Has Anyone Made This Cake Before?
Decorating By JPepper Updated 19 Aug 2013 , 3:29pm by BatterUpCake
I came across this beautiful cake made by Crummb. Just wondering if anyone has made this before and if you could give me a little bit of direction? I have made a dome cake before so I'm okay with that. I havent made ruffles like that so would need advice on how to make them. I ice my cakes with buttercream, not fondant, so I am wondering if the ruffles used in the picture are fondant will they soften if I put them on buttercream. Of maybe they'll just fall off if I use buttercream?? Maybe I should try using gum paste?
Any advise/suggestions would be greatly appreciated 
Thanks so much in advance!
Jennifer
AThey look like circles that are ruffled around the edges and left to harden in a flower former or egg crate. You'd want to make many circles in advance, then attach when they are stiff.
AIt might be the way the picture is taken but it looks like they are different shades, like an ombre effect
ASorry, also, Gumpaste rolls a bit thinner. You can attach with BC, royal, white chocolate...whatever you like. Just hold in place gently for a second after attaching each one.
I think you would get better success if you only let your ruffled circles harden up to 'leather' stage - means you will be able to reshape if necessary to get them to fit closely together.
If they are completely dry it will be difficult to get them to fit and also more chance of breakages
modeling chocolate rolls really thin and tastes better! You need the 3rd tool from the bottom to roll the edges
watch a fondant ruffle tutorial on youtube
Thank you very much everyone for your advise :) I am wondering, should I use fondant, gumpaste or modelling chocolate as BatterUpCake suggested? I've worked with fondant and gumpaste before but not modelling chocolate. Will the buttercream make the fondant, gumpaste or modelling chocolate soften and then fall off the cake??
no....they all work well on BC. I would put them on before they dried though so you can fit the ruffles close together without leaving gaps
AModeling chocolate is awesome, I didn't even think of that. Pam's right about breakage. Is it just me or are the colors different shades?
Maybe some of them were made in advance and left to dry, but some of them were put on while they were still pliable. See how they fit together? It's very possible foam or wadded up paper towel was inserted in each while they set up on the cake.
Personally, I wouldn't risk this cake in buttercream - too much can go wrong...sliding flowers, melting flowers. I live in southern Texas, so I'm not going to make fragile flowers out of modeling chocolate. They could be all wilty by the time the cake was delivered. In my experience, gumpaste is a nightmare to work with, so I'd mix tylose and fondant which is a dream to work with . No need to use any kind of icing to put the flowers on - a little tylose glue (tylose and water) is fine. If you have a cold kitchen, gluing them with chocolate might be easiest.
I personally would use modeling chocolate also. It will set up and be more delicious to eat and easy to cut, etc. Definitely not hard dried g/p and also putting tylose in fondant , will be somewhat hard and not tasty to me. Just my opinion. The chocolate will be fine as long as the room is cool, car is cool, etc. good luck.
I personally would use modeling chocolate also. It will set up and be more delicious to eat and easy to cut, etc. Definitely not hard dried g/p and also putting tylose in fondant , will be somewhat hard and not tasty to me. Just my opinion. The chocolate will be fine as long as the room is cool, car is cool, etc. good luck.
Of course no one would eat that part. But that's not modeling chocolate in the photo. I thought the OP wanted to make it look like the picture, she didn't ask how to make it taste better. And she's never used modeling chocolate? Why direct her something to new medium to work in? The cake is already challenging enough
I,m sorry. howsweet, i didn,t mean to say anything out of turn. I was just agreeing with BatterUpCake. She had posted that was a good way to go and how she thought it would taste better. I have never in the years , i have posted on c/c tried to give bad advice. I am sorry you took it that way. I hope JPepper, that i didn,t offend you. I,m sorry if i did.
Icer101, I appreciate everyone's advise and didnt take your comment as negative :) I am, though, finding that everyone has a very different opinion on this...lol...which makes it difficult to decide which way to go...lol! I think in the original cake the ruffles were made with fondant, however, this particular baker covers her cakes in fondant, whereas I prefer to use buttercream. And with buttercream comes different challenges with softening fondant decorations etc. I wasn't actually counting on the ruffles being edible....I was thinking that even in the original cake they would be removed prior to cutting the cake since the original baker mentioned that she made them days ahead of time.
I totally agree with all the great advise given so far. Except:....In my 25* years of experience (I've done a lot with choc. plastic before it even became well known), I do not think you can get that look with chocolate plastic....it would actually be harder to do than gum paste or fondant. First, the chocolate plastic has a different sheen to it, so it looks different (you could lightly dust it after it's shaped to loose some sheen). Second, it's extremely hard to get it that thin.... and hand shaping cp that thin will make it wilt/melt unless your standing in a cooler applying them. The only way you could use the cp in that thin of an application is to premade them draping the circles over something to let it free fall into that shape, than let them air dry just like fondant. BUT they will be far more fragile while assembling than fondant or gp.
You can put fondant or gum paste on butter cream if you lightly dipped the back in white chocolate or melted cocoa butter. Chocolate acts as a moisture barrier between the two. Than you could leave the cake out of the cooler for days.
AThanks AlfiesMom, I couldn't tell!
JPepper: if your planning on removing them I'd just use Gumpaste, especially if your worried fondant will melt-use what your comfortable with. You can make some farther in advance, Pam was just saying if they dry fully it will be harder to fill in the gaps, you'll be able to manipulate the pieces a bit more. I thought an egg container would be the best thing to dry them in, because if you look at the inside of the circles they are shaped as if pushed into one.
I totally agree with all the great advise given so far. Except:....In my 25* years of experience (I've done a lot with choc. plastic before it even became well known), I do not think you can get that look with chocolate plastic....it would actually be harder to do than gum paste or fondant. First, the chocolate plastic has a different sheen to it, so it looks different (you could lightly dust it after it's shaped to loose some sheen). Second, it's extremely hard to get it that thin.... and hand shaping cp that thin will make it wilt/melt unless your standing in a cooler applying them. The only way you could use the cp in that thin of an application is to premade them draping the circles over something to let it free fall into that shape, than let them air dry just like fondant. BUT they will be far more fragile while assembling than fondant or gp.
You can put fondant or gum paste on butter cream if you lightly dipped the back in white chocolate or melted cocoa butter. Chocolate acts as a moisture barrier between the two. Than you could leave the cake out of the cooler for days.
Wow, using melted chocolate as a barrier to the moisture is a new concept to me! Thanks for that tip! I've had fondant decorations soften and almost melt into buttercream overnight. I learned something new!
Thank you JPepper, for your nice reply. Yes, so many different opinions and that is ok. We all do things different, that is what makes the world go around. Again, i was just agreeing with the OP about the modeling chocolate. I guess i didn,t see where you don,t work with it. Sorry. Been working with it for a long time, Love working with it. Again, good luck with what you use. I love b/c cakes also. I do cover with fondant at times.
AI always use fondant decor on my bc and have never had a problem with melting. I usually attach with more bc. I would avoid using gum paste in this case. Yes it dries light and lovely but it also dries very hard. It might be very difficult to cut without taking them all off. I would use fondant pieces that have semi-dried so they can be molded to fit closely together. Modeling chocolate would work, but if you've never worked with it, it might be a bit more of a challenge..plus it never completely dries...which might not matter in this case but still...it's a different consistency than fondant or gum paste. HTH!
Thank you JPepper, for your nice reply. Yes, so many different opinions and that is ok. We all do things different, that is what makes the world go around. Again, i was just agreeing with the OP about the modeling chocolate. I guess i didn,t see where you don,t work with it. Sorry. Been working with it for a long time, Love working with it. Again, good luck with what you use. I love b/c cakes also. I do cover with fondant at times.
Sorry I jumped on you, I sort of thought you'd jumped on me.
I always use fondant decor on my bc and have never had a problem with melting. I usually attach with more bc. I would avoid using gum paste in this case. Yes it dries light and lovely but it also dries very hard. It might be very difficult to cut without taking them all off. I would use fondant pieces that have semi-dried so they can be molded to fit closely together. Modeling chocolate would work, but if you've never worked with it, it might be a bit more of a challenge..plus it never completely dries...which might not matter in this case but still...it's a different consistency than fondant or gum paste. HTH!
It can melt and it depends on your buttercream. There are so many ways to stick a bunch of flowers on a cake, but if the OP poster wants it to look like the picture, modeling chocolate will not work.. And yes, the flowers will have to be taken off. First everyone has a good cry and then after, they eat the cake.
Personally, I don't think modeling chocolate is all that tasty anyway. If I'm offered a chocolate bar or a modeling chocolate bar (do those exist?), it's a no brainer which I'm going to choose.
Thank you everyone so much for all of your advise
Hmmmmmmm, fondant or gumpaste, fondant or gumpaste?...LOL! Everyone has very valid points about each and now I'm in a conundrum about which to use! LOL! How about a 50/50 mix of fondant and gumpaste??
I had seen a tutorial where they made a ruffle cake using modeling chocolate and said it could roll much thinner than you could achieve with fondant. Didn't mean to upset anyone. Who would have thought that would be such a big deal?
It can melt and it depends on your buttercream. There are so many ways to stick a bunch of flowers on a cake, but if the OP poster wants it to look like the picture, modeling chocolate will not work.. And yes, the flowers will have to be taken off. First everyone has a good cry and then after, they eat the cake.
Personally, I don't think modeling chocolate is all that tasty anyway. If I'm offered a chocolate bar or a modeling chocolate bar (do those exist?), it's a no brainer which I'm going to choose.
Anything can melt if it's in a hot enough environment. But if it's in an air conditioned room and not directly in the sun there should be no problem. I've used fondant, gum paste and modeling chocolate before and based on my experiences with each--- for this cake I would use fondant. And I wouldn't have to take the flowers off if I did before cutting. You don't have to with fondant. Even when it's dry you can still cut through it. Gum paste, yes you'd have to take the flowers off--and what a mess that can be (again, my experience).
I personally wouldn't use modeling chocolate for this simply because I find it a bit messier to handle, but it could work. And it too would not have to be removed before cutting. However if melting is big issue I would avoid the modeling chocolate as it never completely dries and would be more prone to heat issues should there be one.
This is actually a pretty straightforward cake that looks more difficult to create than it is. Whatever you use, I'm sure it will look lovely.
J Pepper~~ Thanks for sharing the photo of such a darling cake. It is astonishing that although there are 10's of 1,000's of cake photos out there, there will always be a new, beautiful, "something" that captures the eye and heart.
Good suggestions, everyone! Part of my fascination with this hobby is that there are so many ways/methods/recipes to arrive at the same end result.
Isn't cake decorating grand!
Anything can melt if it's in a hot enough environment. But if it's in an air conditioned room and not directly in the sun there should be no problem. I've used fondant, gum paste and modeling chocolate before and based on my experiences with each--- for this cake I would use fondant. And I wouldn't have to take the flowers off if I did before cutting. You don't have to with fondant. Even when it's dry you can still cut through it. Gum paste, yes you'd have to take the flowers off--and what a mess that can be (again, my experience).
I personally wouldn't use modeling chocolate for this simply because I find it a bit messier to handle, but it could work. And it too would not have to be removed before cutting. However if melting is big issue I would avoid the modeling chocolate as it never completely dries and would be more prone to heat issues should there be one.
This is actually a pretty straightforward cake that looks more difficult to create than it is. Whatever you use, I'm sure it will look lovely.
If you can make those flowers with plain fondant, and have them rolled that thin and look just like those without any droopiness, then you have some special skills and I bow to your superiorness. But that may not be something to recommend to just anyone, at least without explaining your technique.
I was saying the part in contact with the buttercream could melt and that it depends on the type of buttercream.
Regarding the removal of the flowers, I was also thinking how pretty plating could be if several intact flowers were set next to each slice of cake.
Why all the worry about fondant melting on BC? BC cakes are covered in Fondant all of the time. How would this be different?
https://www.facebook.com/CakeFu?directed_target_id=0
This site also has a tutorial for ruffled flowers.
Why all the worry about fondant melting on BC? BC cakes are covered in Fondant all of the time. How would this be different?
Are you talking to me? My response was to the concept of putting sugarpaste flowers directly on buttercream. The moisture in the fondant can melt the hard sugarpaste pieces and they can slide. They are hard in a large part because when they dry, the moisture evaporates. The type of buttercream used is a factor.
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