I have a cake order for a close friends, her daughter is turning 1 on the 19th of August. She's asked me to make a pillow cake with a tiara on top. I'm pretty confident about doing the tiara, just not sure when I should start making it? Any advice here?

How far in advance should I start making the tiara?

What are you making the tiara out of?

oops missed that part in the actual post, put it in the title though silly me lol

So far my plan is to do it gumpaste and then spray it with silver cake grafiti by duff

I'm at ICES convention and just saw an awesome one done out of Isomalt. Very simple using a silicone mold and can me made way ahead as long as sealed in an airtight container with a desiccant. Keeps forever......almost!

One day I'll try isomalt but not for this one. I'm only charging her $80 for an 8inch square cake and 3 dozen cupcakes with gp accents on them. I figured I'll use gumpaste since I already have it on hand.

I have 3 gumpaste tiara cakes I made in my photo gallery. I started them on the Monday before the Saturday party. So I allowed about 5 days from start to finish for them to be completely dry. Hope that helps!

Jan- I am going to be doing a tiara for my daughter's birthday in January.

Do you happen to know who had the isomalt mold?

Yes. It was "make your own molds". They have an online store and some awesome molds. The one he did at ICES he poured the stones in pinks and purple and did the crown in clear. It was awesome! Hope this helps.

I just checked the make your own molds web site and the tiara is not there. May be too new. If you were to contact them and tell them it is the mold they used in their ICES demo they would know and maybe they could send you a pic of the finished item. I have a feeling they sold out of them at the show but sounds like you have time.

I'm lucky if I get a tiara done two days prior...but I live in an arid desert resign where the humidity is very low. I don't think that there is anything that will go bad with it making early at your convenience, but your region's humidity will determine how close you can cut it on the backside.

If I were you I would make it now. If you have as much humidity in Winnipeg as we have in Regina it will take a little longer than usual to dry.

Thanks everyone, I think I'm going to start doing it tomorrow just in case. I was reading some tutorials and a couple of the same to make an extra "just in case" tiara. Our humidity is pretty high, not as high as it normally is though. Thanks everyone for your tips. I'll let you know how it turns out!

You can make it weeks in advance. There is no benefit to close timing. Gumpaste takes time to dry and stays dry once it hardens.

Remember, if you make it on a coffee can or some other structure, put wax paper between the can the gumpaste. Once you remove the tiara, you will need time for the back to dry. I would make it ASAP. It lasts forever once it dries and there's a lot of peace of mind to having it rock hard and solid.

I never answered your post- so sorry! Yes, you can make ths weeks in advance, but definitely make 2. I Mage a GP one last year when DD had a Tangled party and only made 1, then I was scrambling 2 days before her party to make another.

Thanks also about the Make your Own mold idea. I'll be contacting them about the mold. Was it a good size to sit on a 6 inch top tier?

Yes, make it now and make 2 of them. I didn't need my second one but my luck is such that if I hadn't made it, I would have needed it.

You'll also need time for the coloring to dry and you may have to do several coats. Just do it now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate on the rest of it.