I need help with the bottom layer! PLEASE!! :) Thank you in advance!

AIf you're wondering what it is....it seems like ruffled fondant. There's a technique I saw on YouTube how to do it. Just search for fondant ruffle tutorial or something similar. Maybe one of our seasoned veterans can be more specific with directions. But their usually very busy this time of week

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2987418/a/3338636/peony/

I did something similar on this cake. I didn't use a tutorial so there may be an easier way to do it. For the round, flower-looking part of the ruffles, I cut out rounds of fondant, let them dry a bit, and then made the ribbon flowers on the rounds and applied them to the cake. I then applied the rest of the ribbons in between the flowers on the cake. One thing that helps is to keep the side of the ribbon that is going on the cake thicker that the other. Does that even make sense? I'm never sure if I'm making myself clear in instructions.

I will say, it's very time consuming so be sure to allow for that. And it uses a lot of fondant. I've only done this on a dummy for my own purposes. I think if a customer wanted it I would at least triple my per serving price for that tier. It was a PITA to do and I cursed myself for even starting it.

You basically make a very long strip of fondant or 50/50, fold it in half horizontally, and start glueing the folded edge to your cake. This gives you two ruffles at once. You would do the centre of the roses first and start spiraling outwards. Once you have those done, you would do the V shapes in between. It's time consuming and takes a lot of fondant or 50/50. 

If you want to search Google for a tutorial, the ruffle is based on a Valentino dress I recall. 

Why are you asking only one week before the cake is due? These kind of techniques take practice to get right.

Oops I was still typing by the time Elcee replied!

Thanks guys!

I am posting a week before the wedding because this is a family friend and she has changed her mind about 10 million times of what she is wanting!! She found this cake and fell in love so I told her I would see what I could do.  I told her if I thought it would be too difficult for the first time then I wouldn't do it, I would rather do something I know how to do and make it look good! I have a feeling I am going to tell her no because I just don't think I want to risk doing it for the first time on her cake.

Do you think you could get somewhat of a similar look with buttercream?

I do not think you can get a similar look using buttercream. If the bride picked out the cake with the fondant ruffles then I think she will be disappointed if you try to do it in buttercream. It will not look the same.

I'm thinking that look in buttercream is asking for a spot on Cakewrecks...especially at this time of year.  Elcee just said it was a beast for her to do in fondant - I think I'd believe her and tell your friend, "Love ya, but I don't want to be cussin' m'self out an hour before your wedding"

A

Ahttp://vivalasugarcake.blogspot.com/search/label/Ruffle%20roses

Here's a tutorial for the bottom tier, it is very time consuming but beautiful! I would practice on a dummy before. As stated by the others I would definitely use fondant!

AYou could do the top two tiers in BC, if you can get it smooth enough. I'm not sure how much practice you've had. Then you'd need to make sure you can match the colors in fondant and BC. I don't know how many servings you need but if she wants a BC cake and you want to do this design maybe you can do the bottom tier in styrofoam (after a practice run) you could start immediately and take your time to work on it.

I did one recently. Definitely allow lots of time. The ruffles on mine alone took about 5 hours.

I rolled thin strips of 50/50 gumpaste and fondant and just used one layer to make the circles flat on the counter. The thing with hose circles is that eventually, the base gets a lot smaller than the top, and I needed to roll a snake of fndant and apply it around the base of the ruffles to bring the size of the bottom closer to the size of the top. I use gum glue all the way around to attach the ruffles to each other.

Then they had to sit flat to dry for an hour or two to hold their shape when vertical. I didn't need any more gum glue because the base was still pretty sticky. Then let thos dry on the cake for another hour or two. Then I rolled 50 million more strips and laid them on. You need to use some kitchen paper between the ruffles at times to keep them from just laying flat on each other.

The only two good things to come out of doing all that, I thought, were: a)it looks pretty! and b)I know never to offer to do it again!

AYeah, I agree you will not get that effect from buttercream, and you defiantly need to use 50/50 gumpaste and fondant. If you start with the roses making sure they will hold their shape before putting them on the cake, then once they're set layer over them. You should get a really nice effect.Remember to always give yourself enough drying time.