I was going for this style but on a 6” double barrel. It was for a friends daughter whose favourite colour is pale blue.

Here’s what I made. I think the diamonds were far too big and it’s all a bit scruffy. A maybe the marble wasn’t a good choice. 

Can I have an objective opinion please?

It’s much better than what I could do with fondant :) I agree with everything you said though. What stands out to me the most is, I think the pattern is eye-catching enough and solid colors would be better.

The 3d effect on the first cake is enhanced by the fact that a slightly darker shade of red is used on the underneath part of the 'cube' to imitate the bottom part being in shadow, also the smaller shapes do work better I think.

I think that your cake does give the 3d effect somewhat but is just not quite as refined. What did the person receiving the cake think? I am sure they were more than happy with it....If you made them happy then I would consider this cake job well done and work to put it out of my mind, only calling on the experience next time to refine the design.

Every time you do a cake you get better as you learn from the things you did or didn't like from the previous ones :-) 

Thank you both. I think the recipient was happy. I couldn’t work out how to make the predominant colour pale blue and not make the cake look too masculine. 

My advice would be to put flowers on top or use some other kind of topper. Also, if the recipient loves blue, they will probably be thrilled and it might not occur to them that the cake is masculine-looking.

I think your cake is awesome!!

Would love to know how you did this.

To me your inspiration cake looks almost like it was done as an edible image so doing it in fondant much harder to accomplish (in my mind).  I like your color choices and the marble but agree with what you yourself said, that your diamonds could have been a bit smaller to achieve the 3D look more effectively.  Overall, well done though!

Thanks everyone.

I love the use of the marbled tiles on the tops of the cube effect. Reminds me of tile counter tops. I think yours looks more 3d than your inspiration cake, which I agree looks like edible image. Tile seams could be tighter, but I think your color selection was fine.