My Own Mother!!! And The Mysterious Floating Cake
Decorating By Katydidz Updated 24 May 2006 , 11:27pm by candy177
OK y'all. First a little story then a question.
Story: Last weekend was my mom's boss's birthday. I didn't know this until Monday when I went to visit her at work. She mentioned that it was D's Birthday and that she had gone to Wal-Mart and bought her a cake!!!! My own MOTHER!!! She said that she knew I was really busy (end of semester in college) and that I had plenty on my plate but still!!! I could have done a little cake for D!! Doesn't take forever. Luckily Mom made sure to tell everyone that I had not made the cake, that she had purchased it at Wal-Mart, but still. The nerve. Silly woman.
Now question. It's my nephews birthday party this weekend. Last year I made a Jabba the Hut cake and everyone was very impressed. I was still very new to cake decorating at the time. So this year I keep hearing, "Do whatever you want. It's not like you're going to be able to top Jabba." So now, of course, I have to top Jabba!! I've decided what I'm going to do and planned out everything I need to get done but I'm having trouble with one little thing. The character that I'm doing floats. He's always a few feet off the ground. Any ideas on how I could make the illusion that he's floating without too much work?
Thanks you guys are the greatest!
That sounds like a neat idea. First thing that came ot my mind was some kind of clear straw that you could put him on and stick into the cake. Next thing was fishing line attached it to him and some kind of clear sturdy stick kinda like a fishing pole idea, not sure what that would be right off hand. Maybe that will get the creative juices flowing anyway. Good luck.
Two ideas come to mind. Think they would both work as long as the character isn't too big.
1- Suspend the character above the cake using a clear stick or sticks. I was thinking of something like those plastic cocktail stirrers.
2- Really make the character float by using magnets. Since the same poles of a magnet will repel each other, you could place one in the cake and one in the character, and if you place the same poles facing each other the character should float, as long a the magnets were strong enough. This would really definately contibute to the WOW factor. You'd want to try it out before hand and probably should cover the magnet that is going in the cake with plastic wrap. I think this would be really cool. Let us know if you try it.
Uuumm......do you see what you're setting yourself up for??? Next year, how will you top this year's cake?? I think it could be fun, though, challenging yourself each year!
I like the magnet idea; be sure to do a practice run OFF the cake. Be sure to post your pic! Most of all, have fun!
After a floating character this year, you're going to have to start planning next years cake right after this party! 
I agree, going to be hard to top that next year 
!! LOL
I'm not really sure the magnet thing would work. You would need some industrial magnets to pull that off. i think the weight of the cake or character or whatever would make it slip off of the repelling magnetic field. Does that make sense?? I know what i mean but i dont know how to say it!!lol Just like when you do it with magnets in your hands, you cant keep them steady, they roll around!!
whatever would make it slip off of the repelling magnetic field. Does that make sense?? I know what i mean but i dont know how to say it!!lol Just like when you do it with magnets in your hands, you cant keep them steady, they roll around!!
Yeah, I was thinking about that after I posted. So I talked to my hubby the physicist. Basically you can't make a local minimum with a magnetic field. You could make it work if you provided some mean to keep the two magnets aligned. So if you used a thin filament (I'm thinking fine fishing line) to attach the two magnets, and the magnet on the bottom had a wider radius that the length of the line, it might work. It would be a bit of work and would take some trail and error, but it would be a neat effect. I bet folks wouldn't even notice the fishing line.
I'm to have to think up some reason to try this one day.
You've got me wondering too! Who is the character?
Oh and in response to your mom going to Wal-mart....well, my FATHER went to another DECORATOR for a cake!
He could have just had my stepmother order it from me.....it was a pair of men's undies! LOL (With a rolled fondant "bulge"!) This was for some co-worker's birthday party.....I was so hurt! Oh well.
I have no ideas for you. I'm just typing something so I can get a message when the character is revealed! LOL
Here is a link to a photo of a floating cake that is really fantastic. You could pm her and ask her how she did it.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=favpics&cat=0&pos=-26931
I remember watching a food network challange and one of the guys made a tiered cake using clear round plexi type plastic pieces to seporate his layers. If you put the charactor on a cake board that is just his size, go to the hardware store and find a piece os plexi that you could make work, and dowel it just like a layer, that should have the illusion and be sturdy as well. Good Luck.
what about just sticking a wire in the bottom of the character...........the stainless steel (silver) wires are barely noticeable!!! I've done butterflies on them on cakes and people had to have it pointed out to them that there was a wire....they thought I invented a way to combat gravity or something LOL
what a fun thread. you try a continous blast of air from within a cake. if you go to a toystore, you can find plenty of toys (battery-powered) that work on the principle. My son has a toy like that. Ofcourse the object that you wish to float has to be lightweight. what's the character?
Hey y'all, my bad I had completely forgotten about this thread 
. Needless to say he didn't float. He was a total mess! I doubt many of you would know the character but his name is Frylock he's from a cartoon on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim. Eventually he turned out ok but it was such a nightmare I had blocked him out. Thanks for all your great ideas though!
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