Fleur-de-lis / Sweet 16 / Steps to Make a Cake

Fleur-de-lis Cake

The customer asked for a Sweet 16 cake with a Fleur-de-lis on the front. She envisioned a two-tier round in pink and black. I will show you the steps to prepping for a cake like this.

First I went on eBay, my favorite spot, to search for what I needed. First, I found a number "16" for the top of the cake. I wanted something with bling but did not want anything distasteful. 

I found a beautiful "16" in rhinestones. The picture doesn't do it justice!

There were several Fleur-de-lis silicone molds listed on eBay. I chose this mold because of its detail. Once I paint it, it will be so nice!

I ordered my pink and black fondant. I made sure I had enough cardboard cake rounds, cake drum, and a box to transport it.

I made a sketch of the cake, below, then pulled out my pans and cake drum.

I also pulled out whatever I would need: dowel, pearl mold, black pearls for bottom quilted cake, white pearls for middle of black bow (two sizes here since I'm not sure which size will look better), and pink and black ribbon for the cake drum...not sure yet which one will look best so I brought both. If the pink doesn't match the fondant exactly, then I will go with black.

TIME TO START BAKING!

Pull out the recipes!

RED VELVET

First one out of the oven and it's a beauty!

Cover bottom cake tier with fondant. Use diamond cutters. Go around base, then do top diamonds. Stay even as you go around. I added pearls without using water or glue. A few popped out on the drive to the venue but a little vodka and a tiny paintbrush helped to affix the loose pearls. (Vodka dries quickly, in case of drips. You could also use a tiny dot of royal icing, but if you do make sure it matches the fondant as exactly as you can get it and clean any excess with tiny paintbrush barely damp with vodka or any other clear alcohol.)

Put bottom cake on cake drum. Add second tier. Secure with dowel run down through the top of the cake and into the cake board.

To hide the hole caused by the dowel, as well as add extra support to the metal "1 and 6," I made fondant diamonds to add to the top of the cake.

I added pearls to the diamonds on top.

I added the Fleur-de-lis and after it was dry, I hand painted it with edible silver paint.

Here is the final cake!