Heres the picture a bride sent me. She says the whole tier is covered in these rose petals. I think it would have to be a cone shaped tier or a tapered tier to get this look. She also thinks that the petals would be attached to buttercream...NOT! We will discuss that at her tasting. OH, and she said if I could make it look more real that would be great. I wanted to say "uh huh, that sure would, wouldnt it...lol" I thought the picture looked pretty real to me.
What do you think? How do you think this cake was done?
Wow! I'm going to have to watch this topic to see how to construct this one! I know it's beyond my skills, but I have to have something to aspire to!
There is a video that is similar on the Satin Ice Website.
http://rolledfondant.com/how.htm
Go to the last video , Ron Ben-Israel, it shows something similar. Hope it helps...it's amazing and she's nuts if she thinks it could look more real
I've seen this cake before and I wondered how many tiers it was. It's hard to tell because of the fact that the photo is taken directly from above. It's absolutely gorgeous and if that woman thinks it can get any more realistic looking, I'd like to know how she thinks that will happen. Kudos to the decorator who had the patience to do this. 
Heres the picture a bride sent me. She says the whole tier is covered in these rose petals. I think it would have to be a cone shaped tier or a tapered tier to get this look. She also thinks that the petals would be attached to buttercream...NOT! We will discuss that at her tasting. OH, and she said if I could make it look more real that would be great. I wanted to say "uh huh, that sure would, wouldnt it...lol" I thought the picture looked pretty real to me.
What do you think? How do you think this cake was done?
That's a large round cake scultped into a dome shape. The central rose is about the first three-four layers of petals. The rest of the petals are individual one [I believe Ron said about 150 of them]. You ice the cake, then start at the bottom adding row after row of petals...then finally add the finished rose in the center of it all.
But I mean--why not buttercream? To me fondant would be harder. I mean if you do fondant you gotta use something to glue them on doncha? That would be an extra step?
Buttercream would just grab it first time no? Do you think the buttercream would melt the petals? I've done petal cakes before & they din melt.
Not a petal cake like that --I did a big pink ribbon one on a sheet cake--they din melt.
imagine how long it takes to make small gumpaste roses and multiply that into a CAKE!! one to get that effect all the petals HAVE to be the exact same size and they would be huge as well-a lot of time and patience just for the roses and then you sculpt the cake too...hope she's not a budget bride
Ok, this one stopped my heart! It's beautiful and very unique, indeed, but, OH MY GOODNESS!
...watching and waiting for the final result!
Allison 
You could do that with buttercream under the petals, no problem.
Make sure you charge her enough to pay for the carpal tunnel treatments that you'll need after making all of those rose petals!
Don't shoot me but I don't think it would take me that long to do this. It's not your Momma's birthday cake for sure but you slap out the petals in advance then ombre airbrush the color and then airbrush the shine, apply them. It's pretty straight forward yes?
You could even ombre airbrush the pink shine in one step huh--they have those airbrush shiney frosty colors now huh. I think the time eater is the coloring and, dude, whip out the sprayer huh.
Once you get going with the ball tool on the rose petals you just get faster & faster.
I'm almost feeling inspired to do one--it's sucha beautiful beautiful cake --my kid just turned 30 and she did a destination birthday celebration to Chicago--so before they left I made a plate of birthday pancakes including bacon & eggs for a birthday breakfast.
But no real bd cake--I dunno maybe maybe not--that I'd do one & time it I mean. I'd only be doing a small one though--10" max.
But that's so beautiful--I guess I need a profile shot of it too. The aerial shot is not scary to me.
You don't even have to smooth the icing! deliver me
edited for atrocious spelling
I thought buttercream would be a bad idea.
1. I wouldnt want to run the chance at all of those wilting after all that work
2. Each flower needs to be very percise in placement to have a clean look like that and I wouldnt want them to slide in the buttercream
3. I thought if I used fondant and attached them with royal or even gumpaste glue would be better
Anyone know where the link to Ron Ben-Isreal making this cake from the dome shape is? I watched the similar one on the Satin Ice video, but I would like to see this exact cake.
She is coming for a tasting/consult tomorrow. So we will see what she says about her budget. Here is picture of the other cake she sent me. She wants the rose to be the top tier and she said she is not sure about the bottom. Well, I have know idea what to do with the bottom to go with the top. Unless I cover it in petals like the top. She also want real butterflies in the vase. This cake is just over the top.
I dry my fondant + cornstarch petals in a warming drawer at 150 degrees for two 2-hour periods too so mine become thin crispy candy too.
What is this customer smoking? She wants real butterflies in the vase? How long would those take to die? Nice....
Let's take bets on how much she's going to be "willing" to pay you for this. I guess $150. Plus $10 for the butterflies. 
Did I see "dew" on a few of the petals? Is that achieved with piping gel? If so, can someone tell me, please? (I've been a member for quite sometime, but I've only started decorating 4 months ago. Please forgive me for my "newbie" inquiries.)
Thanking you all in advance for your continued advice, tips and support!
Allison
K8memphis...have you started the petals, yet? We're waiting for your tutorial!!! 
...off to google ombre airbrush!
I'm not starting anything until I have a deposit in hand! lol.
My guess is that she will not pay the price either. She didnt even ask about how much or anything. She contacted me intially through email, then called to confirm the appointment. She never asked a price. I am going to leave it up to her to get butterflies. I will tell her all my thoughts on it and I will put the poor little things in the vase, but I am not going to search for them in store or land..lol!
I'll keep you all posted after our meeting tomorrow morning.
To answer the dew question. Regular old piping gel or cornsyrup dripped on. Easy-peasy.
it would seem like you would have to stick the pedal's in bc, in fondant, in gumpaste it would be to hard and couldn't eat, but i think bc under the pedals to other wise it wouldn't have any dimention, i think they would look like they were just piled on, interesting cake.
Butterflies...really? That's just a cruel thing to do for an "effect!" Where's her empathy?
...no reply necessary. I just had to get that off my chest. I apologize for the topic detour.
Butterflies...really? That's just a cruel thing to do for an "effect!" Where's her empathy?
...no reply necessary. I just had to get that off my chest. I apologize for the topic detour.
I'm in total agreement. When I saw that bride on Masters of Reception who wanted the real butterflies released at her wedding, then they all died and were just lying all over the place - it totally grossed me out and I thought it was just cruel. The wedding planners were apparently told to keep the butterflies in a cool place before releasing them so they put them in the refrigerator! Half of them were already dead and when they released the other ones they just flopped around - a few actually flew but the majority of them were dead or dying. Really creepy.
I'd seriously steer her clear of that idea - you don't want kids freaking out, bawling and screaming, and adults getting nauseated by dead butterflies in the middle of the cake.
imagine how long it takes to make small gumpaste roses and multiply that into a CAKE!! one to get that effect all the petals HAVE to be the exact same size and they would be huge as well-a lot of time and patience just for the roses and then you sculpt the cake too...hope she's not a budget bride
I've seen that cake up close. He did a version of it for the gumpaste flowers class I had taken with him a few years ago. The petals are huge. And the cake is absolutely stunning.
Theresa
K8memphis...have you started the petals, yet? We're waiting for your tutorial!!!
...off to google ombre airbrush!
Don't hold your breath for a tutorial 
Ombre just means darker to lighter so you would have your petals laid out in rows and you'd spray some of them with a second coat and some with a third coat and maybe a fourth coat so they go from light to dark--that's all I meant.
I mean what tutorial? Make a ton of rose petals & stick 'em in huh~~
I was just gonna time it & see how long it took.
That's funny, K8memphis! I appreciate the expedited tutorial.
Seriously, though, I thank you for the ombre description. I think even I can do this technique.
Make it a wonderful day!
Allison
Butterflies...really? That's just a cruel thing to do for an "effect!" Where's her empathy?
...no reply necessary. I just had to get that off my chest. I apologize for the topic detour.
seriously! Watch out or you'll have PETA breathing down your neck!
I mean what tutorial? Make a ton of rose petals & stick 'em in huh~~
That's pretty much the concept behind any "tutorial" I might dream up: look at the picture, figure it out and just do it!
But let's play with the numbers that were offered earlier. 4 people, 2 days. Assume ONLY 8 hours per day. THat's 32 man hours per day x 2 days = 64 man hours. If we assume they are entry level and make a lousy ten bucks an hour, that's $640 just in payroll .... which doesn't include the bakery owner's payroll costs of workers comp insurance, payroll taxes, accountant expense for processing the payroll, etc.
If we assume they are of a higher skill level and make $15/hour x 64 hours = $960 just in payroll, plus all other expenses as listed above.
Any idea how big the 4 people 2 day cake was? If it serves 100, that's $9.60/serving JUST for the payroll. If it serves 50, that's $19.20/serving JUST for the labor. Then you'd have to add a cost for the ingredients, for the overhead (baking, mixing, clean up), for the profit margin.
I'd say anywhere between $25-$60 per serving.
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