O.K. I need to pick some brains here before I go into full panic mode. I hate when I get stressed out before I do a cake. I am an awful perfectionist and this is why I think I should not be doing cake....possibly I will stop baking and decorating and just do the gumpaste flowers....this is something I'm kicking around. Anyway....

This cake that I'm doing is going to be in a few weeks. The bride wants a white icing and is wants it to be IMBC. I'm fine with this as the cake will be in a air conditioned room. But here are my questions...

1. The pattern that you wants me to put on the sides of the cake match her dress. It's very detailed...sort of like a free hand looking flower. I'm not sure how to make a pattern. I thought that maybe I should make a template and then roll out the gumpaste (which she wants the gumpaste to be black) and then cut out the shapes with a model knife. This will take an amazing amount of time and there will be alot of little pieces. I am not sure how else to do it???? I'm really reaching out for suggestions here.....HELP!!!

2. If I have to color the fondant black will this bleed onto my IMBC (which is going to be white) and make it look ugly. I will have to store the cake in the fridge at home and I'm worrying that when it reaches room temp. that the colors will start to run....

3. Can I use royal icing INSTEAD of the fondant when I make the designs on the sides of the cake ( I have not asked the bride about this...she's the daughter of a very good friend of mine and I think that she will cooperate with me...LOL). I thought that working with the royal might be a little easier....but.....will the royal get soft against the IMBC and make a mess...bleeding and getting soft?????

I really am starting to get stressed about this. I really need some suggestion. This is such a nice young couple and I really want them to like their cake.

TIA,

Chrissy

I'm giving myself a bit of a boost. I have to go to bed....I'm tierd and I'll check back tomorrow. I hope there is someone on here that is going to be able to answer my questions.

See ya,

Chrissy

I honestly have no idea but I know there are great decorators here that can help so I'll just bump this for you.

I'm definitely no expert, but here are my thoughts:

I think that both royal icing and gumpaste will get soft on IMBC. But they both may hold their shape if you apply them at the very last minute. Sorry, I don't know if the colors would bleed.

It may be easier to cover the cake in fondant (over IMBC) and then using your template, use the pin prick method to transfer design onto cake, then pipe design using RI.

Another thought...would it be possible to make the design out of piped chocolate (like chocolate transfer). Using chocolate, you would avoid it getting soft and the colors bleeding.

HTH and your flowers are beautiful.

Delia

I like the chocolate idea...that's clever and will taste much better with the IMBC BUT......how will I get the chocolate to be black?? Can you buy it that way or will I need to color it that way???

Fondant covering is totally out...the bride does not like the look of it and will not budge on the IMBC.....on the decorations if I told her they will bleed and become ugly I know I could get her to change her mind..LOL!!

I would LOVE to do swiss dots on the entire cake. The top cake will be swiss dots as well as the middle cake but the bottom and the third tier will have to match her gown!

I'm LOST!!

royal icing on regular buttercream will not hold it's shape. not sure about imbc.

maybe airbrush? but it's very detailed, so maybe that wouldn't work.

You can buy dark brown chocolate candy disks and color it with Black Candy Color. Here is a link to the product:

http://www.shopbakersnook.com/m5_view_item.html?m5:item=244

HTH