AI am making a black Michael Kors purse for a birthday party. It needs to feed about 50 people. It is sort of square shaped. I'm wondering how much cake to make. I was thinking about doing two 12 inch square pans and cutting them to make the shape and then carving (if necessary). Does this sound about right or will that be too much cake?

Also, has anybody done purse handles that stick up with modeling chocolate? I've seen them done by wrapping plastic tubing with fondant and then sticking dowels in each end of the plastic tubing. The dowels then get stuck in the cake. I've also heard of them being made with gumpaste. I've never used gumpaste before, so I don't know if I should try that.

Any info that you could provide would be appreciated. This is my first purse cake. Thanks!

so is it laying down or standing up -- what are the dimenions

i would talk them into chocolate -- that much black icing/fondant would be in the teeth for a while -- i tell people -- this is food --- it's your dessert so i can always talk them into going chocolate --

not to mention you can get black cocoa too from king arthur flour company 

AIt is going to be standing up.

AI'm reading that a lot of people bake an 11 x 15 and cut it into three pieces. Would that be enough for 50 people? If not, maybe I should place the cake on top of another cake like a base.

I have to agree with K8Memphis - black is not a super appetizing color. If I were doing this, I would use a sheet cake under the purse cake and make the purse a bit smaller. That will ensure you have plenty of servings and the guest of honor might want to keep the purse just for themselves. I find people have a seriously hard time cutting into these works of art when it comes time to eat them.

As for the handles, I've had very good luck with gum paste. The handles I've made have been pretty thick and I allowed them plenty of time to dry. The good news is gum paste dries relatively fast.  Fondant handles could work but you will have to allow a good deal of drying time.

I have also mixed Tylose in with fondant to make it stronger. Another person who answered my post about buttercream against fondant suggested using 50/50 of fondant and gum paste. Haven't tried it yet, but I'm certain that would work great as well.

AWhat's wrong with black fondant? If it's thin enough, there's literally nothing there. Rock on with the black purse, if the purse is black, the cake is black. Big deal.

AThe cake will be an amaretto flavor. I spoke with the client and she's deciding between a red purse or off white. Do you colour the gum paste with gel colouring or cover the gum paste with fondant?

AJust use gel color in your gum paste. It takes color very well

Good luck! I'm sure it will be amazing!