# Graduation cake Help



## wannabechef (May 7, 2008)

I need some help....both my husband and one of my sons is graduating next month and I want to try my hand at makeing and decorating a nice cake for them...hubby is graduating from community college and going onto uc and son is graduating from junior high...any ideas?
I would love any help


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## jbd (Mar 17, 2008)

How much decorating experience do you have?


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## cakesbysarah (Apr 7, 2008)

I'm doing a grad cake for a family friend next month, and I've got a couple of ideas you're welcome to use. They are throwing a HUGE party, so they need a lot of cake, and I'm planning a stack of books, a cap, and a diploma. 

Use a rectangle (1/4 sheet? Maybe smaller depending on how many servings you're doing) and make 3 cakes. Carve in slightly on 3 sides to simulate where the pages go. Ice all over with flavor of your choice (I have a killer recipe for a white choc - cream cheese icing that goes great over either white cake or choc cake with raspberry filling). Cover each book in a different color of fondant. Using white fondant strips around the 3 sides you carved in, texturize it to look like pages (gum paste sculpting tools work well to make the texture.) Pipe the book titles and any additional details. Stack 3 high, skewed slightly to show off the book titles. Next to the stack on the cake board, place a 2-layer round cake. Ice all over, then cover in black (you can buy black to avoid having to tint it!) fondant. This is the bottom of your cap. Bake a large, square cookie (At least 2" bigger on all sides than your round cake) and either decorate with black icing or cover in black fondant. (Fondant will provide better design continuity, in my opinion.) This is the top of your cap. Attach to bottom of cap with icing. Roll out two long, thin fondant ropes tinted a deep yellow. This will be your tassel. GENTLY twist the two together, making a rope-y look. Gently separate and flair the edges. Attach to top center of cap either while fondant is still workable, or by using a tiny dab of icing. For the diploma, roll out and cut a (somewhat thick) rectangle of ivory colored fondant. you can tint yourself and only partially mix the color in, to get a marbled "old paper" look. This piece will be only "technically" edible. After you have the rectangle cut, you can roll it up in a couple of different scroll shapes. If you want to leave it open, you can slightly roll the top and bottom ends under, and write the message on the face of the diploma. Otherwise you can roll it up completely, and secure with a fondant ribbon. Looks very elegant arranged on a cake board in an asymmetrical pattern. I'll try and make an outline (keeping in mind that my drawing skills are...... rudimentary, at best!) and post it shortly. 

--Sarah


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## cakesbysarah (Apr 7, 2008)

Bunk... for some reason it's not letting me do attachments!

I'd be happy to E-mail you with what I have if you contact me thru PM. I made a little how-to in MS paint... LOL


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