Okay, thanks to all the wonderful help I recieved here, I have my first ever FBCT in the freezer...I did them over the weekend and have been peeking at them often....they look so cool! Anyways, I made the transfers knowing I had the book pan somewhere. This pan was given to me and I have never used it, just stored it away until I was ready to use. Well, I did not pull it out before making my transfers. My DH just dug the pan out for me and it's small....much too small to put my transfers on. This has thrown me for a loop. The cake is for my son's Young5/Kindergarten class. It's for a party they are having for Reading Month. I did two transfers, each one is of a page from the Cat in the Hat book. I'm now wondering how to save this. Is there a way to make a rectangle cake look like a book without having to carve?! I'm so mad at myself! I'm sure there is an easy solution, but I've been planning this in my mind for so long that I'm having a hard time changing gears! Thanks in advance for any advice. And also, thanks for listening to me ramble...Jodie

can carve (really very easy -- see template below)

or

just mound up the icing to make the two "humps" on top and angle it off on the sides (i'm sure the kids won't mind a bit that they're getting extra icing -- tho' the teacher and all the mom's will!)

If you don't want to carve maybe just run a narrow line of off white or grey icing down the center of the cake to make the open spine of it--or carve a "v" out of the center to make the open spine of the book. Frost the top and sides white for the pages and run a solid line of a color around for the border to represent the cover using a 7 tip. If you have an icing comb you could before the border run it around the sides to give it the look of pages or use a small tip and pipe from the top center around to the bottom center repeating from top to bottom a few times--again to look like pages. If this doesn't help I am sure someone else can come up with something.

Thanks Doug and Birdgirl! The cake is the oven...decided to put it off for a day to think about it. I am going to try and carve...I've never carved before but this is probably about the easiest place to start, huh? Thanks again....I'll let you know how it goes.

By the way...I decided against the extra frosting....don't want the other moms mad The teacher is smart, though. She always gives them their treats about 1/2 hour before they go home so she doesn't have to deal with the sugar highs Smart lady.

Jodie

On thing I learned the hard way when carving...make sure your serrated knife is sharp! A dull knife makes for a lot of un-needed problems! I also like to freeze my cake before carving it, less chance of having pieces break off! Can't wait to see your cake, my daughter and I love Cat in the Hat!! GL, Jen

Okay...my cake is done. Unfortunately, I do not have a digital camera, so I was planning on taking a picture with my 35mm and downloading a picture when that was developed....so, I get my camera out and the battery is dead ...I just can't win today. I live in a small town and can't get a battery here, will have to wait until I can make it the city...only 30 miles away but we have freezing rain today. I may have to run out and buy a disposable camera!

Anyways, I decided to not carve, really couldn't as by the time I trimmed away the edges (the cake was a little uneven) I had just enough room for the FBCT's to fit....couldn't even put any writting on the cake. I am terrible at smoothing my sides, but since I was making a book cake (some what anyways) I just ran a butter knife along the side to make it look like pages...that part turned out pretty cool.

So....one more cake under my belt. I'm sure the Young5/Kindergarten kids will like it. I see many faults, but that's all part of the learning process! Anyways, thanks so much to everyone who offered advice and/or encouragement. I really appreciate it!

Jodie

glad to it almost all worked out well....

drat those cameras ..... just so unreliable!

Okay...I just got back from the school and I'm so excited! I know we are our worst critics, and apparently I was a little hard on myself because the response I got was amazing...and I'm not talking about the kids! The teacher loved it and said she's never seen anything like it...the teachers assistant wanted to know why I'm not selling my cakes I feel great! If only Michigan wasn't a state that required a second kitchen to be legal, would love to do this as a business but as a stay at home don't have the budget to get legal

Anyways, I was able to get a couple pics...just took the battery out and put it back in, that gave enough power for a couple snaps...didn't get any pictures of my son at school on jammie day but did get the cake

Thanks again to everyone who helped! This is such a great community! Jodie