Topsy-Turvy Sweet 16 Cake

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Instructions

I just got done watching Richard Ruskell's Topsy-Turvy Cake class here on Craftsy... my hubby got me 2 classes for Christmas :-) And I had a topsy-turvy cake coming up (actually the customer just came and picked it up yesterday). And even though the style of hers was different from the style of Richard's, I picked up several very useful tips from Richard's class! I love his tips about timing of baking/filling/decorating... how it should be a 3-day process... although I try to do minimal decorating the day of delivery. I also LOVE the tip about making the hole in the cardboard support smaller than the dowel! I don't know why I never thought of that! I always made mine bigger because I didn't want to have to force the cake over the dowel... but now I see that that is a good thing! This topsy cake that I made this week is the sturdiest one I've ever made! I was so happy with it. I love the tip about how to place the dowel in the board, and painting the edge is also a really good tip... using the precut wooden rounds from the hardware store... another great tip! Using the green styro for separators... great! I also really like his tip about chilling the cakes before even filling them. I never have done that before, but I tried it with this cake, and it helped me get a much cleaner finish on my tiers... and it also made the tiers sturdier in the long run. I just got done watching Richard Ruskell's Topsy-Turvy Cake class here on Craftsy... my hubby got me 2 classes for Christmas :-) And I had a topsy-turvy cake coming up (actually the customer just came and picked it up yesterday). And even though the style of hers was different from the style of Richard's, I picked up several very useful tips from Richard's class! I love his tips about timing ...
Read full instructions »

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Difficulty:

Category: Cake Decorating

Type of item: Food

For: Girls

Style: Whimsical, Funky

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Materials

chocolate and red velvet cake frosted with buttercream and covered/decorated with homemade marshmallow fondant - stars were made of gumpaste attached to wire

What was your inspiration?

My inspiration was a picture that the customer sent me of a cake that her daughter liked. It was very similar in design to this one... three tiers, topsy-turvy, red tier in the middle, black and white zebra stripes on the bottom and top tiers, and stars bursting out of the cake. I changed some of the elements and worked hard to make the cake look professional; the picture she sent me was more amateur-ish.

What are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of how clean the cake turned out... how the points on my tiers are nice and sharp, and how the angles are steep, without being too steep. I've done topsy cakes in the past that haven't held up and so the sides would have an angle while the tops would sort of level out and almost be flat. I'm also proud of how sturdy this cake was, thanks to the tips I gleaned from Richard Ruskell's Topsy-Turvy Cake Class. I also like how I did the little balls along the base of each tier... how they're smaller on the upside of the angle, and then they get bigger as they go down. I thought it was a nice touch.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Best advice would be to make sure you have a nice sturdy board, and use a center dowel to support everything, just the same way Richard shows in the class. Also, go through the process he suggests of baking/chilling then filling/frosting and chilling, then covering with fondant and no more fridge time! That advice was priceless! Give yourself enough time to get it all done. If you're making your own fondant and gumpaste, as I always do, make sure to make that a few days in advance (at least... but you can make it weeks in advance if you want to). You can also buy the stuff... but homemade tastes better and is cheaper. And if you're making a topsy cake like the style I've done, make sure you view the tutorial that I made a link to. I found it very helpful.