I'm making my niece's birthday cake this weekend. Pink & Black & silver, and wanted to do a silver sparkly "14" as the topper. I've seen this done everywhere...but can't quite figure out how!

I can easily cut the numbers out with my Cricut...but won't that be too thin? Wouldn't it break, basically if someone looked at it wrong? I made a 14 a couple of days ago out of fondant w/tylose, and it was about a 1/2" thick. I thought sturdy...right? Nope. The 4 broke apart when I handled it (after it dried for 2 days). And those were super heavy, but I thought they'd balance on the cake better.

I guess I'm asking, should they be thin or thick? And what do you use to attach them with? I used floral wire in the practice set, but that really didn't seem like it would hold them. And sucker sticks seem far too big around to use...I mean, how would you insert it into your cut letter without destroying it? Do you use floral wire then add some RI, and if so...is that really strong enough to hold it?

My main concern is that this cake will travel about 2 hours...fully assembled. It's 3 tiers (which will be dowelled), but I need that "14" at the top to really stay up there!!!

Here's a picture that shows kind of what I'm looking to do for the top. Flat letters, not rolled out snakes of fondant shaped into letters. How is this attached???

Please, any and all advice/suggestions are needed! I need to make another tonight so it will have time to dry, and I want to make sure I do it right this time!

Firstly - do NOT travel with the 14 standing in your cake - take it separately and place it on when you get there - trust me, I learnt the hard way about these things! When I do numbers standing on cakes I cut 2 pieces of each number and then sandwich either cocktail sticks or kebab skwers between the two, sticking the letters together with gum glue. Then I dry them for several days (ay least a week to be on the safe side), turning them over each day so both sides get well aired. It's best to go heavy handed on the tylose too - use twice as much as they say for a strong, quicker drying piece. HTH!

Don't travel with it......Like Mike said, not a good idea. I too learned the hard way. I've made my numbers a bit longer on the bottom, so I can cut a slit in the fondant on the top of the cake and slide the number into the cake. Makes sense? I usually make it at least an inch or more longer so it really gets into the cake. Or a make a fugure or something to lean up against it to give it support.
HTH

Well...I'm not driving with it. Her mother is picking it up, and SHE's driving with it!!! Not the best idea, I know...but I have other cakes to work on and can't make my niece's party.

I just don't know what to do! She won't have any idea how to add the numbers to the top, even if I give her RI and make slits in the cake for her! (btw...you both have REALLY great ideas, thanks so much)!!!

Well..I would give her the number and say "Here...all you have to do is stick it into the top of the cake" I think she can do that...It's not that hard!!Otherwise you can't worry about the condition it arrives in.....

what about melted chocolate on the back attatched to a lollipop stick....dries quick and easy to pop into the cake at the party!!! Good luck!!!

Make them of gumpaste or a 50/50 mix. Then use a sucker stick or wooden dowel and attach to the back of the numbers with candy melts. I do this all the time. I also would not advise travelling that far with them on there. Put them on there long enough to get a picture, then remove them for the drive.

okay. I think I have a plan now. Thanks so much for all of your help!!! I swear, I really don't know what I would do without this site and all of you!!!

The way I do all my toppers, is that I basically cut 2 pieces of each from a fondant/gumtex mixture and sandwiched in between them is a skewer (or two) depending on the shape. The two pieces are held together by a spritz of water.

hope this helps!

I have a question. I understand cutting 2 of each number and placing the skewer between the two. My question is do you do this after the number are first cut or do you wait a day or two and then paste them together?

Thinking about purchasing a Cricut machine. Which one do you recommend, the Expressions or the Personal machine? It is a lot cheaper to by the personal version. However, I have 2 daughters 8 and 10, and I am also a former teacher needing to go back and I think the larger Expressions may be more useful.

I have the Expression & LOVE it! If you plan to use it to cut gumpaste though, you'll also need a deep cut blade & housing. HTH

Thanks! JoAnn has it on sale and free shipping.

greengyrl26, if you use fondant & tylose do you need the deep cut blade? I just got the Cricut Create for Christmas but I haven't used it on fondant yet.

If you don't care if the numbers are completely edible, why not use foam core cut out in the number shapes and covered in thin fondant. When you cut them out you could create a tab at the bottom to insert into the cake like said earlier.

Thanks so much greengyrl26!!! I'm planning to use it this weekend so I'm glad you told me!!! I'm going to get the deep cut blade today!! Your pictures & detail is amazing! Thank you for documenting what you did!!!

meri1028...no problem! I've received so much help here, I'm more than happy to be able to help someone else! Please post pics of your success so we can all see!

greengyrl26, I have another question for you. I just got back from AC Moore & Michael's. Do you need the deep cut blade houseing or will the deep cut blade fit in the regular housing? Well I was unable to find just the blade so I bought the housing & blade anyways but it was twice as much.

I have & use both the deep blade & housing. The deep housing sits higher than the regular housing, allowing the gumpaste/fondant to pass thru (since it's thicker than regular paper). But yeah, I think it was around $30 for the combo at Wal-Mart. Hope you had a coupon for Hobby Lobby/Michael's!

Thank you so much for the quick reply! Actually in NC they won't let you use a coupon on any Cricut products!!! But I just found the blade & housing on Amazon for $10 cheaper & I have free 2 day shipping!! It will get here Saturday! So I'm taking the one I bought back! Thank you so much for your help!!!! Wish me luck & I'll let you know what I get! I really do appreciate all your help!

Oh, you're right. We can't use the coupons on the Cricut stuff here either...which is why I bought it at Wal-Mart! Totally forgot about that!!!

No problem, am happy to help. Truly. Before I got this Cricut thing figured out, I was absolutely on the verge of tears. I knew it could be done, I'd seen it done. I was following everyone's instructions, had watched the dvd, ect. I thought I'd tried everything and it wasn't working and I was so completely deflated by the whole process. UNTIL...I figured out that I wasn't rolling it thin enough, and that my roller was a piece of crap! The minute I switched to using the KA pasta roller attachment...magic...it worked! And, it worked beautifully!

As for the fast reply...well....I'm pretty much addicted to this website! I always have it up in the background at my "day job", and check it every chance I get! It's a bit of a problem....I guess it's my vice!

Good luck to you, and yes...please post pics of your success!

I use styrofoam to make diferent kind of cake toppers, I've done numbers too. I get a design of what I want put it on the styrofoam mark it around and cut it with a special tool to cut styrofoam (got it at michael's or ac moore) then I paint it with acrylic paint and let it dry and last I brush it a little of glue with water over all and sprinkle it with very fine glitter.

I put a picture here of what i just told you.

HIH

Just wanted to thank everyone for all of your help with this. I ended up cutting my numbers out of fondant/tylose (as originally planned), and attaching them to a sucker stick with chocolate (as suggested here). It worked like a DREAM! Those things were very solid & sturdy! I posted a pic of the cake this morning. Here's a link if you'd like to take a peek at what you ALL helped make a success!!!
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1554390

Your cake turned out lovely!

greengyrl26, your cake & your numbers turned out great! The numbers are perfect.

I tried my Cricut this weekend. I have the Cricut create (the middle one). I used a Happily Ever After cartridge which actually recommends using the Cricut Expression for the more detailed pieces. I had to make the eyes and lips out of paper because I just couldn't get it right with the fondant. I used fondant with tylose. I will try gumpaste next time though. I love this thing though!!! The larger pieces were great!

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1555273

Can you tell me how you got the sticky stuff off the mat? I used the other side of the mat with Crisco, but I think the deep cut blade and the other side of the mat are not such a good idea.

Thank you so much for your help!!