First Paid Wedding Cake......do You Think This Will Work?
Decorating By Somethin-Sweet Updated 6 Jul 2006 , 4:07pm by Somethin-Sweet
I am attaching a sketch of a wedding cake that will be my first actual paid cake- every one I have done has been my gift to the couple.......
It is a combination of a couple of cakes that the bride to be liked on this site.........The squares will be seperated by styrofoam covered in fondant to look like Calla Lily Stems.......She only needs it to feed around 50 people or so- so it is not going to be very big- but I will have to transport it about 45 minutes to a hunting lodge where the reception will be taking place.....
My questions are-
1) Will the Styrofoam hold the weight of the cakes? She wants the backs of the cakes to be lined up straight- not centered (does that make sense)
2) I plan to stack on site, but am worried about transporting the layers without them getting messed up.....Any ideas how to prevent this?
3) I plan to make the Calla Lilies out of a mixture of fondant/candy clay- so how far in advance should I make them? Also, any ideas how to make
the stems for them so that they will stand up nicely on top of the cake? I thought about small dowels? What do you guys think?
BTW- yes it is Pink and Brown.....so not your traditional wedding cake- but hey- Whatever the bride wants, right?
Thanks for all of your input!
if i understand correctly, she wants the cake to line up in the back-the front will look like steps????-so if the put the styrofoam in the center of the cake it is to support , them both styrofoam will not be directly under each other--correct?? if i have that right, wont it look off????-please understand that i get 
really easy 
i can't tell you if it will work, but i know someone here can
A friend of mine made a cake exactly like this one. Instead of making the calla lilies out of fondant, he pushed a pillar through the three tiers for support and then used fake calla lilies to put around the pillars to make it look like they were holding up the cake. This may work for you since you have to transport the cake so far. Also, it make support better than the styrofoam alone. Instead of the fake callas, you could even wrap with fondant stems?!
Good luck with the cake, and congratulations on your first paid order.
Thanks for the replies!
daltonam- I did not think about the stems not lining up and looking off- I may have to tell her to rethink that- Thanks for the compliment- I like this color combination too.
Hardygirl18- do you know how your friend pushed a pillar through the tiers?
I am so nervous about messing this up! Thanks so much!
Styrofoam would probably support the weight if the diameter is big enough but I'd dowel rod for stability. I use a non-slip rug thing to transport. I agree with daltonam though about the stacking. It seems you would have to do the support in the middle of the cakes or you would have stability issues - and if you did each one off-center like she wants then the stems wouldn't be one long "column" which I'm assuming is the idea? If she would just let you center the layers it looks like it would be an awesome cake!
And strangely enough, I've got two weddings coming up (not doing the cakes) where they are using the brown with their other colors (one green one blue) for the brides cakes. I know it's a interior decorating trend right now to use those color combos but I'm not sure about on a wedding cake!
Good luck with it and be sure to post pics!
Gidgetsmom
I made a stacked wedding cake (which I put together on site) and drove it about and hour away. What I did was attached the fondant covered cake to another board that was slightly larger so that it could fit in cake boxes without moving around in the car. (Cake was attached to the larger board with a little bit of royal icing). I'm not sure if this is a typical way of transporting, but it worked for me!
I love this design. But, I think you're going to need some real engineering and serious construction for it to work. I'm attaching a side view of what I think you're talking about...and a more "typical" side view to illustrate where you're going to run into problems.
It's the middle tier, of course. It's going to be floating out there with nothing to support the majority of its weight. You're going to need something VERY sturdy to keep it from pulling itself over. I'd probably be exploring some type of wood with metal cylinders screwed in above and below. The cylinder below could be simply pushed into the bottom layer...and then surrounded with lengths of extruded green fondant ropes to look like stems. The cylinder above could simply support the plate of the smallest top tier.
If you could talk the bride into centering each tier instead of having them offset, it would be MUCH easier. You'd still need something pretty sturdy to use for center support...but you could use glass tumblers hot glued to a cake plate. If everything is centered, you don't have that gravity thing going on with the middle tier.
If you do decide to use tumblers or vases or something similar to support the tiers, don't just push them through the cake. use them to mark their placement and then CUT with a sharp knife down through the cake where they are going to be pushed. THEN push them into the cake. If you just push them into the cake without cutting a path first...the stress will cause your cake sides to blow out. Don't ask me how I know!!!!!
Styrofoam might support the tiers, if it was heavily doweled and supported, but you would need a much wider styrofoam section than is shown here (or in your drawing). I don't think it would end up looking look like stems.
This one might warrant a trial run! Please keep us posted as to how it progresses.
You said it only had to feed about 50 people. Depending on the size of the bottom cake, could you possibly make the middle cake a dummy? If it was styrofoam, it wouldn't be heavy and could be help up offcenter.
I have never done anything this complicated, so just a thought.
Thought I would post the finished product here - Not my original idea, but I think it turned out OK and it got me 3 more orders! YAY!
The fondant kinda shifted on the bottom two layers in transport.........anybody know how to stop this from happening? Thanks so much for everyone's help! I could not have pulled it off without you guys!
Thanks! 
Acutally, the fondant was not chocolate- just colored brown.....a real pain to get the color, but the bride Hates chocolate! Go figure! LOL!
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