I offered to do the 8th-grade graduation cake for a little church friend. I planned to just make an easy, funky cake. Well, this morning, her mother e-mailed me the photo below, saying that Molly saw this and would love her cake to look like it! What does she think I am, the Ace of Cakes???????

I'm not a pro, just a hobby baker, and I've never done a carved cake -- plus, I only work with BC, not fondant.

Any suggestions on how I can do a cake that will even hint at this theme?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!!!

sheet cake w/ a big ol' fbct of that dog??


Don't you just love people that have no clue how hard stuff is?


What about doing a 2-d carved sheet cake of the dog? like the dog on its side and flat.......would still look like the theme.

(I'm thinking if you pulled off that gorgeous purse cake, you could certainly pull off this dog................might be time to pull out the fondant and give it a go! You never know, you may just find it easier to work with)

I would make your regular cake then make a pink dog out of fondant to put on top of the cake.

You could do a simple cut out cake in the shape of the dog, rather than doing a full on 3d carved cake. Or you could even draw the dog on a sheet cake. There are several ways you could incorporate this theme without having to go over the top. I know how you feel, though. People always seem to expect miracles, don't they? Good luck and be sure to post pics!

Make the mortarboard like it is flat on the cake - you would see the top primarily.

I would probably just incorporate the design/theme into what you had already planned. Add a silver hat, some dog bones, pink overkill ...

If you're gifting the cake, then the design is really more of your choice. It's a gift.

You probably wouldn't want to try to make it silver, but the mortarboard on a 2D dog is easy enough -- just use a big square of chocolate, or a graham cracker coated with chocolate or frosting. Lay it on top of the dog's head so that it rests at an angle. Lowest corner against the cakeboard, uppermost corner sticking up above the cake. Glue it in place with an extra blob of buttercream underneath.

Tassle could be piped or fondant or even a non-edible tassle (JoAnn would have something in the notions aisle).

Also do the feathery stuff on the ankles really big -- maybe you could use cotton candy or something like that? -- and you'd have a few nice "3Dish" effects on what is really just a simple 2D shape cake.

Thanks, everyone, for the great advice! I will do this somehow -- at first, I just wanted to cry and tell her to forget it, but then I decided I'm not a quitter and I'll give it a try! I appreciate all of your input.

I like the sheet cake idea with the dog either made out of gumpaste or RKT.

I saw a tutorial on here somewhere of a 3D dog laying down. And it looked really easy.

I thought I'd let you know that I did it!!! It's not perfect by any means, but I hope she likes it. Thanks for all of your great suggestions and for letting me think I could do it. Here it is -- oh, and I realized afterward that I had forgotten to do the wispy stuff around the legs, so I'm just not going to worry about it.

Talk about rising to the challenge. Great job!!

Very cute!

Thats the way to take the bull by the horns Nice Job

Nicely incorporated.

I think you did a fantastic job of incorporating their wishes. Pat yourself on the back, have a cup of coffee and revel in your new found talent.

I love the attitude - "I am not a quitter". Your rose to the challenge perfectly!

wow it came out great...congrats

Great compromise. You pulled off the request like a dream. In the future, remember the people on here who are able to say - free cake, my design. I know you would say it much more tactfully like, 'the cake is a gift & I have a design in mind but can probably incorporate some of those elements into the design in my head'.

Hurrah for you! Outstanding job of doing what the young lady wanted. I'm in my 4th Wilton course and told my family "I could totally do all those cakes!" [in the pictures of cakes] "Of course, it would probably take 4 days to three weeks and I'd cry a lot, but I could do them..."

Well, YOU DID IT! I'll bet she was thrilled!

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words! Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the girl's face when they picked it up (I had a mandatory church thing), but her mom e-mailed me, saying that they LOVED it and that it was delicious. I was so happy!

Fantastic job!

I love a happy ending and I love your little pink doggie!

awesome! I love how you did it, totally looked like the picture but very do-able so you didn't totally stress about a 3d cake

Awesome job! It's very cute! I must saw you definitely rose to the challenge!

you did a great job and I am so glad the girl liked it!