Ok I am making my niece and nephew's birthday cakes tomorrow for their party on Sunday. I have my niece's cake all planned out (Tinkerbell cake). Where I need help is with my nephew's cake. He wants a zombie theme. SO I decided to make him the head of the clown zombie off of the movie zombieland. My questions are:

Do I need to freeze the cake before sculpting? ( I am using a box vanilla cake mix because that is what he wants.)

If I do freeze it for how long?

Then after I get it sculpting in the shape of a head do I let it thaw completely before covering in fondant?

I have never sculpted a cake before and need all info please!!! Thanks in advance.

I have only done a few but I freeze my cakes after I make them and take them out when I need them..usually within a day or two. So I would def. say a couple hours at least, prob overnight. Carve while as hard as they can be, so right out of the freezer..and yes I would wait until they thaw b4 covering..though I never think about that b/c by the time I finish carving and I take a breather my cakes are done thawing anyway!

yes, definately freeze them. I do sculpted alot...and it is soooo much easier to work with frozen cake. Even the base coat will go on a whole lot easier if it is frozen. If you can, I'd still make your cake a pound version- just for the texture- it is a whole lot less crummy. Usually cakes are pretty thawed by the time I fondant mine too- but If it fits back in the freezer- I stick it back in for at least another 30 minutes to firm up before putting the fondant on it. If you are just doing a crusting buttercream instead of fondant- then you just have to wait a bit longer or use a fan to make it crust. You probably already know this but.... You are supporting the head right? I mean, yeah you can carve that head outta cake, but if it doesn't have a base board under the chin, it will fall right off in pieces as soon as it has warmed up.

I hope your cake turn outs fantastic!

Thanks everyone. I just used a BC brand french vanilla because that is what he likes the best. I honestly hadn't thought about supports of any kind. I guess i better get on that. lol. If it turns out like it is suppose to it will just be a head on a cake board no neck. The chin will touch the cake board i hope. You all have been very helpful. Will post pictures when I get it done. THanks again.

here is a dr. cake box rec. great for sculpting/carving, the only one i use....


http://cakecentral.com/recipes/1972/durable-cake-for-3d-and-wedding-cakes

I freeze my cakes before I carve them, but don't carve them frozen. It is extremely dangerous because it is so hard and your knife can slip. I learned this is a sculpted cake class with the queen of cake carvers - Bronwen Weber.

I let it warm a little but still very firm and then I carve. You can use any cake to carve. I just use whatever the customer wants. I used WASC, chocolate, even recently, I carved a 1968 Mustang from a strawberry cake. The customer wanted strawberry cake and another decorator told them no strawberry. In the class with Bronwen, we used cakes made straight from the box. It doesn't have to be a pound cake, any cake will work.

Well it is done and I am so ashamed to put it on here. It turned out so bad in my opinion. I can't just see it on cakewrecked already. But I said I would post. It is in my photos if I can't figure out how to get it to let me post here.

I think it looks great. Exactly what a zombie clown should look like. You did a great job sculpting the head. I have had really bad experiences trying to carve anything round. Great job Danielle!!

Thanks everyone.