<Please see pic of blue and white cake in my gallery>

Help! I just finished decorating this cake for my nephew who turns 18 on Wednesday. My hubby says it looks too girlie. I'm beside myself. I don't have much experience decorating and leaned toward a design I thought I could execute fairly well (stripes scared me) and worked with colors I had on-hand. I like the result, but would an 18 year old boy?

I would love to hear some honest opinions from the forum. I can take it. Do I give it to him or start over?

TIA for you input.

Theres nothing wrong with the cake. It's lovely. Your hubby is saying that because of the baby blue. To make it look more masculine I probably would have used a dark blue, black and white. I think he'll still love the cake.

Just my opinion but for an 18 year old Yes. If it was a baby shower for a boy it would be alright. But not for an almost adult.... sory

If he is like any other 18-yr-old boy that I know, the only thing you have to worry about is whether it tastes good. It doesn't look girlie to me at all.... maybe a little young... but I'm sure he'll love it.

As an older sister of a 16 year old and a 20 year old I would say it isn't the ideal teenage boy cake... It looks like a shower bake for a baby boy to me... BUT it is a great cake just not sure if it fits the audience... It isn't too girly though just young (little kiddish). I would try to add a darker color (navy/black) maybe try adding something metallic... HTH

I think you can give it to him. It is hard to do guy cakes without a lot of really dark colors.
A couple of thoughts:

Maybe you could use some dark blue luster dust and just brush some random swishes on the light blue fondant. Sort of like tails from shooting stars.
-or-
Paint some of the white stars gold or a darker color.

Even if you do not do that I think the cake will be fine. Like you say, taste is what will count with teenage boys.

I think that cakes for teenage boys have to be the toughest for me. I really worry every time I have to make one. I think your cake is very pretty, but like others it does look a little young. For future cakes, if it helps any, I've found that using a diamond shaped cutter to make an argyle pattern looks masculine. Even if you used the lighter blue I think it could have worked.

Oh, I forgot to add that I'm sure he will be very happy with this beautiful cake! It sounds delicious too!!!

I agree! He will be happy with it. The question is, will you? I just made a cake not to long ago for a girl that looked to young. So I grabbed some food color & a brush & edged the flowers in black. Make a totally different looking cake. You might want to try it if you have extra stars laying around. Add some black or sharpen the look of the stars & give them an exploding look. Whatever makes you happy with it. He's gonna love it either way!

BTW, this is how mine ended up looking...
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1919226

Well, if it's a gift then he will like what he gets. He should be grateful that you took the time, love and care to make it.

I don't think it's girly. That said, I think next time go darker. maybe black instead of brown? Or cut out the inside of hte stars and not stack them. It's on the young side but you know what? You did a clean good looking cake. Keep up the good work.

Thank you all for your opinions and honesty. I've decided I can't give it to him the way it is. Unfortunately, I don't have time to do another fondant covered cake, so I'll try fixing this one, and if I screw it up, I'll bake him a regular buttercream frosted cake.

I don't have any darker fondant, nor dark blue luster dust. I added some royal blue food coloring to lt blue luster dust and painted it on one of the stars. It looks better, but I can't paint the whole bottom layer without screwing it up. Outlining the stars in black is a good an option, but it doesn't solve the problem of the baby blue layer. Ideally, I'd take the stars off the bottom and cover as much as I can with brown and white stripes, but I don't have enough fondant to do that. (I don't have black fondant.) Any other suggestions?

Also, any suggestions for making darker MMF in the future is appreciated. All of my colors turn out too light. This boy doesn't like chocolate, so I didn't want to use any cocoa to darken it.

Hmm... the baby blue probably won't look as 'baby' blue once you add a another (or darker) color to the cake. And before I trashed the whole fondant covered cake (& I'd hate to know you ditched all that beautiful work), I'd try to gently pull the stars off & see if you can paint them & replace them. As for making fondant darker? I just keep adding color! Are you using the gels instead of the liquids? Good luck! I'm sure he's gonna love it!

It is a very well done cake, but probably not so much for a teen boy.

You could carefully pull off all of the stars. If you knead the fondant, if will soften up again. Mix the blue with some dark blue food coloring (or use bright blue and add a tiny touch of black). 

Then take the brown stars and the brown stripes and add black food coloring.

Cut out some new shapes, such as stripes and diamonds, or do the stars again, but arrange them differently.

To darken the cake, you can sponge some color on. On a small plate, mix some vodka with food coloring. Dip a new, clean food safe sponge, or crumpled up pap err towel into the color, blot it on a paper towel, then gently dab the cake. If will make a cool effect and change the coloring. Don't completely cover it, let some of the light blue show through. Test your dabbing technique on a piece of paper so you can determine how much pressure to use (you really just want to tap it lightly.)

Maybe also paint some kind of pattern onto the 18, or add some stars on wires around it.

Here are some gallery ideas.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1924416

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1416942

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1814672

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1318041

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1394220

To get darker colors use the gel paste coloring, food coloring doesn't give the bright colors that gel does. You can get it at wal-mart (cake area inthe hobby/craft section) Micheals or hobby lobby.

Thank you so much for all the comments and suggestions.

I use the Americolor gel. I guess I have to use a lot more of it than I thought.

I removed the stars and darkened the blue by painting it, and sponge-painted the bottom tier as suggested. It looked a whole lot better to me until I just looked at the before and after pics side-by-side, and I see little difference. I guess it's a good thing I have a full-time job that pays the bills!

On another note, I noticed the fondant bulging on the bottom tier right above the border in one place. So, I removed the border and tried to smooth it out. It was icing. Unfortunately, that was like opening a dam - before I could make a new border, the icing was oozing out the bottom. What can I do to prevent that in the future? I use Indydebi's buttercream (1c crisco/1/3c butter) and put about a 1/4" layer of it over the crumbcoat before covering in fondant. Too much icing?

I'm not sure. 1/4" doesn't sound like much to me? But I typically don't put that much on a cake I'm gonna cover in fondant. I normally just barley cover it & put more between the layers.