Hi All,

I am not a professional cake decorator, nor have I ever decorated a cake, other than those little cakes that you piece together to make a shape (for my kids when they were little), like the shape of a t-shirt, etc.

I am fairly creative, so would love to try my hand sometime.

I have a dilemma.

My sis is getting married on May 15th. Only 30 people coming (family only). She has asked that I make our family's favorite for her wedding. It is the "Waldorf-Astoria Red Velvet Cake." I'm thinking about trying to make 2 or 3 of them in cube shapes.

Here's the dilemma. I want to make it pretty, but cannot figure out a way to do that without changing the icing which she does NOT want me to do. Please look at the recipe I have attached and then, perhaps, you will understand. The icing is an unusual one.

The theme is outdoors India. It is being held at her home right by the river. If all else fails, I will just frost, as normal, and top with fresh flowers, but love the look of fondant and was hoping to do some sort of henna look on it as my sis is having her hands decorated with henna for the wedding.

Is it possible to top with fondant and then pull the fondant off and quickly frost with the real stuff or is that just crazy talk?

I would love any feedback that you all could give. Have included a pic that I found online that looks just like what I make. No idea if that helps at all or not.

Thanks again very much.

I can't really read the recipes. However, a good compromise would be to use the icing as a filling only. Then, you can cover the outside of the cake with whatever you like.

BTW, if there's cream cheese in the icing, you probably shouldn't use it under your layer of fondant. I've read many horror stories from people who tried it.

Also, red velvet cake is usually very soft and may not support fondant. I hope you find the solution you're looking for!

what about decorating a dummy cake for your sis? Cover it in fondant, etc. and then have the red velvet cakes in the back sliced up for servings??

Could wheel away the decorated cake and come out with slices.............or have sis demand "nobody is cutting my beautiful cake!!!.......there's extra cake in the kitchen, eat that!! " lol

I've never had a problem with red velvet cake and fondant, as long as I only fill with cream cheese and dont cover the outside under the fondant.

I assume you'll be doing a practice cake to see how it goes?

The way I see it, you can either make a red velvet cake with the cream cheese filling, buttercream and fondant, or you can decorate it with more 'rustic' looking cream cheese frosting.

This would be nice. The outside is a sheet of white chocolate wrapped around when it was still pliable. You could top with flowers instead of fruit. You can use as much frosting as you want under the chocolate. [/img]

Brilliant idea, KHalstead!

Wow. I already love this forum! Can't believe how many responses you've all given me in such a short amount of time. Yay and thanks!

Here's a link to the recipe (very close to mine). http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/print/31968,15483,s=10.html

The icing does not have any cream cheese whatsoever. It does, however, have flour in it which is unusual. It is yummy stuff though!

I love all of your ideas!

I think I'm kind of liking the dummy cake idea the best, but....how do you make a dummy cake?

Do I use real cake or is there a cheaper way even than that?

That white chocolate covering is awfully pretty. Might use that for something else in future. How fun would that be?!

Thanks so much again to all!

This sounds like such a beautiful wedding! I really hope it works out for you!

I don't have much advice, but I wanted to share this henna-insipred cake with you. I'v had it in my favorite for a while and would love to do something like it!

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1642931

From what I have seen dummy cakes are done with Styrofoam cake dummies that can usually be purchased at a craft store or online. Can be made to look like a cake but is not edible. You cover in fondant like you would a regular cake. Check the link below:

http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=25687&name=10x5%20inch%20Round%20Cake%20Dummy

dallas foam has inexpensive cake dummies.....they're just styrofoam and then you'll have weeks to work on the cake if you want!

MY DH only like that "traditional" cooked icing with red velvet cake, I know exactly which icing you are referrng to. It is good, but not favorable to decorating!

I agree with the above, either do the chocolate wrap around it, OR just do a dummy for presentation and serve the RV with the cooked icing from the kitchen.

tmgarcia.........do you have any idea where to get the impression necessary for that chocolate wrap.......it is stunning!!

Ok, sooo...should I decide to go with the cake dummies so that I can use fondant, I would have 2 more questions.

1. Is fondant so difficult to use when you are a first-timer that you'd not recommend doing such a thing?

2. If I decide to use fondant and draw on the henna/mehndi design, how would I do that? I've seen where someone has a drawing of the design they like and they then trace it onto some kind of transparent paper and then draw the design on the cake through the paper using some special tool. Yes? No? - What is the paper? What is the tool? Is there an altogether easier way to do this, perhaps?

Here are some random images of what henna/mehndi design can look like.

On hands:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=mehndi&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

On a cake:

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=mehndi+cake&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&start=0

Thanks again all!

Have you done the henna designs before? If not, doing fondant AND those are going to be a tall order, IMO. Since it isn't going to be eaten, I would use WIlton fondant. That brand is easy to work with. I would start practicing NOW. I also think the best option for the henna designs would be to hand paint them - just use gel color dilited with something with a high alcohol content. (I use everclear) and a fine tipped paintbrush.

Loucinda,

Thank you for your words of wisdom.

To answer your question...No, I've never worked with henna.

Just wanting a henna design on the cake. Didn't want to use henna, itself, to do so.

Whatever the case, I am wondering what it was that you suggested? Colored gel? Couldn't make out the next word you typed, "dilited"??

Thanks much!

I am sorry, diluted is what I meant! Use brown gel color, diluted with something that has a high alcohol content!

Like Tequila? Ha. That's all I have in the house that has a high alcohol content. Is that what you are meaning?

Thanks again!

Vodka is best, but I don't see why tequila wouldn't work. I would recommend doing a simple mehndi design if you haven't done anything like it before. The Middle Eastern mehndi styles are quite popular in India, and they're less detailed than traditional Indian ones.