Hi everyone! I'm doing a cake for this weekend... They want a sheet cake with a 3d farm scene on it. The boy is really into tornados and weather, so they want a tornado somewhere on the cake. My idea is to have a barn and silo and animals... and then to have a large 3d tornado just ripping through the cake... maybe damaging the barn...

I'm wondering how I can do the tornado? I have an idea from someone on here who did a smiliar cake. And she made rings of royal icing... this seems like a great idea, but i'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas or input for me... I need something that will be sturdy obviously... I don't want the tornado to fall over! Any ideas on the construction?

Also, if anyone else has done a farm cake... perhaps you can let me know an "order of operations"... which should I get done first?

i'm not looking to make animals out of gumpaste or anything, i'll most likely buy little plastic animals to use...

Thanks for your help!!!!

I did a tornado that Taz was coming out of. I used RKT and covered with fondant. I used a pipe for the structure.

If you are looking for extra strength for your tornado, how about using a sugar ice cream cone, then cover it in fondant, royal, or icing? Its edible, sweet, and would help reinforce the cone shape...

You can even make the tornado out of cotton candy if you can find it. I think that would be kind of cool You can put it around the bottom of asugar cone for stability or use a straw ect.

I did a tornado cake (not sure if I posted it). I made many different sized rings of royal icing on wax paper, and then stacked them kind of haphazardly. I put a dowel in the middle of the tornado to help support it. I had to travel a long way to the party so I put the tornado in a container with padding around it and then put it on the cake when I got there. It came out really good, and it's not as hard as it seems!!

Better yet, make a bunch of super thin strings of gumpaste and then wrap them haphazardly around a parchment covered ice cream cone, with extra 'height' added and twisted back around itself at the very tip. Place the cone upside down and work your way up to the top. Make sure to insert a wire or two sticking out of the top (which will flip over to be the bottom) in order to stick it into the cake. The key is to do this way ahead of time, and to make a couple of extras, just in case of breakage. Also, be very loose with the formation - don't have it end at the edge of the cone - pull a bit of it off to one side - like a real tornado would look. They are not perfectly straight funnels.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1290433

I remembered this picture from Parable's avatar. You could PM her to ask her more specifics.

hey puffcake! thanks for the heads up on parable's avatar.. that is EXACTLY the look i want!!! i just pmed her... thanks so much

Glad to help! Good luck with your cake

oh.. you have to have a flying cow somwhere on the cake maybe just a leg or two sticking out of the tornado !!!

I did a tornado by inserting a dowel and forming RKT around it in the shape i wanted. I then used white chocolate to cover it. It turned out well, but it was hard to keep the tornado from sliding down. I should have put a piece of cake circle between the cake and tornado to support it.

all you have great suggestions! take a look at parable's wizard of oz tornado..... i know she did the tornado out of RKT and royal icing. but how do you think she mounted the tornado to the board? my tornado will be on a 4 inch high sheet cake and won't have anything on top of it.... how do i keep the tornado from falling over? i'd like it to have some real height to it if i can..

any suggestions??

Well I was thinking that what if you attach a dowel to a small cylinder (flat piece of wood or something sturdy but flat) And then insert it thru the cake. Something like the shape of a flower nail .