How Do You Think I Should Make This?
Decorating By dandy207 Updated 30 Sep 2006 , 6:12pm by sweetamber
Here is a picture i sketched out. The lady wants the 40 on the top to be big and funky. Im not sure what i should use to make it. Royal icing, colorflow, fondant? I am worried it wouldnt be strong enough to hold and not break. also , im not sure how to secure it to the top of the cake. The cake will be carried out to the birthday boy, so it needs to be secured WELL. Thanks for any ideas!
What about making it out of candy melts and tint it whatever color?? Then maybe you could cover some sucker sticks in the candy too and then stick them in the cake behind the numbers to sort of prop them up. Maybe that will make them hidden enough? Wish I could help more!
ALLI
How about using pastillage? It's strong and can be painted. You could either mount it with royal onto a plaque or have skewers either in the pastillage or attached to it. Pastillage will roll out fairly thinly, so maybe it won't be so heavy.
Best of luck to you however you do it. It looks like it's going to be a cool cake.
Michele
I agree with sugarflower, pastillage would be my best option, since it hardens like rock.
can anyone please share with me what passtalige is? do u make it?
thank u
Here is a very informative demo on pastillage:
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=69493
It is a thread, the recipe for pastillage is in post #18, but if you're interested you should read the entire thread- lots of helpful info!
Amber
you could also just cut BIG numbers out of styrofoam and just cover it with royal and stick it into the cake with the cookie sticks. It won't be heavy at all 
Granted it won't be edible but again it won't really be heavy either. You could just star the numbers in with the colors you are using on the cake...
I made a big # 4 for a cake last week. I made it out of fondant.
I drew a big block 4 out on paper, cut it out then cut out 3 more(2 were for extra, just in case I broke one) I laid one out on wax paper, then put one of those wooden skewers on 2/3 of the way to the top (leaving 1/3 left out to stick into the cake), brushed with a little water, then laid another 4 on top. It worked great. I had let it dry for several days. I delivered that cake 80 miles away, and it never budged. You can see it in my photos, the Dora cake.
For the funky look, maybe you could marble the fondant.
Hope this helps.
I have two good recipes for pastillage.
1. 4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. Gum Tragacanth or Tylose
1/4 cup water (add more water in small amounts if needed)
Mix by hand or with heavy duty mixer until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap twice and store in zipper bag. This can be used immediately, it can also be frozen if all of it is not used. It can also be added to fondant to give you a longer working time. It crusts VERY quickly, so it's great for branches, etc. It can also be rolled smooth. Allow to dry on flat foam.
2. 1 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup vinegar or lemon juice (I like lemon juice)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Allow gelatin to bloom in liquid. Heat for one minute to dissolve; allow to cool slightly. Add to powdered sugar in mixer bowl. Mix by hand or with a heavy duty mixer until smooth. Place in two layers of plastic wrap, a damp cloth, and then place in a plastic bag. Allow to set over night. When ready to use, remove a small amount and keep remainder covered. Add about 1 tsp. glycerin to pastillage and knead until smooth (the pastillage will be crumbly at first). Then roll out to thickness desired and allow to dry on flat foam pieces. Drying time will vary with thickness.
Both of these can be painted. The second one takes paint better, makes a smoother paste, and has a longer working time, but not much. Royal icing can be used a as strong glue to hold pieces or for decoration. For a really strong hold, dissolve a small amount in water to make a thick paste. Then pipe or brush it to attach pieces.
If you have any questions you are more than welcome to PM me.
I hope this helps you.
Michele
Sugaflowers, thanks for posting those recipes in american english, i loved the chefette tutorial but he gave the recipes in grams! i was feeling like a big old idiot for not knowing what kind of quantities to use. I'm excited, can't wait to try it, now if only i had a big cake order to stress out about.....
Hi,
I just made a number 1 out of fondant/gumpaste( 50/50) and it dried hard and stayed on the cake..You can look in my pictures..I also made a cross that way and it also didn't move..Your sketch looks great, I can't wait to see the cake!!
JoAnn
Sugaflowers, thanks for posting those recipes in american english, i loved the chefette tutorial but he gave the recipes in grams! i was feeling like a big old idiot for not knowing what kind of quantities to use
Great, glad I could help you feel like a big old idiot 
!
Seriously, you should never feel stupid because you don't understand something- how else are we supposed to learn new things? I sometimes forget that not everyone weighs their ingredients or uses grams....sorry 
. I'm glad that Sugarflowers was able to provide you with a recipe you can work with. But there are good conversion charts out there so if you ever again encounter a recipe in grams that you really want to try, don't be afraid to ask- there are plenty of people willing to help!
Amber
Sweetamber thanks for letting us know about conversion charts. I'm clueless about equivalents as well. To continue to be clueless, what key-word do I use to find them?
Thanks,
Michele
you could also just cut BIG numbers out of styrofoam and just cover it with royal and stick it into the cake with the cookie sticks. It won't be heavy at all
Granted it won't be edible but again it won't really be heavy either. You could just star the numbers in with the colors you are using on the cake...
Yep, this is what I would do..or better yet use foam core and an exacto knife...make it like a cake topper they can remove and take as a momento.
you can cover the styro with fondan, MMF or just hide the edges with royal icing piping and use markers to color th foam core!
I don't have anything new to offer, I just wanted to say that I look forward to seeing a picture of the cake. I love the sketch.
I have made a cross using chocolate melts with a lollipop stick for the top of a Baptism cake. It worked great. Never budged during transport. It's Emma's cake in my pics if you want to take a look. Although, I think I might try the 50/50 fondant/gumpaste next time. What's nice about using the chocolate though, is that it will most likely get eaten. 
I did a cake a while back with large numbers on the top. I tried many techniques but was to scared of the numbers cracking or bending. So i went to the craft store and bought the wooden cut out numbers that you use to paint, they come in various sizes. Then I covered them with fondant, you couldnt tell that there was wood underneath the decorated fondant. I thought it worked pretty darn good, and it was stable
Sugarflowers, here are a few to help you out. The last one is actually a calculator that is especially handy
http://bitsyskitchen.com/conversion.html
http://www.conversionchart.org/ck.htm
http://www.chefjamie.com/metric_equivalent_weight.php
http://www.absoluterecipes.com/cooking-tips/conversion_calculator.html
Hope this helps you out sometime!
Amber
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