Hi Everyone,
I will be making the wilton castle cake for a little girls birthday coming up and I was wondering if any of you have some experiences, tips, or tricks to give me. I am planning to use buttercream on the cake (as opposed to fondant). I am looking for ideas on the best method for icing the turrets and getting the best sparkly effect, and how to attach them so they won't move. I was also thinking about piping my flowers on a cookie sheet with buttercream and then freezing them to make for faster and easier production at the end. I'd like to know all your experienced do's and don'ts!

Thanks!

I would for sure start off by drilling holes in the bottom of the towers so you can dowel properly.
I made fondant flowers for mine so I can't be of help there.
The turrets I dipped in melted chocolate and then sprinkled with edible glitter. I loved the way they turned out. It was a messy process but I was pleased with the result.
Have fun!

Hi there, when I did my castle cakes I went a different route, I just used the doors and windows from the Wilton set, they are in my pics if you wanna see, but for the flowers I made tons of royal icing drop flowers and they worked out great. Dried on wax paper and then stored in a container for like a week before, made putting it all together so much easier. Have fun and make sure to share pics when you're done!

Andrea

I have made the Wilton castle kit several times. For the turrets, I glue them on using white candy melts on the bottoms and the sides that attach to the cake itself. They don't budge.

Thanks for the tips.

As for the towers, the set is not mine (borrowed), so I can't drill holes, but I have the dowels and was thinking of using RI to stick them to the bottom of the towers. I hope it works!

I like the idea of the dipped chocolate for the turrets! My only problem is that the party is to be held outside, so I am concerned about melting...

For the flowers, do you think they would be better in RI? I just don't have a really good recipe for it. The one I have I use for my Gingerbread house and it hardens like a brick!! Is there a version that would be hard and dry to the ouch but still half decently edible?

Thanks again!!

OK, it's done. I am pleased, but I have to transport it tomorrow, so the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

Here are my lessons learned (may be old news for many!):

1. Use a good cementing Royal Icing for attaching the towers, turrets and tower decorations. I used the 'Creamy Royal Icing' recipe from this site simply because I tried it for making the decorations and I was too lazy to make a different one for cementing. Not a smart move. I should have used the regular Wilton recipe (I use it for my Gingerbread house and nothing will make that stuff move). I had used the RI to cement my dowels to the towers, which brings me to mistake number 2...

2. Find a way to attach the dowels permanently to the towers. My RI wasn't strong enough and 2 of the dowels came loose during the mounting stage of my cake.

3. I made drop flowers in BC and froze them so it would be faster during the finishing stage. It was the first time I tried this. Good idea, only I used parchment paper. I think I will try wax paper next time. I had difficulty removing the flowers.

4. If making this cake, use double cake boards, as it is heavy and only one board caused the cake to bend, and well, the towers don't bend, so you get the idea... I will transport it on a cutting board...


Good luck to anyone who reads this!

a few tips:
use white candy melts to hold towers/turrets in place. ive traveled with each castle cake ive made and they never moved or shifted.
ive used fondant or melted chocolate to cover the towers. then used either piping gel or gumpaste glue and rolled into sparkley sugar. to make the tops really sparkle.
use extra sturdy base to support the cake. it will be heavy.
have fun and please post a picture. i think castle cakes are my favorite to make.
HTH

wouldn 't foam board be best for sturdy? Looks good

It looks good. I love the color combo. Thanks for posting about your experience. am gonna make a castle cake for my niece next month and am so excited about it.

love the cake the colour is very nice. i have never used the kit myself have always made the towers and turrits using bathroom tissue tubes and modeling paste

Here is one that I did for my daughter's 1st bday back in June
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1399151

The flowers are time-consuming--I made mine from mmf a couple of days early and stored them in a tupperware container. I used a hot glue gun to glue the bottom towers to the foam board (peeled off fairly easy). I used a very small amout of glue on the bottom center of each tower on the ones that didn't go into the cake. I drilled holes for dowels for the ones that went into the cake. Oh, if the cake is going to be moved, it's best not to put the one s that go in the cake until you get where you are going.

Well, the fat lady did sing and I lost 3 towers along the way. As I suspected, the RI did not hold the dowels to the towers very well. I put them back on the cake when I gor there, but I will definitely rethink things for the next time.

Maybe the candy melts will work better, but I think the drilling method would be the best.

Everyone loved it anyways. I chose this color because it was supposed to be a Cinderella castle. I thought it was cute. My RI flowers were a hit, they turned out so nice.

Thanks for the tips!

Until next time!