HI,

I want to make a dhol shaped cake, for those who don't know its sort of a drum in india used for weddings...its a cylindrical shape im confused what sized pan should i use and how do i place it on the cakeboard. Basically im blank totally

ANY suggestions would be appreciated

I am attaching a picture for u guys to see the kind of cake im talking about carving.

I'm assuming you want to make i standing up and not lying down like the picture is? It won't be as hard as you think if you break it down. IDK how large you need to make this cake, but you will need cardboards and dowels for every 4" of vertical cake. Let's assume you are making the cake 16" high total, for which I would guess the top and bottom are 8" and the middle is 10". The main shape is one cake like this \\_/ underneath a cake that is that same shape upside down, then iced over and decorated as one. Since each shape is 8" tall, each will need to be two 4" cakes.

Let's assume you are using 2" thick cake layers and a very thin filling like buttercream just to stick them together.

1) Bake two 8" layers, four 9" layers, and two 10" layers (alternatively, four 8" and four 10" layers)

2) make four cakes out of those layers:
a) 8" cake board, 8" cake, icing, 9" cake
b) 8" cake board (yes), 9" cake, icing, 10" cake
c) 10" cake board, 10" cake, icing, 9" cake
d) 8" cake board (yes), 9" cake, icing, 8" cake

3) make two cakes out of the four you just made:
e) cake a, regular thickness for top coat of icing, dowels, cake b (centered!)
f) cake b, regular thickness for top coat of icing, dowels, cake c (centered!)

4) Take cake E and trim any cake hanging out to make it this shape \\_/. (use can set a 10" cake board on top to help you trim if you'd like). Chill.

5) repeat step 4 with cake F, making the shape upside down. Chill.

6) ice cake E in buttercream including the top. Chill.

7) repeat step 6 with cake F

8 ) put dowels in the top of cake E (be careful not to exceed the 8" board underneath) and place cake F on top. Pipe and smooth some icing around the cake join to stabilize it and chill.

9) at this point you have your basic shape. You can scrape the buttercream down to adjust it anywhere needed and proceed to cover in fondant and decorations.

HTH!

For the lines, you can add bands of fondant to the buttercreamed cake, chill, then they will show up well (you may need to accent them by drawing around them with your dresden tool) after the final coat of fondant.