Ok...here's my problem. This wedding cake is due March 3rd. The bride gave me the cake plans 4 days ago. It looks like the striped areas are white chocolate transfers. That's fine except that 1) I've never done a chocolate transfer and 2) all the transfers I've seen that are even similar have brown in them.
I tried last night to just "paint" the fondant instead and that turned out looking like pure crap. I really want to do this cake, but I might pull out my hair in the process. Has anyone done or attempted a cake like this? What are some of my options.
-Stressed out in Tennessee- 
I would simply tell the bride (cause yes it does look like a transfer sheet - hard to tell with the scan) that you cannot find a supplier in your area that carries this style of transfer, and getting it in on time could pose an issue.
You can create a similar look by making very thin strips of fondant, but it will be very very time consuming
How big is your cake? If you have time to practice/play, I would try something like this.
From what I can tell, it's 6,8,10, and 14. I thought about doing fondant strips too...ugh.
I'm going to see the bride saturday. So, I'm going to tell her about the chocolate thing. She doesnt know that it's chocolate so maybe if I can figure out the fondant thing it'll be ok.
Thanks
You could also try using strips of ribbon. Then do a border of dots to help cover the ends of the ribbons. I think that would look very pretty and elegant 
Lazy_Susan
Does it have to be EXACTLY the same colours and sizes and everything??
Pictures can be misleading with size, that stand looks to be no bigger than 12" to me, so I say it's more likely a 4 6 8 10 combo.
Another thought if you are doing fondant covered cake is to pipe royal icing lines down the sides, would go faster than the strips
You could also try using strips of ribbon. Then do a border of dots to help cover the ends of the ribbons. I think that would look very pretty and elegant
Lazy_Susan
Great idea!!! WAY faster, but could get pricing with all that ribbon.
Make sure you charge for the time on this one!
You could also put white dots on some of the ribbon strips. It looks like that in the pic.
You could also try using strips of ribbon. Then do a border of dots to help cover the ends of the ribbons. I think that would look very pretty and elegant
Lazy_Susan
Great idea!!! WAY faster, but could get pricing with all that ribbon.
Make sure you charge for the time on this one!
Thank you very much I'm thinking I might like to try this myself.
Hmmm...I never thought about the RI. That would probably work out better. I guess it could be 4,6,8, 12. That would probably be better than starting with 6. I'm still new at all this LOL. The ribbon idea is good too, but that could get pricey.
How much would you charge for something like this??
well I don't know what you charge per serving for your cakes.....but you need your charge per serving for a fondant cake, plus the time involved in doing the detailing. Fondant strips and choc transfer method I would price out at the highest for labour, then royal icing piping, ribbon has got time plus materials of the ribbon.
If doing royal, depending upon your speed, you're looking at minimum 2 hours of piping on the cake in order to get it all straight.
if 4 6 8 12, you're looking at about 95 servings x price/serving fondant + labour of detail of min 2 hours
Hope that helps??
I did fondant strips on this cake: http://cakecentral.com/modules/coppermine/albums/userpics/10223/Birdcage.jpg Once I got a rhythm going, it went pretty quickly. Believe it or not, it's symmetrical, so there's hardly any measuring. I'd recommend using the FMM ribbon cutter which is like a dual pastry wheel.
What magazine is this in (and the year and month). Maybe one of us has it and can check it out closer.
Can you make your own chocolate transfer? I've never done that but it might work.
Color white chocolate modeling clay the different shades of green. Thinly roll out each color (including white), cut various sized strips and then lay them in the pattern needed. Then roll out a large piece of white, cut it in a rectangle to fit the size needed to go around the cake. Gently wet the colored stripes and then lay the white chocolate rectangle on top and gently press it so the stripes will stick. Then just wrap it around the cake. What do you all think?? 
I have no idea what magazine. I dont know if it's a wedding magazine or a cake magazine. She just gave me the pic. If I had a pasta machine I could probably make the strips more uniform. Hmmm....
Well, I'll keep checking back. Thanks for all the input so far. I'm about to try to RI. Then the fondant strips. I'm gonna have to get a ribbon cutter (thanks DianeLM)
I have no idea what magazine. I dont know if it's a wedding magazine or a cake magazine. She just gave me the pic. If I had a pasta machine I could probably make the strips more uniform. Hmmm....
Well, I'll keep checking back. Thanks for all the input so far. I'm about to try to RI. Then the fondant strips. I'm gonna have to get a ribbon cutter (thanks DianeLM)
Oh yeah, you're going to need a pasta machine too. 
Hopefully, you're charging enough for this cake to justify the purchase.
Why not just do the stripes in buttercream? I'm not sure about you, but when someone gives me a picture from a magazine, I tell them I'll do my best to replicate, but sometimes making it look exact just isn't possible. She's probably not going to know it's a chocolate transfer, or fondant, or something else, so I would just tell her what you're going to do. But before you tell her, make sure you can do it.
I just tried to RI ribbons. I'm waiting for the green to dry a little bit before I try straightening them up with a hobby knife (not sure if that'll work) so I can continue to work with another color. (I think this might work) Cross your fingers.
I just want to be able to tell her if I can or cant do it by this weekend only b/c if I cant, she's gonna have to find someone that can. And not many people would do such a large cake with 2-3 weeks notice. She did tell me that it doesnt have to be exact, but she seems like the type that she really DOES want it to be exact, which is fine....it is her wedding after-all. LOL
Maybe you can mask off your lines and then paint them. I know it sounds like painting a car. But you can mask one off and then let dry and then do the next line beside it. Will take a while but that to me looks like what they did. Or maybe you can use a straight edge to make a straight line on each side of the stripe. I hope it don't sound like a bunch of mumbo jumbo.
do you have the book Pretty Party Cakes by Peggy Porschen??
There are a couple of techniques shown in there that you could do for your cake.....piping royal icing lines is one, the other is like someone suggested of having strips of different coloured fondant together, rolling them together and you can place them on the sides
I think the idea of chocolate clay stripes and then "wrapping" it around the cake. The cutting of the stripes could be time consuming, but what cake doesn't have a time consuming aspect to it? You wouldn't have so much worry about perfectly smooth buttercream underneat since you'd be covering it up anyway, so you'd displace some time there. I think it could go smoothly if properly planned.
What if you covered them in white fondant, then using a ruler and a green food writer pen, made the stripes going down?
You could use wide and fine tip ones to make different size lines.
Or another thing I just thought of, what if you cut pieces of foam or sponge into long strips and used them to stamp on the color?
One more idea, what about edible images put onto fondant and wrapped around?
I don't actually know exactly how this is done but I have seen chocolate makers paint the colors on their mold /plastic sheets and then pour the chocolate over the colors. When the chocolate is unmolded the colors are there. They had something like that on Bobby Flay's throw down last night. The cake looks like a white chocolate wrap to me also.
Well, I'm at a loss. I tried painting the stripes on, but the tape I used I guess isn't strong enough so the coloring bled through. 2nd option was cutting different size fondant strips. Also, didnt work. Well....it worked but you cant use a rolling pin b/c it'll smoosh (??) all the colors into a wavy line pattern...GRRRR
So, instead I put the fondant strips together and then used my fondant smoother and just pressed them together. Kinda worked, but not good enough.
So, I broke down and call the chocolate people and ordered some transfers. I'm an idiot by the way about that. FYI to those who dont know. When you look at the transfers and you see brown on them it's not part of the transfer it's just the kind of chocolate you put on. **slapping forehead** We'll see how this goes.
http://www.anoccasionalchocolate.com/candy-food-coloring.html
If you scroll down to the truffle eggs, she explains how she added the color. I would think you could do the same thing following the chocolate wrap technique that was on this site yesterday. Just paint your stripe on the plastic strips, let them set five minutes- then cover with white chocolate. Then you would have striped chocolate wrap.
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