The Making of a Gold and Silver Stiletto Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a post on how I made this 2 tier gold and silver cake with a stiletto on top of it. In this post, I will be redirecting you to a couple of tutorials elsewhere on the website and showing you a few cake draping techniques. To read more about this cake and see other views of it, click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PROCESS

(1) Making the Stiletto. The first step is to make the stiletto. I have a very detailed tutorial here on how to make one. The stiletto should be made about 2 weeks before the cake itself as it needs a lot of drying time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(2) Next, cover the cake board with white fondant. Learn how I do this here. You have various options for securing your cake to the cake board. While some people prefer to use leftover frosting, I have found that melted white chocolate works the best. Now, I use white because it is not as messy as dark chocolate and it won’t stain your cake in the event of a mishap. Spread some white chocolate on the cake board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(3) Next, frost your cake and place it on the cake board. This layer is going to be draped with several layers of gathers and pleats. Thus, do not get fussy about making sure the frosting is completely smooth and perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(4) This step is optional, but when making gathers and pleats on cakes I like to seal the bottom of the cake with a strip of fondant about an inch high. This will ensure I have a clean base and just in case the gathers on any part of the cake is not touching the cake board, the cake on that part will not be exposed. Brush the base of your cake with water and apply the strip of fondant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(5) Next, roll out white fondant and cut it about half an inch higher than the height of the cake. Divide the fondant into segments for ease of transfer. Brush the top edge of the cake with water and stick the fondant to the top of the cake, folding it as you go to create gathers. Make sure the base of the fondant is touching the cake board always. When one segment finishes, simply get another and continue the process until the whole bottom tier is covered with white fondant. Try to work fast here as you do not want the fondant to dry. Dry fondant would crack when folding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIP: This technique can also be used when making the bed skirt of baby cot cakes like the one below.

 

 

 

 

 

(6) Next, add some gloss to the white fondant. Place some pearl white and a bit of gold luster dust in a bowl and mix it with a bit of vodka. Brush the draped part of the cake with this mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(7) Next, I created a few red layers. I achieved this by cutting a few strips of red fondant of various lengths and placing them randomly at spots over the white fondant. Brush them with some vodka to remove any icing sugar residue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(8) Next, seal the top of the cake. To do this, cut out a circular piece of white fondant the same size as the cake and place it on top of the cake. When making tiered cakes like this, I prefer to seal the top of the cake so the frosting on top does not make a mess when the cake is eventually separated for serving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(9) Next, drape the top tier with grey fondant and brush it with silver luster dust. I have a detailed tutorial here on how to do this. It involves the use of shortening and a blush brush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(10) Next, place dowels in the bottom tier, spread some melted white chocolate on top and stack the cake. I have a detailed post here on how to stack cakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(11) Next, cover the space between the top and bottom tiers. In place of a boarder, I made another layer of draped fondant using yellow fondant. Fold as you did with the white and red layers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(12) Next, color the yellow fondant gold. Again, this same post will show you how I did this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIP: When I want to achieve gold colors with fondant, I always color the fondant yellow or ivory before brushing it with gold luster dust and vodka.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(13) Next, place dowels in the top tier. These dowels will support the weight of the shoe. Without them, the heel of the shoe will burrow into the cake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(14) Finally place the stiletto on the cake. That’s all these is to it. Happy baking.