Hello here,

I'm planning on making a surprise basketball cake for my brother's birthday. Will be my first time making a cake like this and don't want to screw it. My question is, how do I get basketball color on both Italian meringue and MMF. Here is a pic of what I want the cake to look like.

Other kind of ideas and/or suggestions welcome too.

Thank you so much :)

AAre you planning to cover it n fondant or buttercream ?

AI've never fooled with just buttercream . In my opinion, I think fondant is a cleaner look and you have more options for decorating. So I'd vote the fondant ball. I,would def suggest a ball pan. I believe Wilton has a basketball pan. Covering a sphere in fondant can be a little tricky, but you can do it. I put the ball on a cup or something that is small so when you drape the fondant over, you can smooth down as far as you can. As for coloring, I airbrush. Best investment I've made. If you don't have an airbrush, you'd have to knead in gel paste color into your fondant before you cover the ball. More time consuming and I always feared the color wouldn't be exactly as I wanted. Hope this helps!

if memory serves--there's a color called terracotta that would be a perfect match--

if i mixed that--it'd be orange and brown color and probably a tad of red and yellow icing --

AThere is a video on you tube for constructing & covering in fondant. I think its good. "The making of a carved Basketball cake timelapse" posted by Ashling Graham

A

I understand that. I used to make my own fondant, but too messy and always had inconsistencies. Try Fondx brand. It has me sold and everyone that tries it. It's a marshmallow base...yummy! Worth a try...

I used a crusting buttercream, to texture I used a new plastic kitchen scrubbie (tennis ball), the bumpie side of a paper towel (basket ball) a plastic weave no-slide drawer liner (football).

The football & tennis ball both looked quite authentic, either could be used for a basketball.  

A

Do you know how to get the texture on fondant?

I have not done a large surface, but I have done 1 inch strips by pressing in a plastic weave no-slip mat prior to placing the fondant on the cake. Not sure if it would stretch to much thou, you could try and do it after placing the fondant if it does stretch to much, as I didn't find the impression had to be perfectly placed, it still looked fine if I double/duplicate impressed the mat . Good -Luck just experiment with a small piece of fondant first.

By the way I baked the basketball in a Pyrex bowl. 

I always mix my color in my fondant and I've never had any problems. Maybe you could do the frosting they want under the fondant (they can easily peel the fondant off). But If you have a thick enough crusting frosting recipe, you can easily apply print to that. I like to rub a paper towel over my frosting after it has sat for about 15 min, and gotten a crust. It should be pretty easy to find a paper towel with a dotted pattern on it to resemble the texture of a basketball. 

P.S.- I always use wilton gel colors. They're easily accessible, less expensive, and work great! I'd just start with orange and mix in other colors (such as brown and red) as you see fit!