Elegant Birthday Dress Cake

 

This is my daughter's 31st birthday cake.  I have been excited about doing a "dress" cake for some time and scoured the Internet to find ideas.  I finally put this together.  I drew it out first and then dove in.  It was more difficult than I thought.  

 I worked for several weeks on the gum paste roses.  I wanted them to look more real than the ones I did in the past.  I used petal dust with vodka and brushed on the colors to give them a vintage look.  I am happier with these and realized the more I practiced the better I got. Duh!!

I made 80 roses and buds and used almost all of them on the cake.  I wanted to be sure I had enough in case some broke.

This cake took four recipes or box mixes.  I used box because they work the best at high altitude.  I found a site on line that showed how to keep cakes moist without adding simple syrup and without cutting the "domes" off to even out the cake.  It worked!  So here is the link. Keeping cakes moist without using simple syrup.

I looked at dress for different designs for the bodice.  I came across one that had this swag look and loved it.  I also wanted to be sure to have the dress back look like a dress back with stitching and buttons.  I used a Wilton roller tool for the stitching. I used pearl for the buttons and necklace.  I made the 31 out of gum paste and integrated it into the necklace.

I have to say that I am terribly unhappy with how my fondant turned out this time.  I usually use the marshmallow recipe and make my own fondant. It was full of tiny air bubbles that I just couldn't get out no matter how hard I tried.  I don't know if that is because of the "Jet Puffed" marshmallows or not.  Gut says it is. 

I am toying with the idea of ordering some fondant on line.  I want to see if it handles better.  Will let you know what kind I find and how I like it.