Hi im looking at doing a 3-d hot air ballon cake i was going to do a rectangle cake for the basket and then for the ballon i was thinking of making lots of round cakes and stacking them then carving into a ballon shape but iv never carved before and i have no idear where to start or how to go about it. should i put boards inbetween some of the layers other wise its going to be a hge piece of cake when cut i no thats not a bad thing but i wouldnt get many portions.

to stack i was going to use about 6 dowls and ice them so they look like the rope for the ballons.

any help will be very appreciated thanks

Work out a sketch, so you can visualize what the cake will end up looking like and you can see how to cut and stack cakes. You'll want to build your structure in a way to give support, even if you're planning on not transporting it 'set up', so gravity doesn't get the better of you. As for where to start with carving, just start cutting away the cake and making what you have sketched out (and/or in your mind) come through the cake. Putting boards between various layers will make it easier for them to cut, but I've also seen folks make horizontal cuts along the way too, to serve cake. Good luck!

An idea for the "rope" looking dowels, instead of icing, consider wrapping them in fondant... it'll provide a smoother finish and if you do it just right, will look more like rope too. So, sketch out, consider the mechanics of 'defying gravity' with cake and also consider doing a practice run on not only sculpting and stacking but also on the structural end... there's nothing more maddening than realizing your plan won't work, halfway through, AFTER you've cut cakes to stack and then you have to rework things with cake that's already been cut... measure twice, cut once can end up being "what else can i mortar together with filling to make this work?" lol...

...you could start out with a ball shaped pan for the balloon

You will need cardboard, standard is at every 4". I agree with the poster who said use a ball pan, and then I would stack the half sphere on top of rounds, that way you only have to taper the bottom...

Thats a brilliant idear with the ball shape on top of the rounds i can really see it and i think that may save me quite a bit of work on the carving side. its still quite dawnting not done this before i may even be on crutches when im trying to do it so may be a even bigger challenge .

just ordered my football tin so when that turns up il see what round tin sizes iv got to stack undernief. with the cardboard do you sugest using that instead f cake boards? i spose that will be easyer to cut to the sizes i nneed.