Okay, so recently I asked for some help with a beaver cake (as my co-worker is as busy as one) but it didn't net much in the way of replies.  Not a commonly done cake!

So I have scrapped that idea and am now asking for help in making a cake with stacks on dollar bills.  I recently ordered several (9 I believe) edible $100 dollar bills from Tasty FotoArt.  Searching "money cake" on this site, I have seen several examples of what I am trying to do.

If anyone has done such a cake, I would love to hear how you did it!

I am thus far guessing I will bake two 9x13" cakes which will be cut into the size of the edible art (whenever that arrives).  Not sure if it is exactly life-size or not.  Anyways, I have difficulty with fondant, so I was hoping to ice the cut cake with buttercream as smoothly as possible.  I was considering maybe freezing a bit to stiffen the buttercream.  I am not sure how to put the "lines" in the sides of the cake to represent individual bills...but I think there are tools for that.  Then perhaps I could "paint" those lines with a bit of food coloring or perhaps with an edible ink marker.  Still unsure of how to tint the buttercream to most closely approximate a dollar bill...any thoughts?

I have considered making fondant "wraps" as you would use to hold a stack of bills together.  We'll see...again not too good with fondant here.  Maybe a thin piece to approximate a rubber band?

Any tips are appreciated!  It is an important cake and I want to do well!

Thanks in advance for any thougths, pictures, links to videos, etc!

sorry about the other cake not getting replies

as far as coloring the icing 'money green'--i'd use an army green plus some black icing

as far as the lines...hmm...i think i'd just use the bench scraper or a wide spatula and just make dents in the crusted buttercream as close as possible--but typically you can't really denote them in a real stack of money can you? i guess i don't have too many stacks laying around here... ;)

if you use a rubber band--make the money flare up on the ends from the rubber band--tighter in the middle and looser on the ends--shorter in the middle and gradually taller on both ends

I did a money cake recently and for the paper, I used a very pale yellow with the tiniest touch of black, ever. The actual print is black, and then there is a really nice bright green for just the seal. I used leaf green. If you do the back of the money, the print is forest green with a dab of yellow.

ASometimes, you have to be patient...especially the later in the week. I'm a forum addict ( see <----- says so over there) but am just now seeing your post. I have lots of finishin touches to cakes so its been about 2 hours since I visited this site. /done with lecture

I really liked the busy bee idea! You could so a bee hive using the Wilton Baebie pan & make little bees. On the top I would make a queen bee with tools scattered around her. That wouldn't be too complicated but would be very impressive.

I don't get the stack of money? To pay for her hard work?

ANot the same currency, but I did a cake representing two stacks of banknotes for my eldest son's birthday a couple of years ago: [IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/2970717/width/350/height/700[/IMG]

I baked the cakes in 2 lb loaf tins, carved a 'v' shape towards the centre to look like the 'rubber band' was holding the notes tightly around the middle and covered with sugarpaste (fondant) which I marked with a veining tool around the sides and painted with silver lustre diluted with isopropyl alcohol.

I made moulds of actual coins to create sugar ones (seen scattered on the board).