Frozen Castle Cake Help Please

Decorating By louglou Updated 13 Nov 2014 , 10:10pm by Magic Mouthfuls

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louglou Posted 23 Oct 2014 , 7:13pm
post #1 of 7

I want to make a frozen castle cake for my daughter's 5th birthday. It needs to serve about 40 (There are 30 kids coming to the party but I want leftovers). My inspiration is this amazing cake by Caroline Nagorcka. (I don't expect to be able to replicate it, but I'm aiming high)

 

 

I want to use candy melts to make the shards of ice as I think they are tastier than using fondant/gumpaste. I am planning to have the balcony inset into the second tier rather than standing in front.

 

Now for my questions.

 

How many and what size tiers to use? I think tall and skinny will look better than wide and low, so maybe 8, 6 and 4? Except I don't have a 6 or 4 inch tin.

 

Does there need to be a 2 inch size difference? What about 8,7 and 6?

 

Will candy melt shards be too heavy to layer in this way? I think I could get away with 2 tiers a 10 and 8 if I could pile the shards up higher, but I don't know if this will work.

 

Any ideas how to achieve the pointy sticks? I might just leave these off if it's too tricky.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. 

6 replies
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Magic Mouthfuls Posted 23 Oct 2014 , 11:37pm
post #2 of 7

I would ice the cakes in ganache first + dowel/board each tier - that should be a strong enough base for the shards made of candy melts.  

 

I would definitely do 2" intervals between cake tiers - I did a rose wrap cake using 2" internals and I was amazed at how you could not tell there was even 3 tiers inside.  You can hand cut the smaller tiers out of sheet cake if you really don't want to buy more tins - the decoration itself will disguise any imperfections.

 

It almost looks like the bottom tier is a double barrel height, so I would do 8" (double height), then a 6" then a 4".

 

Stack the 3 tiers, then decorate from the top down.

 

Setting the shards would be quicker if made in candy melts rather than fondant/gumpaste, but attaching them to the cake will be more time consuming, as you would be wise to use melted chocolate as your glue - whereas with fondant you would only need a quick brush with water.  You can buy molds for the shards - which would make them quicker and more uniform - then just trim the bottoms to create different heights.

 

If you go with candy melts, then I would use modelling chocolate for the 'pointy sticks'. 

 

Make sure you use bright white candy melts   - any hint of yellow in that chocolate will create a really strange looking blue - and proper chocolate/candy colours (you cannot use icing gel pastes or colours).

 

Overall, yes candy melts will taste nicer, but fondant would be easier and look sharper.

 

Best wishes to you and make sure you show us your finished masterpiece!!

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louglou Posted 24 Oct 2014 , 6:14am
post #3 of 7

AThanks so much for the advice. I think I may have over stretched myself with this one. I was hoping to use buttercream rather than ganache to keep the costs down. Do you think this would work? You are right about the sizes and the intervals but I'm not sure I feel comfortable making such a tall thin cake. I'm going to have to rethink this one and maybe go for something a bit less ambitious.

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Rosie2 Posted 13 Nov 2014 , 6:16pm
post #4 of 7

That's a beautiful cake! make sure you 'show and tell' if you decide to make it :)

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louglou Posted 13 Nov 2014 , 6:32pm
post #5 of 7
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Rosie2 Posted 13 Nov 2014 , 7:45pm
post #6 of 7

Awesome and very cute!! thank you for sharing Louglou, you did a great job on the cake. I'm sure your daughter loved it :)

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Magic Mouthfuls Posted 13 Nov 2014 , 10:10pm
post #7 of 7

Well done.  It looks beautiful

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