The Date Is Almost Here For This Monstrous Cake -Talk Me Thr
Decorating By gina0475 Updated 23 Mar 2010 , 1:07am by gina0475
ough it...
First I will tell you my plan ...
you critique it because my heart is starting to pound about it now
in a previous post I asked some questions and you all were kind enough to answer I need you again to talk me to calm PLEASE!!
My mother in-laws church is having a chocolate event so this cake is my contribution for her. She and I found this pic -- this is not my cake, we just love it and want to make a similar one- so here is the plan...
The bottom tier will be 16" two layers chocolate cake, filled with a stable chocolate mousse (recipe found on here I wish I knew who because it is delicious whoever you are you are the best!).
I intend to cover in butter cream and add the white chocolate curls
The next tier will be 14" two layers chocolate cake, filled with peanut butter mouse.
this layer will be covered in chocolate ganache and I intend to pipe on the dots.
The next tier 12" two layers of chocolate cake, filled with white chocolate mousse.
this layer will be covered in either white chocolate butter cream or white chocolate fondant -- I am still really confused on which I should do ???
I will use fondant strips to make the swirls and dry them and add them once iced.
the next tier 10" two layers of chocolate cake filled with peanut butter mousse and this will be covered in ganache and I intend to pipe the criss cross pattern.
the top tier will be 8" two layers chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse covered --- again I have a dilemma with how to cover this tier see the last one like it. -- and this one I want some other design I think it may be chocolate cigarillos
and as a topper I am going to make truffle balls or cake balls in dark chocolate with a white chocolate drizzle
thanks for bearing with me, if you got this far please let me know what you think
thanks all
Wow... what a monstrosity of a cake! borderline of a chocoholic's dream and a diabetic coma. 
your flavor combos sound wonderful. here's my suggestions.... the 12" one, I would go with the white choc fondant. I think that would look more uniform with the ganache covered tiers with the rolled top instead of the edged top from a buttercream sides. if that makes sense. I also like the cigarellos for the top.
you know what I think??? I wanna come to YOUR church!! LOL That sounds awesome!!! Remember, each one is just a single cake unto itself!!!
As for your dilemma w/ fondant or bc.........which one are you more comfortable with? That is how I would make my decision!
Another option could be thinly rolled candy clay! yum!
True... I am more comfortable with butter cream, but I am not opposed to fondant I am just very very slow with it because I have a hard time making it neat and perfect. the rolled candy? do you mean a moulding chocolate?
I'll tell ya I am nervous lately with making anything with white chocolate for some reason it does not turn out for me I thought I must be buying the cheap white chocolate and then I dropped a boat load of money on a better product and again it came out bad. So I am sort of confused with what to do?
and mind you this is a freebie so I am trying keep it inexpensive.
keep it coming I would love to see what each of you says
I love the cigarellos idea.......another option might be to do some of those chocolate fans..or even some chocolate butterflies adhered to the sides of one of the tiers. There are so many cool things you can do with chocolate.
What about doing a chocolate transfer on some chocolate and then breaking off chards of it (they would be patterned) and stick them on the side, or do a mosaic!! There are just a MILLION options with chocolate!
Wow! That sounds like it will be amazingly delicious!
borderline of a chocoholic's dream and a diabetic coma
Too funny!
I know this question is off-topic, but would you mind sharing WHICH chocolate mousse recipe you are in love with? There are so many listed!
TIA - I appreciate it.
In my experience with white chocolate, the whole key is a quality product, along with a great recipe (of course) and it being room temperature before mixing. My recipe does not turn out "smooth", otherwise I would be happy to share. Perhaps some of the more experienced baking gurus can lend a hand!
I wish you great success - I'm sure it will turn out beautifully!
Cheley
I am with KHalstead, where are you and can I come? YUUMMM! I think you should do what you are most comfortable with, and yes, it's only 5 cakes, just stacked on top of each other, I did one exactly this big, in addition to 5 10" satellites, and I had to keep telling myself that they were all just separate cakes. It's a beautiful cake, good luck and let us know how you did!
will do thanks so much for the pep talks all
keep the suggestions coming ..
the one mousse recipe I tried and I like is http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7308/costco-mousse-recipe
I did this one this way and with just whipping cream the one with just whipping cream is too thick this one is really great and so easy you cant beat it, well maybe making it from scratch but this is way way easier and very stable.
Yummmm! Peanut butter AND Chocolate - the best flavor combo around! I wanna come visit too!
Thanks for posting the choc mousse recipe, Gina - I appreciate you taking the time to do that! 
For the 12" tier, what about white chocolate ganache? It will set up smooth almost like a fondant, but will keep you in your buttercream safety zone since you apply it like buttercream. Use a 3:1 ratio of white chocolate:cream. As for the design, I think it should definitely be something with texture to complement the other white tiers since they have so much texture. JMHO, but I think cigarellos might overpower the other white tiers. What about white MMF or white chocolate modeling clay polka dots or circles? There is a really sophisticated design in the gallery which is just rows of polka dots covering the entire sides of the cake, making a pattern. They are butted up to each other and they look fabulous. It also makes the design cohesive as you have a lot of round elements on the cake. HTH.
i love the idea fr KHalstead of choc transfer sheet then broken into pieces placed to make a mosaic. If you'd rather not spend more on the choc transfer sheets, you can just use pieces of choc into a pattern. oh, neat ideas!
Two things. I would start baking now. Freeze or wrap and refrigerate the cakes, but it will take a long time to bake those layers and level them, etc. And if something goes wrong with the baking, you'll need extra time (uh, this happened to me when my oven died mid-cake). Second, about white chocolate. It can be tricky, because it has an alarming tendency to separate. You can bring it back together by beating the daylights out of it in the Kitchen Aid -- in ganache, for example. Just keep going and it will come back together... Good luck. It's going to be a masterpiece!
not to be the wet blanket, but your profile says new and you have no pictures so I can't judge your experience from that, just how many cakes have you made?
I have been making cakes for a few years, I have two little ones so I just dont have too much time and patience to add pics but I would like to get around to it eventually... posting on here usually takes a two to three part stop and start process for a child who needs something LOL. Any way I am no pro but I am not a beginner either I have made lots of cakes but I enjoy certain mediums as anyone does. I will post this one when its done because you all have been so wonderful with helping me through it. And since you asked I will try to post some pics of my other stuff too.
soon soon
gotta go help a kid right now - I'm not kidding LOL
thanks all!!!!!
Just looked at your pics let me say whooooa you got the baby shower cakes covered!! They are beautiful! just remember they are just indiv. cakes stacked. good luck 
well if you can stack three, four shouldn't be a big problem. That was honestly what I was most concerned about. There are few things I find more stressful then stacking cakes....so much can go wrong. I wish you the best of luck in this cake!
Wow my mouth is watering looking at it!!! Amazing!
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