I'm turnin 16 in a few months and we're starting on planning it... My idea for my cake is quite specific and I'm very picky... I'm going to describe it and if you can help tell me where to find anything I'd really appriciate it. We don't have the money to have one made, so we're going to do it ourselves.
I'd like to have a 3 year cake covered in white fondant.
After that I want to cut out black zebra stripes and I'm trying to find the best way to do so...
On the middle layer of the cake I'm going to leave a blank space to put "Kelsey" on the cake... I want to try to make it out of fondant as well, but I want to make it metallic gold. Is there any way to do that?
For the top layer, I'm trying to find a "16" cake topper... metallic silver preferably. Then get gold ribbon at Walmart and curl it with scissors and put under and around the 16...
I've seen on alot of cakes little wires being stuck in it and they have little stars at the end. I'd like mine to be metallic gold and silver if possible... any advice on that?
Sory it's so complicated. Any help would be appreciated! THANK YOU

well, i think that it's great that you want to make your own cake! especially since you know that you can't afford to have one made (some would try to get a pro to do it on a $20 budget).

but i warn you now that there is a lot to learn about making a three tier, fondant covered, zebra striped, gumpaste lettered/numbered cake.

you need to watch you tube videos to show you how to crumb coat a cake, ice a cake, fondant a cake, cut out zebra stripes (altho it's quite simple to figure out), stack a cake, apply decorations, etc. and videos for all of that are out there, so get to watching them! of course there is a wire debate...should you stick wires directly into a cake? of course not, so you'll need to get coffee stir sticks and put the wire in those and then into the cake. you'll need to make the numbers in advance if you expect them to be dry in time to attach them to the cake. you'll also need wire in those so they'll have something supporting them in the cake as well.

a lot of things go into cake decorating and making a cake of that size and detail. i'm not trying to discourage you...i'm also not trying to pretend that what we do is simple

and i haven't even touched on the baking, cooling, leveling and filling of the cake. nor have i mentioned the materials you'll need (cake board, cardboard circles, wires, gumpaste, cutters, etc.)

First, make sure you know how to stack a 3 tiered cake. You can't just pile the tiers on top of each other; they need internal supports. Here's an article with photos:
http://cakecentral.com/articles/107/building-the-cake-combination-pillar-stacked-construction
You should also search Youtube for the many videos on how to stack a cake. I know the last thing you want to see is your birthday cake collapsing all over the table, so don't skip the research and practice on this part!!

For your metallic stars and name, you'll need to purchase gold luster dust or edible gold spray. The spray is easier, but you'll probably have to order it online.
http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=24424&name=Chefmaster%20Edible%20Metallic%20Spray%20-%20Gold

For the zebra stripes, I recommend you buy black fondant. It's tough to color fondant black yourself and many people buy it precolored to avoid issues. Those you just kinda cut randomly/freehand and arrange them nicely to mimic a zebra pattern.

You should be able to find your topper at a craft store or cake supply store.

Just so you're not shocked - this is not going to be an inexpensive or easy undertaking for you and your family. Prepare to spend hours working on all the different parts.

I would definitely suggest practicing a few tiered cakes (at least two small tiers, like 9" and 6") first and maybe taking them to school for your friends to eat, or making it for a family member's birthday...that way, you can work out your problems by the time your big cake is due for your party.

Good luck!

knsmiley,
Good for you for being so ambitious. It is a big under taking but just educate yourself as much as you can. Just read, read, read. There is some excellent info on this website and watch videos on youtube. It may not come out exactly the way you want it but I'm sure you will do a great job and feel very proud of what you can accomplish !

Best advice I can give is to hang out here at CC and you tube as much as possible and when you're not here be in the kitchen practicing, lol! Seriously though, the forums are a HUGE wealth of info! Search the galleries too you might find some designs around what you're looking for, if you do PM (private message) the artist and ask for a few tips. Good luck!

Thank you all very much I appreciate all of your advice and hope it turns out ok We have a close friend who makes cakes and Mom's going to talk to her about the internal supports and making sure the structuring is good What would you recomment for my lettering? I want to place "Kelsey" on the middle tier if possible Thank you all again!

For your name try to get the funky tappits letter. They're so cute and really girly. Global Sugar Art sells them; the uppercase set comes with the numbers, they also have lowercase letters.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1565593

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1663145.html

The cake turned out GREAT! You can go to my galery to see it