I would come and help you do it though!

I'm glad you said that Loucinda I got to thinking the same thing after I remembered she's a newbie to fondant. Good advise from you as always.

For help with how to work the fondant, I would watch the video tutorials on the Satin Ice Fondant website.

Here's a link:

http://www.rolledfondant.com/how.htm


Watching the video has helped me cover a cake with fondant so that it looks smoother. Also, I would recommend that you practice covering a couple of practice cakes just to get more comfortable with the process.

Alot of good information, from everybody. And as I previously said, I do appreciate it. I will definetly post pictures when I have something to show-good, bad or ugly !!!!!

Joybeth: I like the photos, thank you for sharing them. I was thinking about trying to cover the plates with either a pink or black type of paper (that has a coating on it)

Or maybe covering plates with the actual fondant--not sure if that would work. But I agree-the edges need to be covered.

By using the 6" 10" and 14" One of the charts I read said this would feed 100. Is that correct ? given the cakes are 4" high

I love the fact that everyone on here is very supportive. I hope that someday I too will be able to help and to encourage others--you guys are the best.

You'll be helping others on here in no time at all! (that is what I love about this site too!)