Hi, I'm making a cake for this upcoming weekend. It's a birthday/best wishes and anniversary cake all in one. I was looking to make a "gift box" but looking at ideas here on cakecentral...I've come across really beautiful ones, especially the gift box cake. My question is...how to I get the "lid" to stay open? and how to make it look like "tissue paper" inside the box? Can someone pleassssse help me in that area? Possibly a step by step? So appreciated! thanks
Kimzie

Kimzie,

I can't answer this for you, but I was just going to post the same question... I can't wait for an answer!

I know there's a tutorial on this site in a sticky for the cake itself. I dunno about tissue paper though. I can do cloth, but I've never tried tissue paper.

Woops, never mind. Somehow I thought you said flower basket. Can you tell I had a long day today?

to keep the box lid open insert a dowel into the cake and leave about 1/2 to 1'' above the cake, put the other cake "lid" on top, so that it sits at and angle. To make the tissue paper, just roll gumpaste super thin and brush it with peatl dust to make it shinny. hope this helps

Make your lid in advance and allow it to dry and harden and you will prop it open with dowlels that are taller then the cake by the amount you want the lid to be lifted up. Tissue paper can be made out of gumpast rolled out extra thin and then gently lifted and crumpled and folded and then set it aside to dry. It is best to make and put it directly where you need it to go so it get's the right shape of draping over the edges and gets tucked in all the right spots.
I am making my first hat box cake this weekend also! It's for Mother's Day for my Grandma, Mom and three Aunts and I guess myself since I am a Mom too..LOL

what is the best way to make the box lid? Is is solid? hollow? Stryofoam? cake? gumpaste?

I have been wondering this myself. So, would you just use the tissue paper gumpaste to cover up the dowels? Gumpaste is SO finicky...would 50/50 gumpaste fondant work?

You can make a lid by molding gumpast over the bottom of a pan or making a circle letting it harden and then make a ribbon and attach it around the edge standing up. Using styro is a great option. I love gumpaste! You can turn your fondant into gumpaste by adding Tylose powder but Ii think making gumpaste works out better. Grease your hands up and work it. It does dry fast so no fans turned on and keep the lump you are not using greesed and wrapped up in plastic wrap and even then in a ziplock with all the air sqeezed out. The warmer you get it with your hands the more pliable it becomes.

Here's a link to a DIY project that I had stored in my files. Hope it helps - and be sure to post a picture!

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_natural_homemade/article/0,2025,DIY_13767_5225051,00.html

Oh and here's another from cc:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-215781.html

I made a gift box last week and I used a cake on a cake board for the lid. I let it chill in the fridge then frosted it and then chilled again and then covered with fondant and then just put it on the dowels in the cake that were taller on one side than on the other side. Hope this help[s.

When I do mine I like to put the dowels and a wedge too for support that way I can attach the lid to the wedge(wich I cover in fodant), with some royal icing so it won't move.

As for the gumpaste, wich brand are you using?.. I know wilton will dry a bit faster than others and yes adding some fondant will help.

Edna

I made a gift box not long ago and what I did was I baked 2 8" squares cut them both in half that give you 4 peices. I stacked 3 layers for the bottom and one for the lid. The top lid was on cake board then covered in fondant. The tissue papper was rolled MMF. Just as the others have mentioned take wooden dowls (4 or 5) and make them sick out higher than the tissue paper. If you are really worried about the lid falling off as I was becuse I had to transport it pretty far. I put very small drop of hot glue on the dowls and placed the lid ontop. it stuck just fine. Just make sure the glue doens't get on anypart of the cake or fondant.
Hope that helps

I make my own using tylose.. But if I buy one is usually the Wilton one. Is just a matter of getting use to the consistency and if it's too hard or brittle adding a bit of fondant. Works like a charm for me.
Edna

I do make my own MMF if I am going to be covering a cake. I only use the Wilton stuff for things that I want to be drier, like decorations that are going to be cut through and normally taken off, nothing that will be eaten. The MMF seems to never dry, so making decorations with it has not paid off for me in the past.

tonedna: care to share you fondant and gumpaste recipes?

For fondant I just buy Satin Ice. And the gumpaste recipe is on my website on the recipe link
www.designmeacake.com
Edna

thanks for sharing

I don't know if you've got enough info already, but here's someone who made one a few years back. You might try PMing her?

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=21215

I actually just did one of those a few weeks ago. I made the lid out of styrofoam. I was glad I didn't too cake... I thought it'd be too heavy. I just rolled out white fondant into a rectangle (pretty thin) & pinched it in certain spots. You can check out my picture

TONEDNA-The MMF recipe on your website...do you use this to cover your cakes with?

No..Most of my cakes are done in buttercream. If I do fondant I use satin Ice. We have too many cakes to make the fondant on top of that!
Edna

Just wondering how it is going for you... with your box & lid. My lid gave me fits putting it together and now it is stuck on what it dried on ARG! I am not even sure if it is hard enough to turn right side up and decorate yet. Well i better get moving on the list of endless tasks for all the details that are driving me bonkers. XOXO