Hi ladies and gents! I haven't been on this forum in quite a long time but I could use some help. A customer sent me this link (http://www.paulinescakes.com/2010/12/saxophone-for-jazz-music-lover.html) as inspiration for the cake that she wants. I am struggling with making the saxophone stand up. I tried to make it from rice cereal treats, but the neck is so thin that it won't stiffen up enough to hold it upright without falling over. I'm to the point of considering making a smaller version totally out of gumpaste (because I'm afraid it would be way to heavy to make one as large totally out of gumpaste). Does anyone have any other ideas?
Thanks in advance!
you need a support in there to hold it up whether it is rice krispy treat or cake or maybe fondant or gum paste would hold but probably not and would need some support too -- use a copper tube or wood or something -- i would make it to extend down into the cake so it doesn't fall over either
Hi there! Thanks for the reply. Yes, I do have internal supports that extend out the bottom to allow them to go into the cake as well. Sorry that I didn't specify that at first. Unfortunately, it's still really bendy. It seems like it's going to break off of/pull away from the support. I just covered it in fondant so I'll let that dry out and see if it seems like it's holding together better.
so you have to conquer gravity huh -- are you using rice krispy treats or what? did the krispies set up overnight? sometimes i grind up the krispies first --- i use 5 cups krispie, quarter cup butter, 10-16 oz marshmallows (one bag i usually get the 16oz.) and vanilla -- it would have to be set up on top of the support and the bottom of the support needs to stick into the cake board for it to hold -- all the way through the cake into the board --
and depending on the size of everything you might want to mount the cake board onto an inch of foam so that it will hold even better --
if you use candy clay to cover you can make it thinner than fondant and it can firm up and hold itself up better
what kind of support is inside? copper tube or pvc? --
if it's going to be very narrow sometimes all you need is the candy clay and no rkt at all -- that might work for you --
you want to use some glue on there like piping gel or melted chocolate and let it fully set up -- you could wrap a few covered wires around the support so your product has something to adhere to --
Right now, I have RKT with wooden dowels for support. I used the RKT recipe you mentioned but didn't grind the cereal first. I inserted the dowels and let it set overnight (lying on it's back, as it wouldn't hold its shape upright at that point). It is covered in royal icing and then fondant, right now. If there's any way to salvage the one I have, that would be my preference. If I have to start over, I want to use a method I know will be successful. I have only done one other cake using RKT and it was a simple sphere, so I think I was over-confident that I could do it based on my skill level with cake, fondant, and gumpaste. Which is obviously not the same as RKT, I'm learning ;) My saxophone is only going to be about 5-6 inches tall so the neck of it is pretty thin.
and so how securely are the dowel joined?
as far as my recipe, it's one cup of the cereal short of the usual recipe and it has a ton more marshmallows --
if i was doing this i would make a secure skeletal saxophone and cover the fatter parts with rkt then cover with candy clay and the thinner parts with just candy clay --
If it's just a topper in the shape of a saxophone I'd use a wire that's bent like the saxphone shape and use that as the armature inside the instrument itself, This would be a separate support than the stick that would go into the cake to hold it up. From what you're describing I don't know if you have an actual armature or just a dowel in it.
I'd make it out of gumpaste and just put it around the wire, then add the detail of the keys and wires after the body of the saxophone dries.
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