Hello everyone-

Anyone have advice/experience with creating alphabet letters made of cake?

I need to create 4 cakes, each one a letter to spell out a girl's name. The cakes need to

feed about 40 guests in total.

Would you treat it as any other carved cake? I've carved cakes to look like feet, slot machines, animals, hats etc. but never

letters! I was thinking to simply bake off 9" rounds; split/fill/crumb coat as usual then carve.

Thankfully, they don't have to be covered in fondant, just buttercream! (But, the client DOES want each cake to have

a different animal print on it, any advice for that as well?!)

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

DnD

There is a cake pan for that.

Check this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/131480151939?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D53601919689_324272%2526itemid%253D131480151939%2526targetid%253D87946120329%2526rpc%253D0.20%2526rpc_upld_id%253D50148%2526rlsatarget%253D%2526device%253Dt%2526mpre%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F131480151939%25253Flpid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526gclid%253DCOaEsqm87cUCFYqGfgodubUAgA%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D839728698757

Cool pan, if it works. Did you try it cakewitch?

No, never tried it but I think it will work. Less work, less waste vs carving a cake.

Looks awesome...if it works. May spring the bucks just for fun.

Would buy a pan for a single order. Unless you are sure you gonna use it many times afterwards. 

Just make a sheet cake about double servings of what you need.  Layer and frost (unless each should have different cake and buttercream flavor? ). Then make 4 paper stencils for the letters (I normally enlarge on the computer and trace onto paper). Use a long knife, hold it vertical and cut out the letters using the stencil as cutting guidelines. Not much "carving" in my opinion. 

I personally find fondant easier, depending on the letter and the size it is sometimes difficult to completely smooth tiny spots (f.e. inside A). 

But since you do animal prints you could smooth the edges and pipe the designs in little dots onto the top. You could do leopard, zebra, peacock and tiger.

Oh I hadn't thought of a peacock pattern, that's FABULOUS!

Thanks for the advice,  the client may want different flavors for each letter, so perhaps I'll use 1/4 pans for each letter?

Again, thank you!

The adjustable letter pan looks interesting as well; definitely something to consider- thank you :)