Would you call this a Pool Table or a Billiards Table? When I googled the terms it sounded like "Pool" was the correct term so that is what I'm going with. And I know the dimensions aren't correct. And I know I should have 6 pockets instead of 4. And I know the balls are too big for the size of the table. But remember it is just a cake so I took some liberties! At least I racked the balls up correctly.
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This cake is a 12"x12" square and about 5" tall which will serve 72 (according to the Wilton cake cutting charts). I filled and stacked the cake and then coated with a thin layer of ganache. I typically use acrylic disks to give my cakes perfectly straight sides, flat tops and sharp edges, but I didn't have 12x12 acrylic disks so I improvised and used cardboard. I covered the cardboard with Glad Press N Seal to make it easier to remove the board. If you want to see how to use acrylic disks, you can click here.
Here is the cake with the fake acrylic disk removed and the Glad Press and Seal still in place.
And here is the cake with everything cleaned up - look at those edges. So if you don't want to invest in acrylic disks, just use cardboard cake rounds/squares instead. After the ganache set, I transferred the cake to a 14" cake drum. Note: For fondant covered cakes I use ganache instead of buttercream because the ganache sets up firmer and gives a better base for the fondant to stick to. The ganache also doesn't transfer moisture to the fondant. Fondant and moisture don't play well together. If fondant gets damp it will become soft, oozy, and gummy. When the fondant is in that state, it is almost impossible to cut.
For the Pool Balls, I used a 1-1/2" sphere mold. I used candy melts and then stuffed the inside with Vegan Salted Chocolate Chip cookies (so the Vegan family members could share in the goodies).
Here are the two sides stuck together.
For the stiped pool balls I used Bright White candy melts and then wrapped the sphere in a strip of colored fondant. For the numbers I used FMM 1.5 cm Upper Case Alphabet and Number Tappit Set. For the solid balls, I used different colored candy melts (yellow, blue, dark chocolate, green, red, and orange). The circle is white fondant and I used the same number cutter.
And once again I forgot to take pictures as I decorated the cake. I'm going to have to use a timer to remind myself to take picture.
Here is a side view of the cake...
And a closer look at the corner. I wasn't too happy with the brown bumper guard. It needed to be shaped differently so it didn't have that dip when it went from the black section to the green. I should have fixed that. Sigh.
In summary here are the steps I took to complete the cake -
- Covered the sides in brown marbled fondant. I used a large woodgrain impression mat to give the fondant some texture.
- Covered the top in Leaf Green tinted fondant.
- Used a circle cutter to cut away the green fondant in the 4 corners and replace it with black fondant circles.
- Then I just started slapping decorations on the corners. I had several examples of real pool tables and that caused me some confusion because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I had no set plan so I just stumbled around trying different things. I spent WAY too much time decorating this cake. LOL.
- After the cake was finished I made a (lumpy looking) pool cue. Inside the cue is a long bamboo skewer that helps the cue hold its shape.
- To make the rack, I placed the candy pool balls into position and then wrapped a 1-1/2" inch strip around the balls. I lumped all the leftover brown, black, etc fondant together and mixed it with a ton of Tylose Power/ Gm-Tex so the fondant would dry rock hard. Then I rolled the fondant flat, textured it with the impression mat, and then used a strip cutter to cut the 1-1/2" strip. It needed to be about 25" long to wrap around all the "racked" pool balls.
- I also made a little cue chalk thingy just to add a splash of color on the brown table.