I found this absolutely beautiful castle cake online and would like to **try** to do something similar for my daughter's first birthday. I know it will take a lot of practice and trial and error, but I'd like to at least give it a shot. I have some questions that I need help with before I can get started though.

What size round do you think make the bottom 2 tiers?

How in the world would you make that 3rd tier? And that little circular piece in the middle? I just can't figure it out. Definitely need some creative help from you experts!

I'm thinking i could use ice cream cones for the tops. Would you cover them in bc and then put fondant over that?

oh, so many questions!!!! thanks so much for your help!

where is the picture? is there a link to it?

Can you post a pic of the cake?

oops...the pic didn't show up. let me try that again! sorry!

that's better..thanks for looking!

Wouldn't using the cake baked in a soup can method work for the tourettes?

They look like they would be the perfect size.

Maybe the bottom two are 10 and 8 or 12 in 8 maybe just my quess and yes they look like soup can cakes. Hope this helps

If you have the really small round pans, like a 3 or 4 inch round, you could stack those also to make the turrets... You probably could cover the sugar cones (ice cream cones) and put for the tops of the turrets on the castle. You probably could use a 10 or 12" pan for the bottom. You could use the 3" deep pans if you had them... I'd do an 12" for the bottom and an 8" for the top on the 3" deep pans..

Everything on the picture of the cake looks to be in fondant.. the tops of the turrets have a shimmer to them so they may have been dusted with some shimmer/luster dust ... If you decide to make this cake, let us know how it turns out and remember, post a picture of it for us to see!! Good luck!

i did one very similar, it's in my photos...the only thing is i didnt use fondant. i used a 10" for the bottom and a 6" for the top..and then i made the top piece by wrapping paper towel rolls in wax paper and then coating them with crusting buttercream..i left them in the fridge for a week and they were hard as a rock, which is good, b/c then you can handle then when you put it on the cake. and then i did the same thing with the cones...so after a week, i "glued" the cones to the rolls with icing and then i placed them together with icing and held that top part together with a string, so that they would stay in place on their own. and when i put them on the cake, i used dowel rods that reached from the top of the cone to the bottom of the cake, so that it wouldn't move for sure.

hope that helps..feel free to ask questions..

For my castle cake I used a stack of oreo-type cookies for the turrets... just glued them together with some royal or BC first, then covered them in BC and wrapped them in fondant. Definately use ice cream cones for the top... very easy, though if you've got a lot of patience you can make them from fondant.

Thanks so much for the help. I think i'll give the soup cans a try and if that doesn't work try and get ahold of some small round pans. You think a 3" pan would work for the bottom two? I was going to do 2- 2" for each, but a 3" would be so much simpler. I might just have to go with that for convenience! On the sugar cones, would you first cover them with buttercream before putting on the fondant so that the seams and ridges of the cone wouldn't show through? I'm assuming that I will wrap the fondant around the cone and then have to form the seam together, correct? Is it hard to hide the seam? I'm obviously a novice cake maker! I'll post pics if I end up doing this cake, but I might just find out that it is way out of my league right now! Oh well, it will be fun and good practice anyways!

cakefairy18- i'll take a look at those for sure. thanks of the instructions as well. I'll probably have more questions for you when I get around to actually doing it, if you don't mind!

melc- oreas are also a good idea! I'll have to experiment with both and see what works better for the size! I'm always up for new ideas!

Thanks again for all the replies! I really appreciate being able to ask all my silly questions! Could never do it without you guys!

That oreo idea is pretty cool.

When I make a cake I like for everything to be edible.

I really like the oreo idea too. Don't know how many people this needs to serve, but if you did the oreos you could probably get away with 10" & 6" pans. Yes, cover the cones with BC before fondant. Otherwise the fondant won't stick. Unless you brushed the cones with water, but then you'd have soggy cones.

Would painting the cones with a syrup of melted and cooled jam help the fondant to stick without making the cones soft?

ok..thought of some more ?'s. Hope you don't mind! i've never tinted fondant before. I don't have a cake supply store anywhere near me (actually don't even have a bakery) so i'm going to have to order the colors online. Which brand would you recommend? If i'm trying for colors similar to those in the picture, which color would you use??? It's so hard to tell from the little bitty squares on the websites. Thought those of you with more experience might be able to point me in the right direction. I don't mind buying a few and experimenting, but i'd rather not buy every shade of pink, purple, green, etc. if i can help it. hope i'm not being too much of a pain. i really do appreciate all the help and i'm in awe of some of your cakes that i've been browsing through!!!!

melc- thanks for the link. I e-mailed them so hopefully they'll be able to help me! I really appreciate all the support!!!!

another question for you! how would i go about making the little pink balls? I can't imagine I would be able to make them very uniform by hand. Could I use a pearl mold and then cut them apart? I don't know!!! thanks again!

On Earlene Moore's site she tells how to make fondant pearls. To make them a consistent size, you roll out your dough to a certain thickness then use your tips as cutters, she even gives pearl sizes in mm for each tip. If you want larger balls you can always flip the tip upside down and use that to cut.

Thanks soooo much! What a great tutorial on making pearls! I really appreciate it! I never would have thought of that. I would've been trying to make them uniform by eye-balling it...probably wouldn't have looked too great!

okay...think i've about got it figured out! Now i just have to get practicing! i was wondering if you could help me come up with a good timeline for making the actual cake. For instance, if her party is going to be on a saturday, how much of it can i do ahead of time??? How far in advance can i make the fondant decorations, How long will the cake stay fresh at room temp, etc., etc.? please keep in mind that it probably takes me 10 times longer to do anything since i'm such a beginner. thanks sooooo much for your help!!! I love all the support i've been getting from cc!

This is a simple technique that you can do! I would recomend purchasing the Wilton 2006 catolog. It has pictures and step by step instructions on stacking cakes. It will tell you what size round cake to use for the amount of guest you will have. You can vist there website as well. It's free and will be very helpfull.

Here is anohter great website for step by step instructions for all your cake decorating needs. You'll love this very helpful website.

Have fun! You picked a great cake to start with. The sugar cones would work perfect for the top of the castle. Great idea! your on you way.

Decorating 101

http://www.baking911.com/decorating/101_intro.htm

Linda

MelC- Thanks so much for the timeline! that was very helpful! I e-mailed creativecutters and haven't heard back from them yet. Does it usually take them a little while to respond? Hopefully I'll hear from them soon! I can't wait to get started!

lindascakes- thanks for the link! lots of helpful info on that site!

There is a castle cake in the wilton cake decorating book- beginners guide with step by step instructions, have you seen this one? It's not quiet as elaborate as the one above, but it's cute none the less. pm me if you want me to email you this, as I can't figure out how to add an attatchment to the forum.

You make the triangle tops by combining fondant and gumpaste (50/50 ratio) and set it? You can make the mold by cutting out the cardboard paper towel rolls - cutting a rectangle, roll it into that shape, tape it closed. Then put the gumpaste/fondant mix (rolled out & cut into rectangle) over it in that shape?

Does that make sense? I wish I could demonstrate what I mean. Its so hard to write it out and have it make sense...