Hi,

I have a cake to do in January, for a wedding with music as the theme. The colours are ivory, antique gold and deep red. I've started early as shipping to Mumbai takes some time.

I am planning to do three round tiers, with the tiers being separated by metal lifts. I will upload a sketch later.

I'd like some ideas on how to incorporate the notes into the design, and what is the best option ... stencils / cutters/ free-hand.

I have looked through the galleries, but if anyone has links to music-based cakes, I will be very grateful.

Thanks a lot,

Karen

Check this out. Maybe you could do something similar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/letthemeatcakes/2406181967/

you could add notes around the second tier in a flowing kind of way. I would think that cutters or stencils for fondant would work just fine.

Use stencils or cutters if you don't have good piping skills.

For images, just like Jamie says, go to Google.

I've done this:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1403307

And this:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1234734

Hope this helps.

Suzanne x

I've been thinking about ways to do this as well. I've made quite a few sketches for a cake I'd like to do eventually. Here's one that I thought would be fun. I think it would be cute to use rolled balls of fondant around the bottom of the tiers for the heads of the notes. The entire bottom would be evenly lined with the balls, but use ivory for the regular (background) balls and red for the balls that would be the head of the notes. Then, on the actual cake, use cut out red fondant pieces for the stem and flag of the notes. You could also pipe the red stem and flag onto the cake. Here's one of my rough sketches.

Another idea I had is to have the lines of a music staff circling the tiers of the cake. Then, pipe in the musical notes on the lines, like a real sheet of music. I think it would add a nice touch if you actually copied a line of music onto the cake, something they would choose and be familiar with.

Letsgetcaking, I love your sketches! Super creative.

Thanks, Rylan. You're always so sweet!

No problem, I'm just speaking the truth.

Suzanne, I just saw your cakes--your work is so clean.

Thanks for the replies! You are all so creative.

Letsgetcaking, your sketches are great. You have so many different ideas. I love the one where the musical notes wrap around the cake. If I may, I'd like to use that idea.

Suzanne, you mentioned patchwork cutters and pastillage on one of the cakes. If you have a link to the site you purchased them from, could you share it with me? Your cakes are crisp and neat and beautiful.

Rylan, thanks, I will go to google for the images. Actually the couple are both in advertising, so I think, they will be providing the JPGs themselves. My piping skills are good, I've been doing this for almost 32 years, but I think, if cutters are available, I might as well use them.

ramie7224, that's a gorgeous cake. Now if only my bride was less traditional and would go for something as stunning as that.

Thanks all for the help,
I will post a sketch sometime tomorrow. (I am going to have custom metal separators made)


Karen

You've probably already seen this one on the main page, but one of today's favorite cakes has the staff going around the cake:

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1512263

If you scroll down, the decorator explains how she made the notes in detail.

This is a simple sketch I did. The metal lifts/separators/stands, I am getting them fabricated. The flowers are carnations, ivory with red and gold edging.

Please let me know what you think.
Karen

I love the G-clef separators with the heart incorporated into them! Beautiful design.

I did a cake where I had to combine a musical theme with the Carolina Panthers last year, it's in my galleries. The music notes are TERRIBLE! so apologize, but thought you might want to see my treble clef topper. I just printed and enlarged an image I found online then outlined with royal several times, and ended letting it just squiggle all over itself. I painted it with gold that you would use in an airbrush. It did break a couple of times because I was too impatient to let it dry properly before handling it......hth!

great design!

tho' -- where's the BASS clef -- after all that's a part of music too.

and it would be equal time -- Treble for the lady (where the ladies and few very blessed tenors sing) and Bass for the the Guy

Treble the top on, Bass the bottom one.

----

and inquiring minds wish to know -- just how much does a custom fabrication job like this cost?

As is very evident, I know NOTHING about Music, so I'll take all the help I can get.


The design for the treble clef, came from the couple themselves, they sent me a JPG file, and I used it as a base for my sketch.

They are using this design as part of the card, the table favors, the back-drop, and a centre-piece (containing confetti, over the cake)

I tried to get the couple use the two bottom cakes stacked on each other, then the single separator and then the top smallest cake. But ... they still wanted both the separators.
I will tell them, what you suggested, about the bass clef.

Doug, I'm getting an estimate for the separators tomorrow. I will definitely let you know. I've asked for estimates, in brass, stainless steel and MS, to be powder coated with an matte antique gold finish.

Once the separators are done, I will post pictures.

Calyssa, I like the way you've done the music notes on the side of the cake. (Staff, is that what it's called? ) I think it looks better than the straight lines I've sketched.

TNTfundraiser, thanks for your nice comments.

Karen

I love your design, especially the treble clef separators. Those are really cool! I am constantly surprised by designs and ideas I never would have thought possible on this site. This cake is going to be awesome and I can't wait to see it!

This cake is turning into something very different.

First my bride changed her flowers from carnations to gerberas, to roses, and then to lilies.Now she has a combination of roses and lilies, in two colours, deep red and ivory! What I thought was going to be an elegant design, is looking like a mess.

And, the separators arrived from the fabricator, but they were not finished well. So I returned them... 6 days to go, keeping my fingers crossed.If they are not good enough I have to revert to a stacked design... which means I have to put together a topper just in case ...

Any tips on piping on a vertical surface? I thought instead of piping just random notes, I would pipe three bars of the Wedding March. (letsgetcaking, thanks for the idea!)


Thanks,
Karen

I like the idea of piping the notes of the Wedding March. I did a similar thing with the first line of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" for a retiring High School music teacher.

I'm just really intrigued with the whole shipping to Mumbai thing!! Can I ask where you live and how far it has to travel? How exactly do you plan to pack and ship this wonderful creation?

Here are a couple links to photos I found:

http://mamamousse.com/assets/products/cakes/cake-theme-music50.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3472/3376967271_b9da460033.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelcontreras/3376967271/&usg=__FY2i2lukTmeUUqUsenBjAOedH_w=&h=500&w=375&sz=94&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=r6OuoDPX4RnSzM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmusical%2Bnote%2Bcake%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS312US312%26um%3D1

http://www.cakerental.com/files/MusicalNoteM.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pinkcakebox.com/images/cake906.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/musical-birthday-cake-2009-01-03.htm&usg=__AZ0VU-ULuEpMgLiwb5GSaWekdYg=&h=559&w=400&sz=62&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=BuB7UVP7ih6lVM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmusic%2Bthemed%2Bcake%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS312US312%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.themusicdepot.com/acatalog/Product_10323_lg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.themusicdepot.com/acatalog/Musical_Graduate_Cake_Decorating_Set.html&usg=__M7LTGqnYu5MA7ZAt-Y9EMEf-WlQ=&h=300&w=249&sz=23&hl=en&start=109&um=1&tbnid=FTcZq_0ggQZxuM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmusical%2Bnote%2Bcake%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS312US312%26sa%3DN%26start%3D105%26um%3D1

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bp1.blogger.com/_yIODTg6h54M/R60wDf-Rf9I/AAAAAAAAA30/i0hcG5FmIb8/s400/IMG_0528.JPG&imgrefurl=http://sujithsez.blogspot.com/2008/02/cake-decoration-series.html&usg=__YzswwWzZHR-jJenyage0rCwitro=&h=400&w=300&sz=21&hl=en&start=38&um=1&tbnid=BgYdlvRjPUTTtM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmusic%2Bthemed%2Bcake%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS312US312%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1

cownsj ... thanks for the list of links... lots of good ideas there!

JGMB, I'm sorry, I was not clear in my earlier post. I live in Mumbai, India, as does the bride. I was planning to buy some equipment online, and shipping to India from the US , takes time. THAT's the shipping I was talking about!

Sorry!

Karen

Please be sure to show us the cake when it's done.

I will definitely post a pic, once it's done. Unfortunately, it is not going to look anything like my original design, as the fabricator backed out at the last moment.

Now I am making a topper using the treble clef.

My flowers are all done. Just got to assemble the sprays.

And then of course, the big piping job ... the notes across the cakes.


Karen

My cake got done last Sunday, and here are the pictures. I have posted the original picture, one with the ugly background edited out (lost some detail though), the topper, the separator, and a couple of closeups.

The fabricator came through at the last moment ... did a fabulous job.

Thanks for looking and all the help on the way,



Karen

Edited to remove the pics from this post and post a link to my photos instead.

Here's my cake!
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1561447

Your cake is beautiful! I'll have to keep it in mind for when my son gets married. His life goal is to play in a symphony. He's in graduate school now, majoring in performance.
I've made him several "musical" cakes.....a trombone case....a chocolate wrap with Mozart...and a "your music performance degree for Dummies book". The first Mozart chocolate transfer I did was for a wedding cake for a musician in the Air Force band who married a music teacher. Many of the wedding guests were also musicians, and it was fun to watch them "read" the music on the cake...humming the tune!

Jodie

Thanks Jodie,

This was supposed to be a music-themed wedding. The treble clef with the heart was based on a design the couple gave me. All their decor was based on this and musical notes.


Initially, I tried to pipe the five parallel lines, and then pipe the notes on, but unfortunately... 5 Parallel lines, on the side of a rounded cake .... just did not work.

So I gave up and just piped the notes from three bars of the Wedding March. Of course, without the staff, it does not make much sense, but .... I tried!

Thanks for looking,
Karen

For Doug:

The fabricator charged me Rs 3000/- for the laser-cut separator. That is approximately $65.

Much more expensive than I anticipated, but still worth it as it was beautifully fabricated and exactly what the couple wanted.

They are planning to keep it as a memento ... maybe use it as a stand for plants/candle-stand ...


Karen