CC friends, I am in big trouble!!!!
I need your help, PLEASE!
I am a hobby baker, I have never made a wedding cake, much less a dummy cake! I have always wanted to make one, but did not have the guts! Now I got into the middle of a wedding party and in charge of making the wedding cake!!!
I never offer to make it, I do not know how I got into it, please do not ask, because I do not know!! This is the cake my friend's son wants, for June 21st. and here is also the dummy cakes. Please I need Help!! I already know the following" A.- No sharp edges, because might tear the fondant.B.- Use thicker fondant than usual ( so I have already softened the edges, do not know if I did it enough.Will know soon enough) C.-To cover dummies ..put crisco all over the dummy cake in order for the fondant to adhere. D.- paste one cake with the next with buttercream ( maybe a center dowel?? Have never done this either) i have seen tutorials and read post on the subject, but have not been able to adquire confidence, yet! Any tips, or input of any kind will be very much appreciated!
This photo was given to me by my friend , she expects to get a fake cake like this!!
She has bought enough marshmallow, powder sugar.crisco and black pearls from Wilton which looks gray! I spray it with black Wilton spray but still looks gray! I bought the very new Wilton mold which has swirls for the round dummies( I got Lucky on this!) Big question.... at what time do I start decorating, immediately after covering or how long after???? I will be setting up at "her place on the beach.So each tier will be decorated. pls anything else I should know???? Thank you in advance! Sorry for the lenght of post! CIAO Soledad
AIt looks like there is a diamond pattern on square tiers. You will need to make the diamond impression while the fondant is still soft. If your going to use an impression for the scrolls, you need to make those impressions while the fondant is still soft. I would think that everything else can be done after the fondant has set up and dried a little.
I would put fondant on the first tier, do the impressions and set it aside. And follow with each tier.
If the wedding is at the beach there might be wind. You mind need to hold them together with more than just buttercream.
I'm not sure if you should do the piping, pearls and ribbon before or after assembly.
You could use white icing to practice piping scrolls on the bare dummy and clean it off before you cover it in fondant.
I would buy a pair of tweezers for placing the pearls on the cake. They make curved tweezers specifically for cake decorating.
I hope this helps. I'm sorry that you've been put in this situation and are so stressed out about it.
Good morning, shannonann!
Thank you, you are a life saver, never thought of the WIND!!! I have never use royal icing , might have to start now to adhere tiers . I am thinking now of making one of the tiers real , would this help against the wind? Shannonann , I also did not realize I am stress, I better relax. Will make impression immediately. I am counting with Wilton’s new mold for the swirls. Do not trust my piping. Thank you for answering!!
CIAO, Soledad
I see! You're using a mold for the swirls. I thought you were using an impression and then piping over it for swirls. That will be great!
If you include one real cake tier and then dowel them all together, I think that will give you enough weight to hold everything down. I really don't know how hard the wind blows where you are. You can repair the dowel hole with a little bit of fondant. If you put the flowers on top, like the picture, that will hide the hole, also.
It's going to be beautiful!
Girl, you need to chill or your gonna stroke out over this cake..........I have done many a fondant covered dummy (& doing cakes for 30+ yrs) & trust me, one time I almost totally lost it because it did nothing but tear & stretch........I had to walk away & re-group myself & that's what you need to do. Apply your crisco lightly to the dummy, roll your fondant (the best I found is Renshaw, FondX or Fondarific) Satin Ice & I do not get along at all !! Fondant each dummy separately, place some royal icing between layers to stack (no need for cardboards between either), if this is all dummy then put one dowel top to bottom dead center (starting at center of top tier & drive it down to the bottom. Decorate the entire cake or if able decorate each tier then stack, whichever is most comfortable for you, I have done it both ways. After all together then go back & pipe around (or add a ribbon or whatever your doing here) & fill in the areas where each tier meets so you do not see the separation between tiers. Remember, even tho this is a dummy cake they too are very heavy when stacked together. If you wait to do piping & such at the affair you will be there for hours & possibly interrupt the affair itself & become more of a nervous wreck, onsite piping is just for last minute finishes, repairs from traveling if any, adding delicates that can't make it thru a travel course etc.....if you add sugar flowers or butterflies (anything delicate including the topper if any) place the finished items in a covered container separate from the stacked cake & when you arrive & place your centerpiece on its provided spot then go & add the delicates with royal icing or whatever you use to adhere them to your fondant cake. Allow yourself at least 2 hours before arrival of guests to attend to your cake & finish it off. Here is a dummy I took to a State District Fair, it was stacked after being enrobed in fondant & then over 200 petals were put on, a dowel goes from top to bottom, this dummy weighed in at 65 pounds due to all the fondant weight.
Sorry forget to enter in the photo of the cake.
Hello, fondantslinger! Your cake is gorgeous!!
Thank you for all the input! I know I can do this and I want to do it!!! It’s just that the word “wedding” is what is bothering me, big time!
I do not want to fail them; they really are counting on me. My making it, is my gift. Yes, I agree with both of you, I need to relax. I will start with the smallest one, that will give me some confidence. I will decorate at my house and stack at her place. Ribbons will be at bottom of each tiers, just like in the picture. Fresh flowers will be put on top and single roses on top of each tier. This will be done by someone else, but I will be there to see that is done properly. I forgot to mention that I am in Honduras, Central America. I do not have all of my cake tools, but somehow manage to acquire the most necessary. I think that this is part of my worry, I am in a very BEAUTIFUL and small city , the only cake equipment or tools that you can find are round cake pans. That is why we decided in dummies.For ingredients we had to go an hour away, but I believe that I have everything I will be needing. Thank you for the information and advice that you have given me.With shannonann’s and yours I will do better. Thank you very much!!! CIAO, soledad
The word wedding is no different than 'birthday', just more people eating..lol As far as your tools go, there are tons of places online where you can buy from, the United Kingdom has a much more variety than anywhere else I have found.........if you can't afford a lot (& it takes time to build your tools, doesn't happen overnight) look around your house for them......in the kitchen there are a lot of different things you can use when working with fondant...........a drinking glass or small bowl you can use as a cutter for either full circles or half circles, you can turn a bowl upside down & mold fondant over it & let it air dry (just slightly grease with shortening your wares), clean rulers, go to a hardware store or home improvement store if you have them near by & buy plumbing pieces for structures that you can mold moldeling chocolate around or mix 50/50 gumpaste & fondant together to stiffen it up......you have to think outside of the box when making anything, esp designing, draw something up from a book or trace it from the book onto parchment paper with a graphite type pencil (no lead pencils, most places only carry graphite these days) then place some royal icing in a bag (even a plastic bag just snip off a corner) & turn your traced paper over & follow the lines you drew.instant piping technic & totally out of the box & one of a kind.........you can make flowers by hand with small pieces of gumpaste or the 50/50 ratio & roll in a small ball, flatten out with your thumb & shape into a rose petal, rounded at the top & a little tapered toward the bottom, do 3, then 5, then 7 separate ones & on a toothpick or thin dowel, start assembling....place a small dollop on the stick first, fat bottom & taper it to a point at the top, then add one of the first 3 petals & wrap around, the last one always tucking into the back of the first one that was placed & then go to the next row of 5 & so on...........you will do fine...take a picture & let us see how it turned out...just remember that you were asked to make this cake so these people know you havetalent, just believe in yourself!
AI'm so glad you showed up to help, fondantslinger. I was hoping someone with experience would speak up and help. Your cake is beautiful!
Good day, ladies!
I would like to inform you of my progress. Started on Monday at around 6pm and with the smallest cake dummy. Did not know what to expect! After the fourth try I was finally able to cover it.( almost gave up )Lots of fingerprints which mostly disappear with lots of rubbing! Since I was having so much difficulty with the MMF, I decided to put some tylose on the mix, and I think that is what help. Anyway, the next two tiers were done on the first try and looked much better. So I have 2 round ones and the middle square ready. The square is already quiltted and ready for pearls. By this time it was already 10:30pm . Because I was on a roll, I decided to continue. Big mistake, Its just that I was so happy! I wanted to see all dummies covered! The last tier is 16 inches x 6in. Seeing that size I picked up 9 pounds of MMF to knead , it was not enough, added some more MMf+tylose. I do not what happen but the MMF looks ugly ! Dry, I can not extend it,it breaks here and there. Is there a way to make it pliable again? Would I need to make more MMF? I still have fondant left, but do not think is enought. As of now, I wrapped it , will be checking it tomorrow. Thank you ladies for all your help, tips and mostly for your time. Thank you! CIAO soledad
AWow! You got a lot done and it looks awesome! You diamond pattern is perfect. I'm sorry I've never used MMF or added tylose to fondant to cover a cake, so I don't know what to tell you. Maybe someone else will see this and chime in.
Quote:
Wow! You got a lot done and it looks awesome! You diamond pattern is perfect. I'm sorry I've never used MMF or added tylose to fondant to cover a cake, so I don't know what to tell you. Maybe someone else will see this and chime in.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Hello again! I first want to say that you did a great job quilting, very nicely done, a little note, just tuck in your bottom corners just a tad to square them off so when you place your ribbon it will snug your corners sharply...
.
Your fondant situation....this stuff can cause you grief !! I personally do not use MMF, a lot of people do...........here's a little tidbit......tylose is really made to be used for doing flowers or figurines, it can be used in fondant as well but when doing fondant for a cake just do fondant, you shouldn't need anything else....a big factor with fondant is: 1. the type you use, 2. humidity in your work area, best results for fondant is to work quickly, your hands get warm when smoothing & kneading therefore making your fondant sticky & if it sits a bit to much then the air attacks it making it dry as well as too much powder sugar......it's like a catch 22.....
try doing this....add a little bit of crisco on your hands & work it into your fondant, if it still feels too dry or crumbly add a little more to your hands, you can also try placing it into your microwave if you have one for a few seconds at a time if it is really hard (& it may be due to the tylose powder) the microwave softens it up to where you can knead it again...........try not to over work it because if you continue to try these methods it won;t come back & you'd be better off with a fresh batch of fondant.
For a quantity of a 4" high square x 16" you should need about 120 ounces of fondant (a 5 pound box say of Wilton's is like 84 ounces - for a little guide) if it's a 3" high round x 16 then about 72 ounces (a 4" high round x16 is about 108 ounces)
So to make it pliable use some crisco. Excess powder sugar & tylose only makes for drying things out to harden.
Once you get this fondant pliable, wrap your cake immediately or store it in cling wrap & a container.........When mixing too many things or a lot of one thing you can get in trouble & very frustrated (& we have all been there, it's trial & error sometimes ) and if your making figurines or flowers you can mix in the tylose 50/50 with the fondant but after kneading it let it rest best in cling for overnight, then work it slightly next day.....Tylose, CMC, Arabic any product with the word GUM in the ingredients it's job is to harden. Hope this helps, you are off to a great start, but when you complete this you will certainly have something to brag about & seriously, do brag & show pictures !!!!! People will notice you then which will bring more dollars to your pocket. Don't forget to post a finished picture.
Good day ladies! I was so frustrated with the fourth tier that I just had to go away and take a break. I will tackle the last tier on Thursday. Ropalma, yes I also think that I put too much tylose and it sure did not help my being a slow worker!
Fondantslinger, you are unbelievable with the information you just gave me I do not have to make more fondant! That is great news! I just about have enough fresh fondant in case I cannot “revive” this one. I will try to save the dry one with more Crisco and kneading, I do not have a microwave oven here. I did my fondant over the stove. I have spent the whole day today looking for the right size pearls for this cake. Wilton pearls are not consistent in size and look rather small on this large cake. I am surely not looking forward to piping dots, which I have never done before!
Thank you all, for your help! You have all been more than helpful,
CIAO, soledad
P.S. will post pictures when finish.
Soledad,
I believe you first stated this cake is to be done end of this week????? Not sure, but since time is running fast if you have DRAGEES, in silver you may be able to get away with using them in place of the pearls or if you have other gems around or if you have a candy store close by you may be able to find something there close to a pearl. Remember to always go outside the box when doing cakes, it mesmorizes people.....lol If you have more time left to finish try a site called SWEETWISE.(sweetwise.com) they have lots of different size & colored pearls. I get you don't like the piping thing but sometimes you just gotta, so pipe some dots on parchment, let dry & pick them up & put them on the cake & make them any size you want & if you want a pearl affect dust them with pearl dust if you have it before sticking them on, you could dust the whole sheet of them in seconds once their dried.
Can't wait to see this cake !!!!
p.s. if have to do the piping thing for the dots, try a Tip # 2 or # 3, that should give you some idea of a pearl size you need or go bigger, try a Tip #7 or #12 or make a swirl pearl with Tip #32.......
God morning, good morning, good morning!!!Ladies I am so very, very happy!!!! 
With your help and encouragement this is what I have so far. Fondantslinger, yes!! Wedding is tomorrow evening, beachfront. This Friday afternoon, I will be sequester (is that the right word? Maybe the computer will let me know!?) Anyway, I will take the tiers as is, and will finish decorating this evening at the place of party.
Fondantslinger, I got the black dragees, it does not look black enough but it will have to do, I painted some of it black but it stains the fondant. I do have a question, my son drew the swirls with a pencil so that I will have some guide to put the fondant swirls on top of the design. I will try to do Jessica Harris’ technique (Of jessicakes’ blog she has wonderful crafty classes) which is to copy design on wax paper , put swirls on my copy and transfer to the cake . I have never done it but so far all of the new things that I have already done with this project have come great! I do not have an extruder nor fondant smoother is there a way to make long thin pieces of fondant for the swirls? I have try but it keeps breaking, I did not specify to my son to make small swirls and therefore he made large ones.
TA-DA!!!!!
Thank you ladies, for your help and for caring! !
CIAO, soledad
P.S… Ugly fondant was made pliable again, Crisco was the answer and it became very smooth!!! This is the one I cover with it!!!! 16" square, it was very intimidating, but manage somehow. It looks beautiful and very smooth!
This is a 14"
Another view of the 14" round
This is a 7"
Tis is it! I hope I am not taking too much of your time ladies! Thank you! CIAO
Good job!! So sorry I couldn't get to you yesterday went to a produce auction.
If you still have time or for next time out........just take a small piece of fondant roll it between both palms of your hands it will get elongated......lay it on your work surface & with both hands with even motion of both hands just roll it back & forth lengthwise slowly moving your hands & at the same time moving your hands down the length & away from your body outward - to the sides. (extending the sides out (hope that makes sense)you make it long this way & thin then just cut the length you need off of the long piece you rolled.
From what I see in your pictures looks like your doing a really good job on this for a first time out.....Can't wait to see finished product!
A quote from fandantslinger; ........just take a small piece of fondant roll it between both palms of your hands it will get elongated......lay it on your work surface & with both hands with even motion of both hands just roll it back & forth lengthwise slowly moving your hands & at the same time moving your hands down the length & away from your body outward - to the sides. (extending the sides out (hope that makes sense)you make it long this way & thin then just cut the length you need off of the long piece you rolled.
When you go to make a long rope, put a small amount of Crisco or whichever shortening you are using on the table top, it should just look like a sheen not globbed on. Like instructed on rolling do so on the shortening.
Another hint, make a dust puff for your cornflower or confectioners sugar for when you need some. You can use a clean baby's stocking, or anklet nylons, fill it with whichever you prefer and tie the top closed. Just lightly move it up and down over the area you want to apply some to and it will come out onto the top of your table. This prevents over dusting and drying fondant out.
If you are rolling a small amount of fondant or gum paste out then use the dust puff to roll out on. Never turn fondant or gum paste over, it ends up getting too much powder on it drying it out.
If you are rolling a large amount of fondant or gum paste out, especially fondant to cover a cake use just a sheen of shortening over the whole area. Roll out on this, it allows the dough to move without getting dried out, then you can roll it over a rolling pin to apply to the cake. If you are using a plastic mat then apply the shortening to the mat and just pick the mat up and drape the fondant over your cake. However, there is a product called the Mat and nothing is needed. Caution, if you think you may have applied too much shortening to your mat/table top then just wipe it lightly with paper towel to remove the excess.
I would not use anything like tylose or CMC to firm up the fondant if you are covering a cake. You want it to be pliable and more edible and those product are going to harden it. Most of us (cakers) tend to decorate fondant cake 2 or possibly 3 days prior to when needed, if we did it with tylose the fondant would be hard, of course depending on how much was added. Save it for your figures and flowers that need to hold a particular shape.
Good luck and be sure that we get to see the final product!!! 
Good day, ladies! HERE IT IS as promise! I still can not believe I made this. It looked so beautiful!! .I do not think there will be a picture in the wedding album without the cake in it. Everyone had to have a picture with this” MASTER PIECE” ! Sorry to post so many pictures but I am so proud of this work!
I will tell you the latest drama on this project. I was getting very worry again because I could not get long pieces of fondant for the swirls. I did put some tylose on the black fondant ,knead it and let it rest for an hour , did a practice on making some swirls on a cake pan, not perfect because, thickness was not even . Did luck out again , someone was going to the big city and would get me the fondant smoothers, this was on Thursday evening.Next day on Friday evening, had everything ready to take to PARTY PLACE to finally set up!!! 9pm I started to place draggees, that went smoothly as expected. 10:30PM two square tiers done! Now to the round ones . The fondant smoothers really works to elongate the fondant for swirls and thickness was much better! It took a very long time to finish all the swirls, but it was not as difficult that I though it would be, as I kept doing it it got easier.
I had taken my mixer to make royal icing, which I have never done in order to glue the tiers to each other(mini crisis here!!!!) forgot to take the mixer beeters, so had to do it by hand!!! Read my notes on royal icing and got to work. After a while the mix got to where I need it to be. Now!!!! Ready to assemble, decided not to glue the lg square on cake stand because it had a “dip,” all of my little batch of icing was going to be wasted only there, so I took a chance . Now that I think I should have glue just the corners. Anyway I did glue the next three tiers, when I finally finish it was 3am but it looked magnificent!!! Was ready for florist to do the rest Decided to take picture, bad luck no battery. Went to sleep.
On wedding day I left on the morning to do some errands and return with plenty of time to see that flowers are place on cake. I found out then that there was no florist, that I had to do it!!! I have never done flower arrangements, I always wanted to learn but never did!!! I did not know where to start, I knew I had to have a wet oasis( the green stuff) and insert flowers. There was no vase to put wet green stuff! I needed a very low vase to sit on top of cake, I had a brilliant idea!! I used a dessert plate, brilliant, right! You will not believe what happen next, Lights went out for a whole hour at six thirty!!! Everything went dark I had to work on the topper by candle lights. Finally finish. Could not see how it look in the darkness! Then I just let go of everything, there was nothing else I could do. I sat down, could not even take the cake to its place because it was so dark. The pastor had arrived, guest were starting to arrive, I had not change yet!! I was just wishing and hopping the electricity would return!! At 7:30pm it finally came back! Wedding supposed to be at 8pm. I had to decide whether to place the cake or go to change, I went to change! When I got ready, I found out that my friend the mother of the groom had arrived and taken care of cake. When I got there, I saw the most beautiful sight!!! It was so, so beautiful!!!
I want to thank everyone.
THE blue color that you see must be the lighting.
Without your help, I would not have been able to accomplished my first wedding cake!!! All of you have been so kind and generous.shannonann, ropalma, cakegrandma,and specially fondantslinger!!! Thank you all, for sharing your knowledge, experience and your tips. I am so grateful and so very, very happy!!!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!
Soledad
It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! It is so much prettier than the original picture that you were copying. Congratulations!!!!
A beautiful cake and although so many things happened all ended well. I love the color and decorations and you are quite welcome for the small part I was able to play.
so beautiful -- omg the tension with the lights going out -- aghhh -- you (and the cake) came through with flying colors --
isn't it a wonderful feeling -- 'the cake high'
Soledad,
Girl, you did an absolute MAGNIFICANT JOB !!!! SERIOUSLY, I'M JUST GONNA SAY IT LIKE IT IS.....YOU WENT THRU PURE H---, & YET YOU MANAGED TO PULL IT OFF.....YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAID THE WORD 'WEDDING' FREAKED YOU OUT & FOR WHAT YOU JUST WENT THRU, THE CHALLENGES YOU OVERCAME YOU SHOULD BE SO PROUD OF YOURSELF.....I WOULD HIRE YOU IN A MINUTE FOR NOT ONLY THE FABULOUS SKILL YOU PLACED ON THAT CAKE BUT YOUR OVERALL DEVOTION & DEDICATION.........YOUR GONNA DO JUST GREAT IN THIS PROFESSION & IF YOU EVER NEED A HELPING HAND GIVE ME A HOLLER.
hello ladies!!
shannonann...yes I also believe it is!!! Thank you!
sweetia....Thank you!!
cakegrandma... Thank you!
AZCouture... Thank you! I
K8memphis...yes!!! the feeling is GREAT!!!! Thank you!
fondantslinger,,, Thank you so much!! Yes I allways give my all to everything I do!!
You all have made me very happy with your comments. Thank you!!!!I
Till next time!!!
CIAO!
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