I’m making a cake for my brother. He’s loves maps and I think he would like a stone/concrete/marble effect.

I’m thinking of getting lots of different maps printed onto wafer paper (is that possible?) or as edible images then tearing and layering them around a section of the cake. Then having a diagonal fault line type thing going on with concrete effect on the other side of the fault line. 

I can’t really picture it though and don’t know if it will look too busy or ugly. It’s only 1 tier so maybe I’m trying to fit too many different ideas into a small space. 

Or can I combine maps and stone in some other way? Or maybe abandon the whole abstract thing and do something more traditional. 

Oh I like your idea   If you keep the maps on the small side I think it’s a good design idea  

i’d suggest one idea on the sides the other across the top

Thank you for the replies. 

What do you think about this style, but with the ruffles made from the printed maps and then the white section would be concrete-like. So it’s almost like all the layers of maps are peeling off a wall?

Or a decoupage effect like the bottom tier of this cake but with a diagonal fault line. 

that would be way cool and you will have an outstanding cake -- although the ruffles will look feminine I think -- I would also do a little square cake for a guy -- if you do the maps more abstract -- larger and partly pealing off rather than all stacked up it would fly --

yes this! >>> "Or a decoupage effect like the bottom tier of this cake but with a diagonal fault line."

I like the 1st idea w/the change K8 made   I can’t visualiz the 2nd idea 

Thanks again.

For the peeling, abstract ruffle effect, would wafer paper on its own be best or fondant with an edible image applied and then shaped? I’ve only ever applied an edible image to flat fondant. 

I’m thinking the wafer paper alone   It would be more moveable unless the fondant was very very thin   

the best idea*** is at the end— just follow my thoughts for a second...

i’ve used edible images although just a couple times — so I think I would like wafer paper better cause you can get a little play out of it where you can curl the edges a bit — 

and i’ve never used the edible fabric stuff they have now so that’s a possibility — 

omg the light just came on!

oh oh oh oh oh a fault line cake — I just got the right mental image — is it gonna go all the way around the cake?

me, while I am the queen of too many ideas — I would definitely ditch the ruffles — put the maps within the fault lines and do the concrete on the outside all over —

 you’re just itching to do a ruffle cake — i think you need to save that for your next project — and a round cake is fine for this but a square cake would be cool — 

***the only way the ruffles could come onto play without being too much in my mind is if the maps are within the fault line — and it could be a little wider fault line so they can be seen to advantage — then have them morph out of the fault line into the ruffles — in other words where the ruffles are (with maps on them)  there is no fault line and then the fault line starts and the maps get sucked into the fault line and the concrete effect is on the outside of the fault line and there’s no ruffles anymore —

but I would keep the ruffles flat and not ruffle -- just strips

How about making him a globe shaped cake? Add all of the continents and the shapes around it with the edible paper, give the cake a water effect with the blues and whites.