I love this cake. It gives me that fresh, springtime feeling (or maybe it's my soap).

Tell me what you think, do you think it was covered in fondant or BC before adding the green sticks on the sides?

I gotta make this cake!

My guess is buttercream, it would make the rolls stick better. And taste better too.

I would use BC, and then stick the fondant strips on it. That is a beautiful cake!

What a pretty cake. the sides are strips of fondant rolled into ropes. (or pushed through a clay gun. There is some icing under the fondant to hold it in place. the flowers may be fondant or gumpaste.

OOOOH! A clay gun, I didn't even think about that. I gotta get me one of those! It is on my list. I am going to make this cake if it kills me. I have yet to make one to post and I gotta do it. Plus, I'm having a surprise party for my baby sis' 30th. I'll let y'all know who it goes.

That is an Awesome cake! Hands down to you Doughnut for wanting to try it. I like your style! LOL. You let us know how it went and I can't wait to see a pic of it! Take care!
Josie

i got a five dollar clay gun at michaels in the polymer clay section. its cheap but it works just fine. if its tough to push the fondant through, you can kneed in a little bit of shortening and its a breeze. unless you are going to use this type of tool ALL the time, an inexpensive version is fine.

i think the claygun will give more uniform stems but i think it would less time consuming if you were to roll the stems out instead. that way you wouldnt have to add the extra shortening as well.

I love the cake too! Where did you find it?

My guess is the stems were done in a similar manner to the way I did my bamboo. They are fondant stems pushed through a clay gun with no disc in it, cut them all the exact same height, mine were about 1/8" above the top of the cake edge. And the cake was 4" tall. Hers looks a bit taller to me. I just pinched my stems with tweezers to make them resemble the separations on bamboo stalks. I am guessing her flowers were silk or gumpaste on wires and the wires were pushed into the fondant rolls.
Mine was iced in Italian meringue buttercream and the fondant stalks were pressed into the sides while the icing was still fairly soft and the fondant was fresh. I did just a few stalks at a time, pressed them into the cake and then did a few more until I had them all the way around the cake. Hers is simply a stacked cake, maybe doweled, with cardboards or plates betwen the tiers.

Shirley! That cake is gorgeous!! Can you give a size reference on it?

That cake you did Shirley is so beautiful! What imagination ya'll have!
Josie

Thank you. The cake was 10" round, 4" high, two layers with filling, iced in Italian meringue buttercream and then the fondant sections were applied. The water Lily in the center is gumpaste, but the Plumeria around the top is just a silk flower lei.

As you apply the strips or ropes of fondant, stop and check yourself from time to time to make sure you are getting them all straight. Otherwise they will begin to look like they are leaning either to the left or right and by the time you get around to where you started it will look really off. Also make sure the ropes or stalks are touching one another, no gaps inbetween.

I am new at posting a reply. I just uploaded and avatar and this week I finally got my niece to show me how to upload my pictures. I can't believe how easy it was. I could have done this long ago if I had only tried myself. Anyway I just wanted to pipe in on how beautiful your cake is. I have been reading forum posts and your cakes are always so beautiful Shirley W.!!!

The original cake is a Peggy Porschen design, from her new book (Romantic Cakes). It's done as a mini cake in the book, but I see no reason why it couldn't easily be done on a bigger cake. If you'd like me to scan and send you the instructions, pm me your email addy !

Edited to add: FYI - the cakes are covered in white fondant first - then those green stems hand-rolled with a cake smoother and applied to the fondant (brushed with a little water first to make the fondant sticky). Personally - I'd use a sugarcraft gun to make the stems!

Beautiful cakes, both. Love all the flowers. Clay gun or hand rolled, you can't go wrong.

Question about a clay gun!!---- I am picturing my kids playdoh machine and when they use the rope disk the rope doesn't come out smooth. It can be all cracky or ???(can't think of the right word!) Does this happen with the clay gun?

I guess it must not or nobody would be recommending one huh?

I use both the play-doh toy and a clay gun. Both require the fondant to be fairly soft, then it comes out easily and smoothly, with no cracks. LOL

marthajo1~ I haven't used a clay gun (but I'm gonna buy one after seeing these cakes), but I have spent lots of time playing with DD's PlayDoh accessories! The texture of PlayDoh is different from fondant, so I'm guessing that's what causes the cracking with PlayDoh.

yes, the texture IS different. if you are worried about the cracking, just kneed in a tiny bit of vegetable shortening and it will come out smoothly. it also makes it easier because you dont have to squeeze quite as hard. however, if you have added alot of color, it will be softer already, and you may only need to rub the outer part of the fondant first so that it doesnt stick or crack as it comes out.

If you have a Kitchen Aide mixer, they sell a sausage attachment for it. Its a funnel that has two different sizes. One of them is perfect for that! And it makes quicker work out of it then using an extruder or clay gun. You still have to grease it well like you would a clay gun though.

I did something very similar (posted in pics). My inspiration came from a gift bag. I used a clay gun; time consuming but fun to make.

great cake MayWest. It looks very time consuming but well worth the time

Shirley W, I love your bamboo cake.