I want to make cinderella carriage as the cake topper for my daughter's birthday. I know that I have two options:

1. Real cake topper: Bake the carriage cake in sports ball pan and cover in fondant. My question is do I need to use support? I have heard that the carriage can sag and loose its round shape.

2. Fake cake topper: I can cover styrofoam ball with fondant. If I were to do that what do I use under the fondant: royal, buttercream or just water? I am tempted to make the topper 2-3 weeks in advance. How can I do that....would royal icing under the fondant work? Also would fondant not tear in 2-3 weeks.

All the advice is well appreciated! I hope I can do this and make my little girl really happy!

..moving to Cake Ideas.

um... this is a long shot, but would look freakin' awesome. How about for the fun of it, air up a round balloon, cover it with cornstarch, then pipe royal icing on it (I was thinking just like a lattice type frame... really pretty and all... or you could do a solid coating all over it.) Let it dry and keep adding coats over a few days to strengthen it. Then deflate the balloon. Make your wheels and frame seperately and glue all together with RI
Add details at the end. You could do 2 or 3 at one time for back-ups.

Or use a balloon and cover it for a ball shape with gumpaste. Deflate it and have a nice shape. It's light enough for a cake topper, yet sturdy. Add RI details and gumpaste wheels.