My mom's friend asked me today if I could make her a Hawaiian themed cake for her 7 year old daughter... her birthday is THIS Saturday (the
10th) so I don't have a lot of time.

I saw this cake on here & would love to do something like this...

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1718239

I am new to cake decorating & have only worked with buttercream & royal icing so far. I have no gotten into gum paste & fondant yet.

I also have not done any tiered cakes yet either. I was wondering if y'all could help answer a few questions for me?

1. Tiered cakes: For the cake in the link above ^ How should I stack/tier them? Do I need Dowel rods for support on that type of cake? It is a 6" cake on top of a 9" cake - double layer. I think I read somewhere that not all cakes need dowel rods?

2. How do I make the Palm Trees? I know you use a pretzel stick for the tree itself. I'm guessing the leaves are fondant or gum paste (or a mix of both)? How do I make those? Could I just cut out some leaf shapes & then cut some slits? Kind of like the tree in the picture above.

3. How do I make Hibiscus flowers using fondant or gum paste? Any links to tutorials or videos would be great!

4. The Birthday Sign: Should I make the sign out of fondant or gum paste?

5. If I make fondant/gum paste figures & accents... should I make them the day before & let them all dry overnight?

6. The Grass Skirt that is around the 6" cake: How do I make this? I'm guessing you frost the cake green then you roll out some green fondant, cut little strips (but not all the way up) then attach it to the frosted cake?

7. Surf Board/Number: How do you get the fondant/gum paste surf board to stand up?

Also, I was thinking instead of using the Tiki man/face, I could make a girl figure with a hula skirt OR maybe a little Tiki Hut using a cupcake?

8. Serving Size: Do you think this cake (6 & 9) would serve 20 people (or more)?

Sorry guys, I know this is a lot of questions, but I really need some help & I don't have much time to research.

Hi,
ok these are my answers,
1. The cake should have a support system inside, here is a link showing how to do it,

4. If you want a lying down sign, you could use fondant, and if you need it to stand, gumpaste is better.
5. Yes best to let them dry out, especially gumpaste.
6. Yep thats how I would do the grass skirt.
7. Gumpaste is better, you could sandwich a wooden stick inbetween two layers of gumpaste and stick it upright into the cake.
8. Yes I think that would be enough for 20 people, I've seen tiny square cakes in the supermarket that say they serve 14!!!

Hope this helps! Good luck!

I wasn't able to make the palm trees because I couldn't find any pretzel sticks (and I ran out of cookie sticks). But anyway, here is a picture of how it turned out! (I also made a wooden sign, but forgot to add it before taking the picture).

Just wanted to thank you & everyone else who helped answer all of my questions! I really appreciate it.

Great Job!!

Thank you!