Hi all. I am making a round (3D) sports ball cake. Its my first cake. I am wondering how you actually decorate the bottom of the cake (it suggests using a star tip).. would you frost the cake in its two pieces and then turn it over and put the top half on and decorate the top after you have put the two pieces together?

Any tips would be so helpful.. Thank you..

First I recommend letting this cake cool completely so it will be firm. You don't want your ball looking like a egg or hamburger shape. I start with pipping a large ring or stiff icing onto the cake board for the ball to settle into. I being with the bottom half upside down and begin to star it. when I get almost to the end, I turn it right side up into the ring of stiff icing on the board.

Then I pipe a ring of stiff icing as a damn for the filling between the layers. Then I stack it! From then I finish decorating. A turn table is your friend with this, as is the multi star tip.

Also I added the kids name to the cake bord so it would be nice and neat, instead of trying to pipe a name across a bunch of stars.

One more thing, make your cake board out of several layers of cardboard so that it will be thick, and run a dowel with a sharpened end through the cake and into the board. This will ensure (along with the stiff ring of BC around the bottom) that the ball does not go rolling off the board during delivery.

OMG I am doing one of these next week and was wondering the same! Thanks for the advice!