I'm planning my first stacked cake for my last Wilton class this week: two 8" layers and two 6" layers. I have 28 bc ribbon roses drying, and one high heel shoe made from white chocolate. The shoe is large and heavy (I think it's the mold by Jennifer Dontz); it will take up a good portion of the top of the 6" layer. The cake will be covered in bc. In thinking this through, the shoe is going to be too heavy to put on top of a buttercream cake, isn't it?

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this, or do I need to scrap the use of the shoe, and just stick with the roses? (which I really don't want to do). I made this shoe, darn it, and I want to use it!

As with any heavy cake topper you need to dowel and use some sort of "plate" or "base" to hold the shoe. One of the easiest ways of doing this is to use a 4 inch seperator plate with the "column" legs as dowels. Just put the dowels into your six inch cake, put the seperator plate on top and then ice OVER the seperator plate...thus hiding the internal structure. Then just place your shoe on top. The other way to do it is to use regular dowels and make a base for your shoe to sit upon and place that on the top of the cake. If you use the former method and want a clean serving area for you top cake then make sure to use either cornstarch or powdered sugar under the seperator plate before icing over it. You will then, hopefully, only remove the icing on top of the plate and not below it when you remove the plate for service.

HTH

Cat

Thanks Catlharper. Here's a question: I had figured I would need support on top of the 6" layer on which the shoe would rest. My question is, in what order do I layer the icing on top of the cake, the support, and then the shoe. If I put the support on top of the icing, won't the icing smoosh out from under the support? Also, if there's icing on top of the support plate, I'm guessing the shoe will sink down into the icing as it's heavy.

If the shoe is solid chocolate, I don't think you need to put a board under it.

I would insert bamboo skewers into the bottom of the shoe and cut them to the height of the cake. Here's how to do that.

Briefly heat the tip of a metal skewer over a flame, immediately insert that into the bottom of the shoe and twist. It will only go in about 1/8-1/4 inch. You may need to do this a couple of times to get the depth you need - about 1/2 inch. Quickly insert the bamboo skewer. The melted chocolate will grab and hold onto the skewer. Wipe away excess melted chocolate under the shoe.

Repeat in on the other side of the shoe (one skewer in the sole and one in the heel, for example).

Measure the depth of your cake and cut the skewers so they hit the board under your top tier and the shoe sits flat on top of the cake. If you can't measure exactly, err on the side of caution and cut the skewers too long. If you insert it into the cake and the skewers are still too long, pull it out and cut the skewers down more. If necessary, you can insert and pull out the shoe as many times as you need, as long as you keep inserting it into the same holes.

Use a little icing or chocolate under the shoe to hold it in place on the top of the cake.

Good luck!

Thanks, Diane. I had never thought of this option. It's really creative! thanks again!

You're welcome.

That's basically how the bowling pins are secured on this cake http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1461171

I would ice the cake with it's finished coat of BC, put it in the fridge for the BC to harden a bit, take it out, sit the shoe on top of it, see where the heel and the center of the sole sit, and then cut 2 straws or wooden dowels to the top of the icing.

I'd take the shoe to the venue OFF of the cake and when I got there, I'd put down a dab of buttercream over both dowels and sit the shoe down.

That's basically my procedure for wedding toppers of significant weight, too.

HTH
Rae