I am making a wrestling themed cake for my grandsons birthday. The ring will be black fondant with white gumpaste ropes (playdough extruder - yay). My question is: I want to make a ladder for a ladder-match - I will be placing figures on it, so it needs to be kinda sturdy. I tried rolling dowels in gumpaste (looks pretty rough). Thinking about pretzels dipped in chocolate for the corner posts, maybe same for ladder? Does anyone have any good ideas for a free-standing ladder. I want this to be perfect - I am making his uncles wedding and grooms cakes in April and want them to see that I may have an idea of what I am doing. Thanks in advance.

In my pic you can see a ring cake i did. I used unraveled string red liqourice for the ropes - I couldn't get single rope so it was a bit rough. The logo on the center of the ring was painted, I used pretzel rod covered in fondant for the posts. I did cover the board in fondant. I used the actually birthday boy's toys and ladder from the money in the bag/box set. I didn't set the ladder in the ring for fear it would tear through. The front has Raw logo.

I didn't take many pics (I was so excited with Justin's reaction, I got lost in the moment).

HTH - I look forward to pics.

you could try choc. candy melts or royal icing,i did that for a fire truck cake i did a while back. you just have to be very careful because they do break real easy.