usually with the lid, you use different size dowel rods to prop it up, make tissue paper out of fondant or gumpaste to cover the dowels. I would recomment covering a piece of styrofoam for the lid, it would be much easier than cake.
Here's a link for directions on making a hat box cake.
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-215781-hatbox.html
Hope it helps you as much as it helped me.
When making a present cake how do you cover the lid in fondant and prop it up and how do you make tissue paper?
For the gift box cake in my album, I used gumpaste to cover the cake pan I used to bake the cake. I molded the lid over the inverted pan, made the bow and left it to dry. ft was sitting on a cake board that was supported by chopsticks. Make the lid a few days ahead of time so it has time to dry. lf you have questions feel free to ask me.
Here is the cake I made using this method
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=43231
I also used gumpaste.. and my procedure was similar to Cake_Princess
I was doing some "snooping" and came across your query; however, I didn't see a response regarding your "tissue" question. I've asked that question before & was instructed to put the fondant through a pasta maker to get it really thin. Then you can gather it up in the shape you want the "tissue" to look like. Hope this helps (I haven't tried it yet -- so I'm just sharing what I was told). I'll look for your pic.
Bev
I was doing some "snooping" and came across your query; however, I didn't see a response regarding your "tissue" question. I've asked that question before & was instructed to put the fondant through a pasta maker to get it really thin. Then you can gather it up in the shape you want the "tissue" to look like. Hope this helps (I haven't tried it yet -- so I'm just sharing what I was told). I'll look for your pic.
Bev
For the tissue, I used my mini Wilton rolling pin. I took the spacers off and I rolled the fondant out as thing as possible. Then I used the my spatula to lift a corner off the work surface. I picked it up and held it in such a way that cause it to drape in a natural fashion and placed it on the cake. If I needed it to be supported I used pieces of paper towel until it dried in place.
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