Help!!! With A Palm Tree

Decorating By aoliveira Updated 15 Dec 2006 , 4:35pm by shelbur10

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aoliveira Posted 15 Dec 2006 , 3:36am
post #1 of 5

Hi,

I am attempting to make a beachy/hawaiian cake and I decided to make the leaves out of fondant (they came out great) and the trunks using pretzel rods. But I am having problems attaching the leaves to the pretzel rods. I used liquid vanilla to attach, but it didn't hold and started to soften the leaves.

Can anyone give me a suggestion?

I appreciate any help. I am making and assembling the cake tomorrow.

Thanks,
Alex

4 replies
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beachcakes Posted 15 Dec 2006 , 3:41am
post #2 of 5

Can you use royal icing or candy melts? These both would dry hard and hold the leaves in place.

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jmt1714 Posted 15 Dec 2006 , 5:00am
post #3 of 5

I agree - the vanilla isn't going to do anything - you need something like RI or melted chocolate to grip the pretzel.

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CakesUnleashed Posted 15 Dec 2006 , 4:31pm
post #4 of 5

I have to say that I have never been one to follow directions but I did get the idea for the Tiki Bar from a picture from Debbie Brown's book. I did, however, completely make up the palm tree idea. So, here goes:

Okay, the palm tree was quite easy. The idea just came to me when I was decorating the cake. I took a push-pillar and covered it with tan fondant. Then I made small triangles (freehand) and started placing them around the trunk - starting at the top, working all the way to the bottom, where the triangles get just a tad bigger.

After I got the shape I wanted, I set it off to dry a bit. In the mean time, I cut leaves (freehand) out of green fondant. I placed the shaped and cut leaves over a paper towel cardboard insert to dry.

The next day, I took brown icing color and mixed it with a bit if vodka to create a stain color. I then brushed the stain on the trunk, to give it a more realistic look. I think it worked pretty dern good. LOL

After the trunk dried, I attached the dried leaves with melted chocolate candy. Then I created a different colored set of leaves and applied those "as is", in other words, not dry. They draped over the dried leaves and created a nice effect. I just added some coconuts because you could see where I crossed all the leaves and I didn't like that. LOL

One thing you might note, is that the base part of the pillar (the largest part) is, of course, the bottom. So, when you want to incorporate it into your cake, you will need to make a hole big enough for the trunk to fit into. Then, I used melted chocolate candy to hold it up. It worked great!

Have fun!
LL

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shelbur10 Posted 15 Dec 2006 , 4:35pm
post #5 of 5

I have attached the leaves with crusting bc. let dry sitting upside down overnight. BUT...my palm trees were NOWHERE near as impressive as cakesunleashed....AWESOME!!

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