My MIL's birthday is this Friday and I want to make her a cake shaped like a diet Coke can, but bigger. 6" rounds cut in half and stacked next to each other. So it'll be a half of a can, laid flat. Anyway, here are a couple of questions.
1) If doing a FBCT, how would I take it off and place it onto a round surface?
2) As dumb as this may sound 
...do I just use a small amount of black color to make grey?
3) How do I hold the cake together? I mean will the cakes start to pull away at the ends if I don't hold them together somehow?
TIA for ALL the help, because I need it! 
Mollie
Hmm, not sure about the FBCT question, but a small amount of black color will make grey. If you put BC between the 1/2 rounds, it will help hold them together.
Seriously, I would bake the cakes in a large coffee can. Wash out your coffee can, then grease and flour it just like you would normally. You pour the batter in, and you might even use a heating core (used with the 3-D Wilton Teddy Bear, also available separately for large cakes). Definitely put the can on a baking sheet as well. You cut the cake in half after removing it from the pan and lay it end to end.
If you go with the 6 inch rounds, I would suggest wooden skewers to hold the layers together.
And yes, add the black color very little at a time to get gray.
Sounds like a cute idea. Can't help you with #1. I've only done 1 FBCT and it was on a flat cake. My guess is that maybe if you let it thaw a little bit before placing it on the cake, you may be able to "mold" it around the curve. But I'm not sure how that would work.
For gray icing - yes - just use a little black coloring.
I'm not sure what exactly you're asking about in #3. But I'd suggest that you put a layer of buttercream in between each layer of cake to hold them together.
Hope that helps! Good luck!
Melissa
I've lined up half circle cakes many times successfully (see treasure chest and cigar cakes in my gallery). Just slap a little icing between.
I'm not crazy about the FBT idea for a curved cake. Seems to me you'd have to create it on a matching curved surface. Handling it would be tricky.
Have you tried the pin-prick method of pattern transfer? Or piping gel? I like to use a thin line of buttercream rather than piping gel for that method, but it's a personal preference.
Oooh, thanks for all of the input! Diane, how do you do the pin-prick method? I tried once, without using any directions, and it didn't work. Is there a thread on here about it somewhere?
Anyone else know the answer to that? Bumping myself here...
Oooh, thanks for all of the input! Diane, how do you do the pin-prick method? I tried once, without using any directions, and it didn't work. Is there a thread on here about it somewhere?
I don't know if there's an article on CC about the pinprick method. Hopefully, someone with better searching skills will chime in.
Here's how I do it: Print the design on a regular piece of computer paper.
Tape or pin the paper to a piece of styrofoam.
With a large pin, poke holes in the design, being sure to mark corners and other 'turns'.
Remove the paper from the styrofoam. The poking creates a raised pattern on the back of the paper. Press the paper onto crusted buttercream. Don't let your icing crust too much or the paper will not be strong enough to impress the pattern. At this point, some people like to dab the holes with a cocoa filled puff or a paintbrush and some contrasting colored petal dust. This helps the holes show up better when you remove the paper.
You can also transfer the pattern by printing it out reversed, then tracing over it with colored piping gel or my preference, a thin line of buttercream. Turn the pattern over onto the crusted cake and lightly press. Gently lift off the paper.
Hope this helps!
If you bake your cakes in something like a coffee can, couldn't you put the FBCT on the side of the can then into the freezer?
I have never done one, just thinking out loud.deb
Deb, a FBCT is created upside down. Meaning, the bottom becomes the top. In order to get the correct curve, the FBCT would have to be made INSIDE the coffee can.
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