My dad turned 80 this year and there is something about that number that got me a little choked up. This is definitely a milestone birthday that deserves a celebration. My mom pulled off a fabulous dinner for friends and family and I brought the cake.
Dad and Mom-8/7/2013 on their 48th wedding anniversary
One of my dads hobbies is wine making so I fashioned the cake into a wine barrel. What seemed like a fairly easy carving actually took a considerable amount of time in order to get the sides symmetrical.
The wood grain effect came from an impression mat that I rolled over the fondant before placing it on the cake. The fondant was colored a light brown but I didn’t care for the flat, one-dimensional color so I used a couple of shades of brown food coloring to paint over the fondant.
I used silver food coloring to create the rings around the top, bottom, and middle of the barrel. The grapes are made from buttercream using a 12D piping tip and the grape leaves are made from sugar paste. I finished the look of the cake by covering the cake board in wood grain fondant.
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H Brown
Saturday 29th of October 2016
How much would you sell this cake for?
Dahn
Saturday 29th of October 2016
oh this is a time consuming cake design to make. I don't do it professionally and usually make cakes for family or charge a very nominal fee for friends to cover my cost but I imagine if this were to be purchased in a professional bakery it would be well over $10/slice
Linda Billingsley
Friday 6th of March 2015
Your wine barrel cake is beautiful! How tall is it? I want to make this cake, but covering it with ganache, no fondant, is this doable? Thank you linda
Dahn
Friday 6th of March 2015
Hi Linda. Thank you for your compliment. The cake is about 12 inches tall. It would work just fine to cover it in ganache or just plain buttercream (or a mixture of both if you want to play with different color and shades) Have fun with this :)
Sherry
Wednesday 23rd of July 2014
If I used 6" and 8" cake pans and it is 12" high how many would that feed?
Dahn
Wednesday 23rd of July 2014
a cake that size, including the cake that will be shaved away with the carving should feed 30 people. Have fun with it
Sherry
Wednesday 23rd of July 2014
I'm going to be making a barrel cake for my son's up coming birthday, but I was going to use a 6" cake pan for the base and an 8" for the middle. I have bought the cake boards for support. Should I support it even more?
Dahn
Wednesday 23rd of July 2014
Sherry, if you place support for every 4 inch section/tier then you should have plenty of support
Terry Hernandez
Saturday 19th of July 2014
Your cake is beautiful. I am planning on making one in the next two weeks and your explanation is very helpful. Thanks.
Dahn
Sunday 20th of July 2014
Thanks Terry, best wishes on your cake