I have an order for a football field cake due on Wednesday. I have made a football on a green "field" but never a whole football field. I am looking for words of advice from those who have been there done that.
The cake is only going to be 9x13 the client wants it to say "Happy Birthday Collin Go Tigers! Beat Waynesville!"

My questions are
1. How did you make goal post? Are were they worth the effort?
2. How did you put your field lines on, and did you then flatten them? Like with a Viva paper towel?

I am starting to think that I will need to put the words on the board around the cake to leave any room on the cake for decoration or goals. What do you think? Any help anyone could give me would be great. Thanks so much!!!
Beth

I iced my caked green for the field then thinned white mixed with piping gel and piped white lines for yard markers. I made end zones and starred those in. I had issues with humidity and other things go wrong so it's not my best so please forgive.

You could make the end zones bigger for the Happy Birthday writing.

I iced my cake with buttercream - somehow are another I got it really smooth. I then used royal icing to line the field, but you can just use thinned buttercream. I made cookies to adorn the cake. Here is a link to my photo
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1208284

I use a laser level to help me get the lines straight. It is very helpful!

Never done goalposts....sorry. At times I have printed out a scoreboard of whatever stadium the field is at and attached it with skewers.

I always struggle with how much to write on the field. Usually I have a mascot or team symbol in the middle. I don't like a lot of writing everywhere so I generally tell the customer I can print out a banner if it is really important to have the name.

Jenniferkay...what kind of pan do you use to bake the football?

I know you wanted a field cake, but this is the one I just did. Took awhile to make and only a few seconds for the players to devour!

Here is a link to my two....

http://www.mysweethobby.com/full_pic.php?file_name=oct_002.jpg

Obviously didn't do goal posts. I used a small, clean plastic ruler to mark the field where I would pipe thinned buttercream lines...even did little hash marks. On the computer, I printed out the letters for the inzone, cut them out, then laid them on fondant to hand cut them. I used the birthday boy's last name as the field name. Used a rough brand paper towel to create the texture on the footballs. Hope that helps!

I use a ruler and measure out my lines so they are even. You can make sidelines as well as the endzones and that way you can put the message. I also do use viva towels to smooth my lines and centerfield FBCT Here is a link to a sample of the many I have done.

I make the footballs from chocolate covered almonds and pipe the laces on.

http://www.cakebelieve.net/images/footballbaltimoreravens.jpg

Also these are plastic field goal posts....I know you can make them from pretzels covered in chocolate....but it wouldn't really be to scale...up to you though.

I dont have a picture of the cake I did, but I used fondant for the lines and used a clay-gun to make them nice and even (just make sure the top of the cake is iced smooth/flat/even or the fondant will look wavey). I also recomend a ruler to space the lines evenly (it will make a big difference in the over all look if they are even). I used a edible-image for the center (50 yard line) that had the team and the happy-birthday msg (my writting stinks). I also think putting the message on the board will work well. I do remember the cake not looking "finished" to me so I added fondant football-cutouts to the side of the cake...

HTH

TammyH

you can use chocolate covered pretzel sticks for the goal posts

if you want cute players on the field you can use teddy grams and pipe frosting on them to represent the 2 different teams....

Angie

Here is the football field cake I did for my son... inspired by a picture in a Hershey's cookbook. Used pipecleaners on top of Rolo candies for the goal posts, regular kisses and mini reese cups for the 2 teams, and Hugs & Kisses for the Ref's.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1065763.html

Thanks LoriMc for your compliments! For writing...I almost ALWAYS cheat in some way. I usually print things out on the computer and either cut it out of fondant or use it as a guideline to trace it onto something..either a cake board, a fondant banner or the actual cake in some cases. I HATE writing directly on a cake....so I do whatever I can to minimize it. Hope that helps ya but feel free to pm me if you have any more questions.

I pipe my lines, side areas and end zones after the cake is crumbcoated. Then I fill in with the 233 grass tip. The goals are plastic and came in a kit with cake decor football players.

http://www.sugarfrosted.com/displayimage.php?pos=-2246
http://www.sugarfrosted.com/displayimage.php?pos=-2238

For a closer look, click the pictures to make them bigger.

LoriMC- my football is a rice crispy molded then covered in chocolate mmf.

Thank you all so much for your input and great pictures. I start construction tomorrow so we will see how it goes. Fingers crossed!
Beth

saj_stuff - I am the same way. I hate to write on cakes!!!!

Here's one of mine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kavingate/1472501268

I just cut the lines out of fondant with a ribbon cutter and laid them on the cake. I took a ruler and made little notches on both sides where the lines needed to go.

Thanks again to everyone for your great ideas. I used some of your ideas and did a few things of my own. And as you can see I didn't make the goal post. I just knew I would not be happy with the way they looked. Hope you like it.

Here's one that I did last week. It was also a 9 x 13. I iced the top green first, then the sides with white. With a cake that size, it would be difficult to put all the yard lines on without looking crowded. I opted to mark off the field 50, 30, & 10. I cut out a 9 x 13 paper & basically figured out with trial & error how much space to use for the inzones & btw yard markers. I drew all the lines in using a pencil, & when they were perfect, used the pin-prick method (poked holes along lines with a large pen with paper laying on a piece of styrofoam). I placed the paper on the top of the cake & rubbed the impression of the lines into the cake. I impressed the side of a metal ruler into the dotted lines to make it clearer to see. I used a clay extruder with fondant to make the lines for the field, but you could also use bc. I used the grass tip to put grass on the field b/c my bc on top of the cake wasn't as smooth as I like it. I bought the goal post at Party City. It can in a bag with football players. I thought that making a goal post would be difficult bc it would be easily broken & would not travel well.