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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Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you. Drop us a comment below.
H Brown
How much would you sell this cake for?
Dahn
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
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
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
If I used 6″ and 8″ cake pans and it is 12″ high how many would that feed?
Dahn
a cake that size, including the cake that will be shaved away with the carving should feed 30 people. Have fun with it
Sherry
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
Sherry, if you place support for every 4 inch section/tier then you should have plenty of support
Terry Hernandez
Your cake is beautiful. I am planning on making one in the next two weeks and your explanation is very helpful. Thanks.
Dahn
Thanks Terry, best wishes on your cake
Dahn
Suzanne, yes I did torte each 9″ cake which gave me 6 thin layers of cake. I put 3 layers on a cake board with filling in between the layers, supported that tier with dowel rods then stacked the other 3 layers on a cake board and put it on the supported cake.
I used a texture mat to make the wood grain on the fondant and then I cut strips and laid them on the cake.
Here is a site that has a texture mat like the one I used….
http://www.thebakerskitchen.net/icing-impression-mats-set-d.aspx
suzanne
After this question, I won’t trouble you again, Dahn:)). Did you dowel the rice crispy “cake”, and top with buttercream to adhere the other cakes on top, with a center dowel through everything? Thanks for all your help & for the baking supply site as well. I’m getting together an order as we speak…
Dahn
No problem Suzanne, I did not dowel the rice crispy cake, it firmed up and provided enough strong support to hold the cake and fondant. I did put some buttercream on the top of the rice crispy layer to adhere the cake layer. After I stacked the cake on top of the rice crispy layer I carved it in a barrel shape then covered the entire thing in buttercream. I would love to see your finished cake when you get it done. Feel free to hit me up with more questions any time.
suzanne
thanks so much for all of your expertise, Dahn. If I gather the nerve to give it a go, I think the biggest challenge will be the carving, & trying to get it symmetrical…yikes…
Dahn
yes the carving was surprisingly more time consuming than I had anticipated but take your time and you will get it, good luck
suzanne
Hi Dahn: Wonderful cake! Do you mind letting me know what & how many sized cake pans you used & how many people this fed? I’m thinking of making a similar cake for a wedding shower in June & need alittle guidance…thank you so much for your time & happy birthday to your dad:)
Dahn
absolutely Suzanne! I used 9 inch round cake pans for this cake. It is 11 or 12 inches tall and 9 inches around at the widest point. I did not need the entire wine barrel to be cake as I only needed to serve 20 to 30 people so the bottom half of the wine barrel is actually rice crispy treats and the top half is made from three 9 inch cakes and was enough for 40 servings. If you made the entire wine barrel out of cake you would want to bake six cakes and place plenty of structural support in between the layers (let me know if you have questions about how to do that). If you made it entirely out of cake like that it would give you 80 servings.
Suzanne
Thank you sooo much for your response. I will actually need 40 servings. Did you torte each 9″on a cake board, and dowel the 2 bottom layers for support? Also, I’m assuming I’d texture & cut the fondant, apply to cake, and then color? Thx again for your time & expertise! Suzanne
Anne|Craving Something Healthy
Hi Dahn – I just found your site by way of your mom who found my site. I love the idea of food blogging with your mom! Also- your cakes are AMAZING! You’re a true artist!
Dahn
Thank you Anne, I’m so glad you found our site, it has been such a fun mother-daughter project. Thank you for the comment and the compliment 🙂
Kathi Kirk
What a sweet picture! The cake is just amazing! What a talent!
Kathi
Dahn
Thank you Kathi 🙂
Jerry Hancock
Fantastic Cake! I hope you didn’t eat it! lol
Dahn
Yes we did eat it Jerry, it would be a shame not to, it was a toasted almond amaretto cake with amaretto cream filling 🙂
Gwen Block
Do you take the photos? They look so professional.
Dahn
Yes we take our own photos, it is one of the more challenging things to do, we learned very quickly that using a flash for food photos is a terrible thing to do so we have to find the right time of the day to get proper lighting 🙂
Gwen Block
This is an absolutely fantastic cake. Honestly, it looks just like a real wine barrel and the grapes and leaves are amazing. It is a work of art. For sure!!!!
Dahn
Thanks Gwen it sure was fun to make
Teri
Hello:
I’m looking for a wine barrel cake for October 29, 2014 & this one was the one I decided on…However, I want the cake to be on it’s side…If I use the 9″ cake pan & cut them in half for both ends & then gradually cut less & less off as we work into the middle….do you find that carving your shape is easier on a frozen cake or just a very cold cake? Thanks, Teri
Have a Fabulous & Blessed Day!
Dahn
Hi Terry, a wine barrel cake laying on its side would look great however I would be leery to place half of a 9 inch cake on end the way you describe it. That technique will not give the cake the structure you need and might collapse or fall to the sides after you place fondant on it. I would stack the cakes in the normal fashion and place support every 4 inches up. This would work very well with 13 x 9 inch cakes. Stack several rectangular cakes on top of each other (with support) then carve the shape you want. I like my cake partially frozen when I am carving it however a sturdy butter cake will carve very well if it is not frozen.