Beach Theme Cake, How To Make Coral?

Decorating By JCE62108 Updated 23 Sep 2011 , 3:07pm by TracisCreations1

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JCE62108 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 12:01am
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I have seen lots of beautiful photos of beach theme cakes and I was wondering how you guys make the coral? Is it best to try to mold it out of gumpaste or do most of you use RI?

Also, I need to put Happy Birthday on the cake, what kind of creative ways can I put it on there without actually writing it on there in icing?

This cake is for a very special surprise birthday party at a nice restaurant by the beach. My customer wants an elegant beach theme to impress his wife (and the guests!).

Any suggestions on this cake would be fantastic. Ive never done a beach themed cake before. The only thing I was thinking is that I dont want to make it look like a wedding cake. I was thinking of using maybe brighter colors for the fondant icing, and maybe just lighter shells? I dont know guys. I guess Ill search the photos some more. icon_sad.gif

24 replies
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Brownie1954 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 12:11am
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I make my coral out of RI....It's fun to come up with different shapes, and you can color the RI to make it look colorful like in a real coral reef.
Can you use fondant to make the Happy Birthday words? Perhaps like wooden planks? How about little logs rolled out of fondant, to spell out the words?

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juliebold Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 12:20am
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I used royal icing and sprinkled non perials on them. You could also use the coral effect to write out happy birthday.

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JCE62108 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 1:38am
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Oh wow great ideas! I was wondering about the texture, non perials are a great idea. I thought the same thing about making happy birthday in coral, but I didnt know how to go about it. I think it would be easy with RI, maybe not so much with gumpaste.

Do you guys have any photos of your coral? Id love to see some for examples. icon_smile.gif



*psst moderators Im sorry I meant to post this is "how to". You may move it if you wish. icon_smile.gif

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rharris524 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 1:42am
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I made my coral and other sea life with a 50/50 fondant and gum paste mix (in my pics) As for the writing...could you make it like it was written in the sand? Like, cover the 'sand' area in cookie crumbs (nilla wafers or graham crackers) and drag a tooth pick through it

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Brownie1954 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 1:43am
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I do like the idea of the words being made out of coral. I think it would look a lot more elegant than what I suggested, since you want it to look really adult, and fancy. I will have to see if I have a pic I can upload with the coral on it, that I have done.

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JCE62108 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 1:48am
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Oh I love the sand idea and saw it in a few photos, but my concern is travel. I actually have to deliver this cake about 90 minutes away. I thought maybe the writing in the sand would get messed up from the vibration of the car. Well, I guess I could always re-write it when I got there. Only thing is the restaurant staff and who knows who else is going to be handling the thing...which makes me a little nervous. Is there something I can do to the sand to secure it?

You know, on the same note, if I were to make the coral-birthday message, how could I make that strong enough to endure travel and handling?

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Brownie1954 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 2:02am
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I forgot to tell you that I have a wedding cake due August 1 that will be beach themed. The icing will be a PB buttercream, so it will already be a light tan. I will be putting small flowers on each tier that looks like something you would find growing on the beach. I am making shells from white chocolate (using molds). I will soflty marble the white chocolate so there are a couple of different colors to them. Then I will do the coral from RI. I think I will leave it white so there isn't too much color from everything. I am going to make a tiny crab, and maybe a seahorse to set among the shells. They have a monogram they want on top.

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jammjenks Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 2:34am
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I'm thinking a clam shell with "Happy Birthday" in it would be nice. Don't really know how to do it though. Just brainstorming.

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Cakey1865 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 2:38am
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You could make her a sandcastle....

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CakeMommyTX Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 2:40am
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I made my coral out of candymelts,I used a piping bag with a #2 tip and just piped them on to wax paper and let harden. Then I was able to dust them with luster dust to give them some depth and highlight the textured parts. Here's a pic of it[url] http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1246020[/url]

For the Happy Birthday I like the idea of writing it in coral.

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Alice1230 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 2:48am
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on amazing wedding cakes last night they did a coral cake. the coral was made out of fondant and he mixed in non perils and some glitter into the fondant to give it texture. I thought that was a great idea and it looked very real.

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JCE62108 Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 9:09pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CakeMommyTX

I made my coral out of candymelts,I used a piping bag with a #2 tip and just piped them on to wax paper and let harden. Then I was able to dust them with luster dust to give them some depth and highlight the textured parts. Here's a pic of it[url] http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1246020[/url]

For the Happy Birthday I like the idea of writing it in coral.




I love your coral! Very pretty.

I also like the idea of using the non perials for texture. Mixing it into the fondant seems interesting. I think trying to mold fondant would be a lot harder than just piping some squiggles with RI or chocolate. Im not skilled with fondant at all. Ive covered a few cakes with it, but I think I may stay away from molding things with it until Im a little more comfortable handling it.

Well I think I will just practice a bit and see what I like. I think RI is the way to go, especially if Im going to write out happy birthday in it. Thanks for all the comments, guys, you have given me a lot to think about. icon_smile.gif

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monawhite_rose Posted 23 Jun 2009 , 10:53pm
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You can also use rock sugar if you know how to make it, looks very real and you can make it any colour you want.

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JCE62108 Posted 24 Jun 2009 , 8:41am
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How would you do that?

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leahk Posted 24 Jun 2009 , 9:38am
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Susan Carberry from Yummy Arts has a video set for a coral wedding cake.
In the promotional video they showed that she chops up ice in the food processor and puts 2/3 of it in a bowl. She makes a indentation in the ice, and pours in melted white candy melts. Then she dumps some more ice on top. That's how she gets her large chunks of coral. You can see them in the clip in the following link.
http://store.yummyarts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=speccake32

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leahk Posted 24 Jun 2009 , 9:42am
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I found the coral making link on Youtube.


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JCE62108 Posted 24 Jun 2009 , 10:06pm
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That is so awesome! Thanks for sharing that! I will have to try that for sure. I bet that would be really neat with colors added too.

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superstar Posted 24 Jun 2009 , 11:14pm
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leahk, I have always had to make my coral out of gumpaste as RI doesn't do too well here in Hawaii, but I will now always do it with the candy melts, thank you for sharing that wonderful video!

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mommicakes Posted 24 Jun 2009 , 11:21pm
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I use the chopped ice method too. it is pretty cool and the shapes are soo random, the kids like to watch me do it, you can use all different colors of chocolate, and they can be any size when done. icon_biggrin.gif

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leahk Posted 25 Jun 2009 , 7:19am
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Glad to help!

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teckaj Posted 23 Feb 2011 , 5:13pm
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I saw on a cooking show you mix egg whites and powder sugar and put in microwave.. It really works..

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BCo Posted 23 Feb 2011 , 5:38pm
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I have done it a couple different ways. I have done the ice method mentioned before and have also just used white candymelts and a picture of a piece of coral and laid wax paper over it and traced the lines.

I used both methods on this cake - one produces a chunkier piece and the other a more flat piece. The flat piece was using the wax paper over the picture and on the second tier (I know it's hard to see) there is a chunk that was made using the ice method.

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/491013

Then recently I made some out of rice crispy treats. Just the store bought ones, I tore off pieces and it had the perfect texture and I just used pink and purple and orange luster dust/petal dust (whatever you have in whatever color you want) and dusted the whole piece with it. This again gives you a chunkier piece of coral.

You can see it in this cake at the bottom (a pink piece and a purple piece) - you can always make them bigger/different shapes or maybe even cover them with some melted chocolate - the lumps and bumps were perfect for coral!

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1897760

Good luck!

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Rosie2 Posted 23 Feb 2011 , 5:39pm
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Great info, thank you!!! thumbs_up.gif

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TracisCreations1 Posted 23 Sep 2011 , 3:07pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JCE62108

How would you do that?


you can use brown sugar and spell it out in the "sand"

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