I want to put a number (the number 20) on top of a cake, standing up (not piped flat on the cake) but Im not sure how to do this. Do you use fondant? Is there a wire holding it up? How is this done?

use gumpaste (or fondant with tylose) to shape your numbers, poke some toothpicks in the bottom to hold them up later, and let them dry for several days flat on their backs.

I made mine out of fondant, let dry for about 3 days. I picked out a font I liked and used that as a template to cut my numbers. Stuck floral wire in the bottom and let dry. This was for my daughter's birthday cake, it's in my photos if you want to see it.

that's a good point, the font you find most commonly used on those toppers is called 'curlz', and came standard with MS office, or you can download it.

I use regular fondant (no Duff's) to mold or cut the letters, while still soft insert bamboo skewers that are taller and stronger than common toothpicks and let dry 3-5 days. I make sure to let dry with front and back sides up under a ceiling fan


Every time has worked perfectly! it hold even thick numbers like 3 on my Minnie cake http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1813155

you can use fondant, but gumpaste is stronger and dries faster.
you can insert skewers, lollipop sticks, spaghetti, toothpicks etc when the shape is freshly made. (i wouldnt trust wires unless it was a really thick one)
or let it dry, and stick the support onto the back with royal icing or ri.
should be straightforward anough for the 2, for the 0 try to give it a fairly wide base, the supports may need to go at an angle.
xx

thanks. Sounds pretty easy!!
Thanks for the name of the font too

I use pate choux--basic cream puff dough--works like crazy--you just pipe it & bake. I gotta picture somewhere. You can put it on the cake with toothpicks. Easy peasy.



It's kinda hard to see the black lettering against the black & white background--so if you click on it it will open up so you can see the letters. The capital R is prolly 3-4 inches tall.

another idea for you to consider sometime

This has got me pretty excited too! I'm off to google choux. Please be easy, please be easy!

K8memphis...it's good you can pipe it like that. I'm amazed.

It's basic cream puff pastry. You've all eaten it, I can assure you.

http://steamykitchen.com/6659-super-simple-pate-a-choux-basic-cream-puff-recipe.html

I think it would be hard for me to pipe it into letters though.

It bakes up light brown so you can paint it other colors no problem. Black of course & colors work fine.

I've baked color in with Kool aid powder (drink mix)

I've made it with shortening instead of butter and jiggled with the oven heat to get it baked off but still keep it from browning and just let it dry out and had good enough results I could potentially paint it white. I don't have any white to try it but it should work.

It's real easy one cup water, a stick of butter a little salt, bring just to a boil then all at once add a cup of flour and mix mix mix and very shortly it will turn into a blob. Be sure you work all the powdery flour bits. Put the blob in your stand mixer and one at a time add four eggs beating very well in between each addition. Done. Pipe it out & bake.

Let yourself learn how to work with it. Make cream puffs with the leftover. Leftovers are oddly addicting too. Little crispy buttery bites.

It's real lightwight which makes it nice for lettering and all kinds of stuff, a wonderful tool. I've totally gotten carried away with it a time or two. I made fireworks out of it. And I wrote out an entire Bible verse. If you can pipe, it's just like any other pipe-able medium.

Cook it a good one when you're getting it to blob stage so it will be nice & dry when you bake it so it will not puff up too awkwardly like cream puffs do with the craggy cracks & stuff. But when it's a blob (blobs up) you're good.

I saw Jacques Torres make a whole multi leveled stand for some pastries out of it on his tv show and we've all seen the swans you can make. Lettering was the next step for me not to mention the bombs bursting in air.



She was 90 on Independence Day.

I've seen someone else say they used it for fairy wings, but lettering is something I think would be quite useful.

Do you have to pipe it really thin, so it has room to puff up?

What do you mean by 'cook it a good one when you're getting it to the blob stage'?

The fireworks are amazing, I can't believe those are cream puffs.

I've used what I imagine is exactly the same stuff to make eclairs out of before, and as I recall it was pretty easy to work with, so I'm hoping I can add this to my list of skills, it sounds so promising!

Yes me, I made fairy wings out of it.

Zespri, fairy wings are as important as lettering in some cases not to mention they're useful to fairies too.

I just mean keep it over the burner when you add the flour and you'll quickly see when it's done.

You really can't do it wrong it's easy.

Yes the fireworks are flat though. Thank you for likin' 'em!!!
I thought they were kinda cool.
They're so lightweight, you can make a ton of stuff. Breakage is nto problem 'cause you can easily make lots of extras.

The writing on that fireworks cake was striped pate choux piped out--that's when I colored it with kool aid for the red, white (really it was light brown) and blue effect.

Thank you K8memphis for all the information ont he cream puff recipe and alll you could possibly do with it! I look forward to trying it soon.