Alice In Wonderland - UnBirthday Cake

 A Very Merry Unbirthday to Lillian!  

I was a little intimidated about making this cake, but I worked out okay.  It is a double barrel cake that I trimmed from 9" at the top to 7" at the base.  I should have gone to a 6" at the base, but I was afraid the cake would be unstable.  

I baked three 8" and two 9" cakes.  The 8" cakes were filled and stacked as one tier, and the 9" cakes as the second tier.  Note: I used a 7" cardboard round for the 8" cake tier because I didn't want it poking out after trimming.  

In the picture below starting at the top and moving down is a * 7" cardboard cake round, * three 8" cake layers with frosting in between, * a 7" cardboard cake, * two 9" cake layers with frosting in between, * 9" cardboard cake round.  I placed a wooden dowel through all the cakes just to help hold everting in place while I carved the cake.

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I used the 7" and 9" cardboard cake rounds to guide the trimming and shaping of the cakes.  When I trimmed the cakes I turned it upside down so the 9" was on the bottom and the 7" on top.  I figured it would be easier to carve/trim this way.  I also have Extra Wide Fat Boba Straws in both tiers to keep them from collapsing as I flip the cake back and forth.  Normally the supports would only go in the bottom tier, but because sometime the top tier is on the bottom, I put supports in both tiers.  Note: I  use the Boba Straws instead of wooden dowels because they are easier to cut (cheaper too).   

Here is the upside down cake getting carved.  Again, from the top down is a  7" cardboard cake round, three layers of cake, 7" cardboard cake round between the tiers, two layers of cake, and a 9" cardboard cake round at the bottom.  The 9" cardboard cake round will be removed before frosting the cake.  It is just here now to help with the carving and to help flip the cake. 

After carving the shape I applied a crumb coat and allowed it to chill in the refrigerator.  Note it is still upside down here, and the protruding wooden dowel is still in place.  The dowel helped me move it around.

After chilling, I removed the long wooden dowel and positioned my prepared 7.25" acrylic disk.   I used my Cake Safe acrylic disks to get sharp edges and straight sides on my cakes.  (You can click HERE if you want to read more about using the acrylic disks.) 

The picture below shows the cake in its "correct" position.  The 9" cake at the top and the 7" cake at the base.  You can see the 7.25" acrylic disk at the bottom.  I also removed the 9" cardboard cake from the top.

For the frosting I used American Buttercream.  I used Wilton's Pink and a little bit of Ivory to tone the pink down.  Once frosted you can really see the tapered shape of the cake.  

I don't show it in pictures but after frosting the cake I let it chill till the frosting and cake is very cold and rock solid (about an hour).    Once cold, I remove the cake from the refrigerator, flip the cake so the 7.25" acrylic disk is up, and remove the 7.25" acrylic disk.  I dab a little frosting on the grease proof side of a cake drum and position the cake drum on the 7.25" end of the cake. Once the drum is in place I put one hand on top of the drum, one hand under the 9.25" acrylic disk, and flip the cake one last time so that it is in its final position.  At this point I remove the 9.25" acrylic disk, and push a wooden dowel through the center of the cake and into the cake drum below.   

Now it is time to start decorating....

For the big candle on top (which I made a few days ahead of time to give it time to harden), I twisted ropes of white and Electric Purple tinted fondant (mixed with Tylose (also called Gem-Tex and CMC powder) around a black coffee stirrer.  Normally I would use a bamboo skewer, but I didn't want something that sharp and pointy on top of the cake.  (I didn't want someone to poke an eye out!)

I put a "flame" on top and allowed it to dry standing upright.

For the base of the candle I used a daisy cutter to make the shape.  I used Wilton's Turquoise for the color, and again mixed the fondant with a bit of Tylose so it would hold its shape.

  

For the flowers on top of the cake I used a 5 petal flower cutter, and put them on a spoon to dry in a curved shape. But you can also use this neat plastic former.

For the centers I just used white fondant that I marked up with the tip of a straight pin.

For the white decorations on the side of the cake I used fondant and a rope pearl mold instead of trying to pipe the little balls free hand.  I suck at piping.  I just pushed some fondant into the mold, trimmed off the overflow with a super slicer razor, and them flipped the finished rope out.

I used toothpicks to mark the starting and ending point of each loop.  Just a dab of water to the back of the fondant ropes held them in place.

A few finishing touches on the cake drum made it complete.  More flower in the same shades of purple, pink, and turquoise, and the name made with FMM Funky Alphabet Upper and Lower Case.  So in the end it was a pretty easy cake to make.  And best of all the survived an hour long car ride without collapsing or falling over!  Happy dance.

Happy Decorating,

Carol