Hi all,
Doing a bridal shower cake for my soon to be cousin. I told her mother that I would do a "dress cake" for her. Once she sent me a pic of the wedding dress I was wishing I had suggested something else! I am very nervous about doing this dress. First off, I have never done one though I was very excited to try it...suggestions of any kind welcome of course. Second, the dress does not have pleats per say but "puffs". I really had no problems trying pleats but totally at a loss for how to create a puff! here is the link to the dress. You can not enlarge to see detail either as I would have liked to see the bead work up close

http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?style=A3225

This cake will also need to serve 75 so on that note there will be at least one other tier that the "dress" sits upon and here is my biggest worry of all...it will have to travel 2.5 hours.
To stack or not to stack before taking to the event???? And yet another question comes to mind. How many of you torte and fill the "wonder mold" when you use it? I have only used it once before and I did not fill it...would you suggest filling it? The dress portion will be a vanilla sour cream pound cake (if I fill it I will go with a raspberry buttercream) the bottom will be dark chocolate bourbon with vanilla buttercream.
Sorry to run on!
THANKS IN ADVANCE for any and all help and suggestions.
Suzi

I wish I had an answer for you on how to make those puffs in the dress. That dress is beautiful. Once you get some guidance, maybe you could practice on the wonder mold pan itself since you just take if off and keep trying it without using up your fondant.

If you just can't do this exact design on the cake, just let the mom know you won't be doing the dress exactly as in the photo "because the heat and humidity" would make the puffs droop, and so you are just doing the pleats in bottom part of it. That's a reasonable thing for this time of year.

Hmmm. Maybe thicker amounts of BC under spots so you could build the puffed areas up?

Thank you for the idea of practicing on the pan itself! Sometimes when I am in that "panic" state I don't think of even the simplest thing! LOL. I will give that a shot tomorrow and see how it works out. What do you think about the beading? I just wish I could enlarge it just to get a feel for the pattern. My sister suggests that I go look at the dress some where in person. I want it to be beautiful but I don't want this to turn into a pain in the butt project! I have scoured the internet for close up photos but can not find one. And then the back with the lace up corset! Again, I would love to attempt all of this, just don't know if I have that kind of talent!

For all the beading on the dress, I think I would just do some piping with RI. I think for the laces I'd try to cut thin strips of fondant and apply them. Just take your time. Keep reminding yourself you are NOT doing an exact replica of this dress, just something that's similar to it. That should take alot of the stress off you. Once you're relaxed, you'll probably be getting more of that detail in.

And looking at the photos again, I think if you do the pleating, then pull some closer together, you might get that effect. But you'll get a feel for it when you practice on the cake pan.

Please show us photos of how the cake turns out.

i just did an internet search for the dress. on preownedweddingdresses.com people have pictures posted of the gown that they have and some have closeup of that dress the beading the back etc.

HTH

Judi

Could you pleat it and then make sort of a loose ribbon rose where it is supposed to bunch? I think you could get the effect without having to do an exact replica.

I really want to do one of these some day. I hope it goes well.

I knew there was a reason I loved this site! The support is amazing! Thanks all.
Do any of you have opinions on whether or not I should fill the dress portion of the cake (or is that asking for trouble) as well as stacking before or after transport?
Judi - Thanks for the photo info I have saved them and will use them as a guide tomorrow while practicing.
Off to bed to dream of sugar dragees and fondant wedding dresses!

Personally, with all the bumps in a 2 1/2 hour drive, I don't think I'd trust myself to fill the gown for the trip. As for stacking, if I felt I could secure it to the base cake well enough, I would stack before the trip. If you feel confident enough in keeping it safe on its own for the trip, then stacking it there, I'd go that way. How's that for answering without giving an actual answer?

I wouldn't fill a dress mold cake. Too risky IMO, but there are those that have done it with success. However...2.5 hr trip? That's asking for it.

The puffs:

I have a dress in my photos..pink one, I did for OSSAS.

I did it in sections from the bottom up, just making sure that the folds hid the edges of the sections. I think you could do something similar, you'd just have to do it vertically instead of horizontally like I did. When there's a puff, make that strip longer so you can puff it up, secure it to the cake and let the rest fall down to the hem, then cut it off even with the board.

I sure hope you can see the tutorial video in my head, 'cuz that's the best way I can describe it.

I used Marcela Sanchez's silk paste for making that dress. It was positively wonderful to work with.

I agree with RI piping for the beadwork, then hand paint with pearl dust mixed with vodka. Airbrush the whole dress for that satiny sheen, or dust it with dry pearly sheen and steam it (what I did on that pink dress). (Of course, if you are going that route... be careful of steaming too long so your poufs won't wilt, and don't put your detailing on until after you are done with that steaming and it dries)

Good luck and post pics...that is one gorgeous dress.

As for filling a wonder mold I think there are 2 major considerations. a) what type of filling. If you did it with buttercream it's more stable than say a sleeve filling. b) What are you putting under the fondant. Are you going to buttercream the wonder mold, or use ganache under your fondant. I found the ganache really stabilize a cake so the filling would be less of an issue. I'm a total chicken so I tend to stack anything over 2 tiers on site. I use SPS so I know I could travel with more but my car doesn't transport cakes well as it is.

Will you be in something like an SUV or a regular car? Center of gravity is always my concern with transporting stacked cakes.

I did a wondermold cake and felt the cake to filling ratio would be off so I had a side of the german chocolate cake filling that people could dollup on to their plates if they wanted more.

Happy Monday All!
UPDATE TIME!!

I made my cake. Though I really only did a very loose interpretation of her dress (and I mean loose) I and the whole party were thrilled with the cake. As soon as (and maybe even before that) I stuck the headless doll pick in the cake to try and invision what I was about to do; I realized that unless I carve away part of the cake I will not be able to get the silhouette of this dress with a body in it any other way. I did use the wonder pan, which any one who has used this knows how much it flares and rounds out. I also would have had to extend the torso of the doll pick with fondant or something and figure out how to get another pick or something in there to hold it as the dress had a tight drop waist. So enough of the excuses...once I put the fondant over and put a few pleats into it I thought this is really pretty so why mess with it. (I did order the Marcela Sanchez Silk Paste but I did not end up using it)

Turns out the bride thought that she was having a sheet cake so she was just totally blown away.

Below are pictures...again thanks to everyone for their help!

The photos didn't attach. But it's great to hear that the bride loved the cake so much. Good going.

Thanks! I will try and post again...maybe it was too big????

Obviously this is another problem the site is having because I can not get this photo to upload. Sorry, I will keep trying. I have them in my facebook album if you really want to see it..............
http://tinyurl.com/26q998a

One more try...

CC has been having problems for a week now with posting photos. If you notice the front page, the most saved photos row is still the same photos they were a week ago, so it's not you.

Now,.... I went in to your Facebook. Your cake came out stunning. It is gorgeous, elegant, absolutely beautiful, the detail work.......exquisite. Everyone must have gone nuts over the cake. Fantastic Job!

cownsj,
Thanks! Your coments are so sweet! Initially this cake was weighing so heavy on me and creating serious stress but once I started working on it, I just felt at total ease.

Upon sitting it on the table at the country club in one piece, I added the final touches and thought, I just love doing this. I was gushing with joy.

I did actually torte (against suggestions) and fill the "doll" part too. Not sure why but it worked. It traveled stacked as well.

This cake/delivery was my biggest learning experience to date!

For all your worries about torting the top, prestacking, etc., you certainly came out great. I'm also glad top hear that the top can be torted and filled and transported safely. I've been afraid to try, but maybe next time I need to make one I'll do just that. good job!

I do think that sometimes our biggest stress and worry comes before we begin, we just aren't imagining it coming out how we have it pictured in our heads. I'm glad the stress left you and it went so nicely.

cownsj - As far as filling the wonder mold. I torted in 1/2 and filled the hole created by the metal heating core in the lower half. I then damed and filled as usual. It was raspberry buttercream. I made sure once it was stacked that I "pushed" it together good then sealed the cut with the same thick icing I made the dam with...kind of like I was spackleing. Then I filled the center on the top half where the heating core was and then sealed that with fondant. I did that to keep the icing in and not bleeding through the fondant anywhere since it was pink. PLUS since the center heating core (about the size of a fat pencil) left a hole I needed something for the doll pick to latch to. I also felt that filling that "core" hole through the cake may keep it from wanting to crack.

I used Wiltons white plastic straws cut to size for bottom and center tier (5 each) and of course ran a center support dowl through the whole cake and all the way through my double stacked cake drum. I actually did that before I filled the hole from the heating core. I took a second dowl and hammered the first dowl down below where the doll pick would go.

I believe that this was pretty darn sturdy. I did say a few prayers before putting it in the back of my SUV not to be seen again until my arrival.

THE END

I enjoyed sharing theis post with all of you. Happy Baking!