Wilton Romantic Castle Set-Augh!

Decorating By bigsisof3kids Updated 28 Jul 2009 , 1:54pm by stampinam

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bigsisof3kids Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:14pm
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So last Saturday was my birthday, and thankfully I got some new cake toys. icon_lol.gif One of which was the Wilton Romantic Castle Cake Set. I was all excited, and immediately started thinking who's birthday was coming up next (lol). And there is a little girl who was turning 5 on Monday (Aug. 13) at our church, and I had heard from my mom that the girl's mom wanted me to do her cake, but they just didn't have the funds too. (Some backround, this same family has had financial problems for a while, they even moved in with us for about 6 months a few years ago. So we're like REALLY close to this family).
Sooooooo, I knew that this girl is really into everything princessy and girly (most 5yo girls are icon_smile.gif ). And I decided that I would make this cake for her. Boy, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. icon_surprised.gif
I started the cake around 5pm, and it took me until 1 in the morning to finish! I felt bad, because my BF came over to spend some time with me on my birthday, and I was busy. In between figuring out how to assemble the cake, and some other minor problems w/ it, I was getting pretty frustrated. (*Note to all who will be trying this cake for the first time: Assemble and decorate the turrets from top to bottom, not bottom to top, like dumb-ole-me did. icon_cry.gif You'll save yourself a lot of trouble.*)
So the next morning, I had to drop off the cake at her house before church. They didn't know what I was bringing, I only told them that it was a bday present.
THIS CAKE IS A NIGHTMARE TO TRANSPORT!! The whole setup of the turrets is dumb, Wilton should've made a hole in the bottom of each one so you could dowel them all the way through the cake. About half the turrets fell or were falling off the cake by the time I got to their house, it was so sad. I wanted it to be perfect for her.
But after all the trouble I had, and despite how it looked, the look on that little girls face made it ALL worthwhile. She LOVED it!
Anyway, I wrote this (I'm typically a lurker on the forums) to give anyone thinking of doing this cake a few hints. Just to save someone a headache.
~Decorate the roofs of the turrets at the site, if possible.
~Work from top to bottom
~Use RI, not BC around all the windows. It sticks better on the plastic.
~Candy melts worked pretty well as the 'cement' to hold the roofs on, as well as the bottom turrets on the cakeboard.

I think that's it for now....Thank you for reading.

~Beth
LL

80 replies
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soccermom17 Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:21pm
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Your picture is wonderful. I wondered about using this kit too.
But what a wonderful gift to you, seeing her face light up when you brought in her cake.
That is just wonderful.
Way to go!
-Michelle

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cakeatopia Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:25pm
post #3 of 81

oh that is beautiful!!!

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2sdae Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:25pm
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By looking at your pic you'd never know you had ANY trouble at all! Looks gorgeously done and the best part was the little girl getting such a surprise and relieving the parents of some financial stress with out making them feel like "they needed" it.
Speaking as a parent who did at one time "need" it, that kind of help says it all to you and means the most! thumbs_up.gif

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weirkd Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:25pm
post #5 of 81

You did a wonderful job! We were just talking about this set because Wilton is having a contest using it. I wasnt going to buy the pan just for the contest and now after hearing your horror story, Im definetly not buying it!

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Melvira Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:26pm
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Despite any trouble you had, it turned out beautifully, and the fact that you did it for this little girl speaks volumes about you! Great work!

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cheferyn Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:34pm
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You truly have a servant's heart. Your cake came out beautifully and your selflessness was such an amazing gift for the little girl. May God continue to bless you as He works through you. Oh and Happy Birthday.

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valora387 Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:43pm
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Your cake looks awesome, and that is just the sweetest thing to do! And Happy Birthday to YOU!!!
=-)

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iramirez94 Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:50pm
post #9 of 81

Wow. your castle looks great! You did a fabulous job and made her birthday a very special day for her!!! Happy Birthday to you also!!

I made the castle for my twins this past May. Mine turned out horrible after those hard to pin down turrets fell during transportation. I totally agree about putting holes on the bottom to secure the turrets. What was wilton thinking ??? The candy melt deal was a nightmare!!! icon_mad.gificon_evil.gif Plus I purchased it from sugarcraft, and paid a TON of money for shipping. The next day I got it, I saw it at Michaels. icon_cry.gificon_cry.gif

After the turrets tipped over, I tried to fix the cake but couldn't get the roof to line up again with the door. Everyone loved it, but I could shot myself for not taking a picture of the cake BEFORE it got ruined!!
LL

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JaneK Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 2:52pm
post #10 of 81

Happy belated birthday to you!!!
You did a great thing for that family and little girl...and it looks beautiful!! thumbs_up.gificon_smile.gifthumbs_up.gificon_smile.gif
She's going to remember this cake for sure!!

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fabbo Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 3:05pm
post #11 of 81

I too had a hard time with those dang towers icon_mad.gif The candy melts weren't holding them very well so I hot glued them and they were still wobbly and some still broke off. I thought this would be easier to do than the last castle cake I made. HA! My niece still loved her cake so that made it a little better. I'm thinking of drilling holes for next time.

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bigsisof3kids Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 3:53pm
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Awww, thanks you guys, you're so sweet icon_smile.gif and Ira, your cake is Beautiful. Were your flowers fondant or BC (When I read the directions for the cake, I couldn't imagine sitting the and molding the 286 flowers they called for) Yeah, the turrets WERE a nightmare! But your twins have a wonderful mommy for making it for them icon_smile.gif

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iramirez94 Posted 16 Aug 2007 , 8:51pm
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Bigsis my flowers were fondant.. and yes I made 286 flowers, plus extra for mistakes. Thank goodness I had so many extra flowers. They sure came in handy! Plus I also made two doll cakes, but my little girls were worth all of my work.

Next time, i am drilling holes in the turrets and inserting dowels.

BTW did you see there is another castle kit out there made by Decopot ?(sp)

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29apr00 Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 1:12am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iramirez94


BTW did you see there is another castle kit out there made by Decopot ?(sp)




Decopac. I made that castle cake this weekend for my daughter. It was a disaster for me! I didn't cut the cake the proper size, so the turets didnt fit on the cake properly. Had to cut the turets down to size, then i couldn't get them to stick inside the cake! What a mess!! I hated it! Everyone else said it was beautiful, but we all can see the little mistakes that ruin it for us.

BTW - i think your's is beautiful! So much bettter than that decopac one i did. It was too flimsy.

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lardbutt Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 3:02am
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I am so glad I saw this post! I am making this cake tomorrow for my 5yr. old!

How did you get the towers to stay in the cakes? It said to use plastic dowels, but no store I went to had them! I was wondering what I could do?

Any suggestions?

And Beth....do you think it would be easier to ice the turrets or cover with fondant before the cake sparkles? This might be a dumb question, but it would be dumber icon_lol.gif of me not to ask: Do you roll them in the sparkles or sprinkle them on? icon_redface.gif

Thanks!

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bigsisof3kids Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 12:48pm
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Messybaker: Here's what I did. I cut about 1 1/2 inch length wooden dowels for each of the turrets, then 'glued' them on with melted candy melts. It seemed pretty firm. Then, with the roofs, I frosted them, then sprinklled the sparkled on, then put them onto the turrets. (It was REALLY hard to get them on the turrets w/o messing up the icing, but if it DID mess up, then I just fixed it when it was already on top of the turret, then sprinkled more frosting on.) Good luck with this cake!!

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nattyk Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 12:57pm
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On another website a lady said that her hubby drilled the bottom out of some of hers to put down in the cake and used candy melts for the ones around the cake. I'm going to have my DH drill a hole in the bottom for a small dowel-maybe in the top to for it to go all the way through. If it breaks, it breaks I guess.

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kathys90 Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 1:15pm
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The cake turned out beautiful! Next time, if you dare to try again, don't put the top of the turrets on until you get to your location. They make the columns top heavy!

I did one for the little girl next door and covered the cones in fondant with gold luster dust. It is posted in the gallery.

Happy belated birthday to you, too!

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lardbutt Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 2:43pm
post #19 of 81

Great ideas, thanks! I guess I'll go get started! icon_cry.gif

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MikeRowesHunny Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 3:08pm
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I used this set for a wedding cake (in my photos), and those *%$£"!&* towers would just not stay up where they were free standing (the ones on top), the others I could 'glue' with RI to the sides of the cake so were OK. I am definitely drilling holes in all those columns ASAP! It's a major design fault IMO (probably designed by someone who has never made a castle cake in their lives!). In the end I had to shove dowels all around the top towers and pipe RI over the dowels to disguise - kinda spoilt the look I was going for, but the B&G never noticed! Plus I had to assemble this in front of the reception guests, surrounded by at least a dozen kids firing all sorts of inane questions at me! Not my favourite wedding set up lol!

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JillK Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 3:13pm
post #21 of 81

Oooh boy. icon_eek.gif Beautiful cakes, but the scary stories are starting to unnerve me!

I'm making this castle -- the sand castle variant, actually -- for a beach-theme shower this weekend and just spent last night covering some of the towers, etc., with royal icing and granulated brown sugar for sand. It was a little hard to get it even, but I figure sand castles aren't perfect anyway, right? icon_biggrin.gif

Because this design includes fewer of the towers with a 6-inch cake on top of a 14-inch cake, I'm hoping it will be a bit more stable and chose not to drill holes in the towers. Here's hoping it wasn't a mistake ... I'll let everyone know.

Anyone try this variety yet? It's on the Wilton Web site, although I'm adapting it a bit.

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sisita Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 3:27pm
post #22 of 81

Ypu cake look great.

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psurrette Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 3:42pm
post #23 of 81

I just delivered this cake. and after reading about what a nightmare it was I had my hubby drill holes and put a dowel thu them. The problem was the 2 big ones on the bottom they fell over 3 times in delivery. I had chocolate with me so I stopped at 7-11 and used thier microwave fixed them and the cake was on its way to its new home. I just called and it arrived jsut fine. Chocolate worked great. You can see the picture in my gallery.
Paula

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ladefly Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 4:16pm
post #24 of 81

ok, so I also have this set and I was going to do a castle cake for my niece in september.....hmmm not sure about what everyone is talking about with drilling the holes... Where should the be drilled???
yea I know I am blond but usually it doesn't hit me this hard. Maybe its just a bad day!
LOL

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psurrette Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 5:33pm
post #25 of 81

just on the botom of the turret. Would be even stronger if a dowel fit thru the top too

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iramirez94 Posted 17 Aug 2007 , 10:00pm
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When I made the cake I glued the dowels to the turrets using candy melts. It was soooooooooooo hard to do. I had to keep taking them off because they were not straight and when I put in into the cake the turrets were lop sided! I would drill holes on the bottom of the turrets that will be going on the second layer and top of the cake. It is very hard to keep them from falling over.

The advice of adding the roofs at the site is a good one. The towers will not tip over because of the extra weight. Plus, you have to keep fixing the BC everytime you touch it!!! icon_mad.gif Decorating the turrets with Royal Icing (RI) I think would be a better option.

The advice I would give after having mine tumble is to assemble all of the turrets on site! I put my side towers on my cake to transport .. BIG MISTAKE!!

Good luck to all of you making the castle cake!! Don't forget to post your pics!! thumbs_up.gif

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bigsisof3kids Posted 18 Aug 2007 , 2:19am
post #27 of 81

Oh, using RI on the roofs is a GREAT idea, Ira! And like she said...don't forget to show us your pictures icon_biggrin.gif

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mommabuda Posted 18 Aug 2007 , 3:25am
post #28 of 81

I plan to do one next weekend for the first time and will definetely be taking all this into account... my hubby will be helping so he'll make sure it's sturdy enough... we have to drive about 20 minutes to get to the party with it... ugh! I plan to do it all in buttercream though... any advice on all BC (with RI flowers of course) I haven't gotten my kit in the mail yet (should arrive Tuesday)... will the tops of the turrets take well to being frosted with BC? Thanks!

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CakesbyMonica Posted 18 Aug 2007 , 3:37am
post #29 of 81

I just sent an email yesterday to Wilton about this set. They offered me a refund if I had the reciept (no) or a replacement (not a lot of good that would do). When I emailed back that neither of these was a solution they sent me a $20 credit at Wilton.com

I complained about the unsturdiness of the towers, the gaping holes they leave, the way the pillars make the layers bulge, and the overall look of the set. The cake came out all right until I transported it, then the whole thing was falling apart. We had to balance the towers back in. Part of the layer fell off. When it was sliced into the giant holes were "served" to some people. There was also a problem with inner supports for the cake being in the way of the pillar. The whole concept just needs to be rethought.

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gscout73 Posted 18 Aug 2007 , 4:53am
post #30 of 81

Wow. I am surprised that when they thought of and marketed the castle set they did not consider the difference between showroom presentation and actual real life delivery-and-presentation dunce.gifthumbsdown.gif . I was considering getting this set but don't own a hand drill to make holes for dowells.

I grew up in Cali-freakin-fornia and had my share of earthquakes and don't want my cakes to look like they've been thru one. I would have to go to the shop class at my daughter's high school ( icon_rolleyes.gif ) to drill holes. I think I will wait and see what they come up with.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences... i love this site.. thumbs_up.gif

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