I have a client ordering a 25th anniversary cake for her parents. They have 50 guests invited, so she wants a 2-tiered cake (1 torte each tier) that is 10" and 12" round. Feeds "exactly" 50 people.

Problem for me is that means there is alot of "real estate" on top of that 10" cake to fill with decorations. I tried to talk her into something smaller with 3 tiers total, but she's not interested.

Any design options out there other than filling the space with roses? I have a silver "25" topper to go in the top of the cake.

Thanks!

I would do a 6" dummy cake just to have a nice place to sit the topper and embellish. That would be your extra touch. No charge of course. She'll be surprised. I would be.

What about cornelli lace? I think that is so pretty and it's really elegant looking, to me anyway.

It may seem like a good idea, but I wouldn't do the 6". You already asked/suggested the three-tier idea and she said no. Seh may not be happy to see that you did it anyway.

Maybe you could 'spice' up the "25" to make it bigger?

I agree with the lace! You could do the whole top in cornelli lace. Or do drop flowers. Check out my quinceanera cake for what I mean. (They are not two-tiers, but you can get the idea.)

like kascarlett said-

I do the cornelli lace for occassions like this- then get a nice silk flower arrangement to drape across the top with a small tea light candle in a glass votive holder. will work perfect.

A standard cake topper is designed to fit on the 6" layer cake. Once you get it in place, there will only be about a 2" space around the top on the cake. After you get the cake bordered, you may not find there to be as much blank space as you'd think!

ps. love the corneilli lace idea, it always looks so elegant!

Instead of roses, could you do a bigger type flower, like a lily. That way they take up more space but you don't have to do a million of them.

I'd flip my 10" pan over, place her topper on the pan and show her the 'real estate' you're talking about. Make suggestions, if she's fine with it, so be it.

If I think it's a bad choice, I guide them to other options, but if they keep coming back to their original choice, great. I'm not in the business of talking people in or out of what they want (there are exceptions in extreme cases..say stability)

Different strokes for different folks. I like to please my clients, and we don't always see eye to eye.

Maybe you can find out what kind of flowers they had on the original cake and try to replicate it somewhat. Maybe fresh flowers around the 25 plaque.

How about offsetting the topper and doing a small gumpaste bouquet with a ribbon bow and tails.

How about setting the topper on the cake and then surrounding it with roses and leaves. Should only end up being 1 rose deep.