My daughter who turns 4 tomorrow insisted on having the wilton castle cake for her birthday...she saw the picture of and and said "he has to be exactly like that exactly" Well it was more like "exactyee"!
Well what a 'royal' pain in the behind this cake is to decorate! And know I am am supper annoyed because the towers are falling! I did it just like they said!
Why oh why couldn't they have some plastc piece exteding out of the bottom of the towers to put in the cake like the windows? Why oh why do you have to attach dowels?
Ok there is my mini-rant!! Has anyone else had better luck with this kit! I find it not very user-friendly (or maybe it's just this user!?) Oh yeah and decorating the turrets was a pain! There is nothing to hold onto! Sooooo you get a blank space where your fingers were!!
I just hopt it holds up on the way to the party!


Ahhhhh fell better now!
Ashley

sorry you are having such problems. I bought the castle kit too but now my daughter wants a scooby doo party. There go my dreams for a girly girl.

HI,
I have the kit as well, and I haven't used it yet, but I haven't heard anything great about it, which sucks because the last thing you want to happen is the cake towers falling over.. or whatever else could happen.
I think if I knew that before hand, I wouldn't have bought it.
so I am no help. but good luck!

I feel for you...I bought the kit, I followed the directions and it was also a total disaster!! the cake was so bad that I never brought it to CC ....mine ended up looking like a church instead of a castle since I could not put all the towers.
However, I've seen gorgeous castles (here) that were done with the same kit...so, I asssumed that I needed more experience to work with the kit....I don't know, but I've never try to do another castle again.
Good luck...maybe some of the experts can help you here.

I also purchased that castle kit from wiltons for my cousins little girls cake. I really didn't have much trouble with it (I made it simple) until it was time to deliver it. I drove 10 MIH all the way to the place and the towers still fell over. I dropped off the cake and rushed back home to get my repair kit. I was able to fix it...but I was very close to having my first cake disaster. So I would definitely recommend attaching the towers after you already have the cake on the cake table. You can look in my photos to see it.

I made the castle cake for a friends daughters 2nd bday party. I melted white chocolate and put it on the bottom of the towers and it dried like crazy glue then it went much better. It even delivered to her house without a problem. Hope this helps

Great thread! I've never used the castle kit (did the Disney one, but not the Wilton one) so it's very nice for you all to share your experiences before I ever accept an order for one!

Hope some folks who have done it successfully pop in here and share the hints that make it work ok!

My dh drilled some holes in the bottom of the towers and I inserted skewers to stabilize them. Helped alot. They still sway but are alot more stable when moving the cake. Hth.

Jo-Ann

I've never used this, but just a shot in the dark suggestion....melted choc. works great to "stick" things firmly.

Jen

the towers really need to be put in place on site, i wouldn't travel with them on, except for the ones that are attached to the board. for the ones that sit on higher levels i drilled a hole into the bottom of the tower so i could slip them over a dowel. use melted chocolate to attche the towers to the board.

a better tip - get some cardboard tubing (kitchen roll, innards of wrapping paper). i find it so easy to do, cover them in fondant just with a bit better. i think you still have the same standing up issues, but my way sounds much less stress that wiltons way.
or even use swiss rolls - messy, but tasty!
xx

yes paper towel tubes will work too, but you've got to save them for when you have a castle cake to do. i needed 13 towers so it would have taken several months to accumulate that many tubes. The wilton set if you have it works and the towers have battlements at the top and the spires. If you cover them in a 50/50 mix early enough you can actually slide off the mix to remove the plastic inner piece.

i was considering getting the wilton kit for a sand castle cake for my daughter's 5th birthday this year. this has just set my mind to not even bother with it. not one for complicated cake items when i have enough things to worry about with a party to plan also.

So I got it to work...well with 4 tower casualties on the way over! Next time I do a castle it won't be with the kit! I ended up using melted chocolate. I brought a thermos to the park of boiling water, a bowl, and chocolate in a piping bag....melted the chocolate there, then put it back together... so I was at least prepared for the casualties! Overall it turned out great and my daughter loved it!
Thanks for all your help! Check out the finished product!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1404284.html

Thanks again!!!

Wow, you did an awesome job!!! I wish mine would had come out near as good as yours...mine was a disaster. The towers didn't fell but I had trouble with the set up. Like I said, I've never try to make a castle again ...
I'm glad your turned out so great. Congratulations!!

I have done the Wilton castle kit several times. I always use white candy melts, but I put it on the bottom AND on the sides so that they are attached to the board AND the cake. I haven't had one even threaten to fall on me yet and the last one traveled 15 miles around a mountain.

i did the castle cake for my daughters first birthday in February. I believe i did the same thing Jammjenks does. I used the white candymelts to really glue the towers to the cake board...then i covered the white mess up with "green bushes". I also had to travel a long way up and down many hills and turns and didn't have any problems. I hope you're not to discouraged to try it again. I just hope my daughter will want one again sometime.

I just made the castle cake for my daughter's 1st birthday on June 20th. Hubby drilled holes in the bottoms and I hot glued 1/4" dowels into them. I used a foam core board for the cake board, sharpened the dowels and pushed those into the base cake board. I also put a little hot glue under these for extra support (the ones that don't go into the cake). I made the dowels that went into the cake long enough to actually go all the way thru the cake and into the cake board. Everything turned out really great. I was really proud of this cake--first one like this I've made.

Angie1972, GREAT tip about the white chocolate. I'll have to remember that one when I use the kit.

Angie1972, GREAT tip about the white chocolate. I'll have to remember that one when I use the kit.

It turned out wonderful! Great job!

Bturpin - Your cake looks great as well!!

I have done two of these cakes...I used the candy melts and used about 1 tbls of the melted stuff per tower. I did the window deco first and then the dowel and candy. I then let the towers dry upside down for a whole hour and did not put the ones into the cake until I delivered it. Also it does help to secure the board towers to the cake sides, not just the board. I used fondant on the turrets. I also bring a little bc in a bag already tipped just in case. The fondant was used on the second cake...frosting the turrets was a pain in the neck, lol! I have left the fondant on the turrets for the next cake...