Help! Need some ideas!

[cakebaker]

I am completely stumped on this one!

This is for family so I don't have to worry about picky customers, just satisfying myself which actually is much harder!

My mom's birthday is the day after Father's day and we're all getting together at their house for a combo thing and of course I've been given the job of doing the cake.

We don't need 2 cakes and I don't want to really do 2 of them, but I can't think of anything to do as a combo Father's Day/Mom's birthday cake combination. I'd like to do a 2 tier stacked. The flavors are no problem she likes chocolate, he will only eat white so I have that all figured out. I'll be covering in fondant but outside of that I'm at a total loss as to what to do.

She loves the old fashioned frilly borders, roses type, while he's more impressed with the how did you do that sort of thing. I'm totally at a loss as to what to do.


It's really, really important to me that my dad loves the cake. He's 74 and has been battling colon cancer for nearly 4 years now. Things are beginning to take a not so good turn and I know that there's a good chance this may be the last time I get to do a Father's Day cake for him. Then again, I don't want to focus so much on his part of the cake that I'm being obvious with the depressing idea of "this is the last Father's Day....", know what I mean???

Anyone have any ideas on how to do the impossible?

[Amanda]

Hmmm, that is a toughy!
My first thought was maybe making a chair for your dad (I know it's not two tier stacked...I'm just thinking out loud) and putting a frilly pretty "blanket" over the back of it. Frilly for mom, how the !@#$ did you do that for dad....but that doesn't satisfy the two different flavors component..
I'm gonna have to think on this one for a while....

[cakebaker]

Yeah, but if I did the chair and stacked it on a round tier..that would get the two flavors in and make it sort of two tiered. I've never done a chair before, but I don't think they're all that hard to do.

This one has possibilities so keep thinking!

[Amanda]

Two "presents" wrapped in "paper" that would suit each person. You're moms could have lighter colors, some flowers and a pretty frilly bow on it, and Dad's could be a very handsome pattern in darker colors that he could ogle at...and maybe a manly bow.

[Amanda]

Ok, this one's a little weird...but what the heck?
A basket cake with a bouquet of flowers (like long stems wrapped in paper...you know what I mean?) on one side and whatever dad likes on the other side. i.e. beer bottles, a box of golf balls, BBQ tools, whatever he's into...like a basket filled with gifts for both of them.
I know that ones a stretch....

[cakebaker]

I had thought of the gifts cake, but I did a gift box cake for him for his birthday in January. He was so impressed with the fondant bow that my mom says he still has it saved in a box!

The basket cake is great too, he doesn't have a lot of hobbies, but he does love to build stuff. At his age he's in the middle of a project now building a place to store more of his "tools". Last time I was over there, I drove up to find him on the roof of their garage just "checking things out"....the man is a wonder!

Still, the chair thing has caught my interest. If CC would ever get up and running for me I could take a look and maybe get some ideas on exactly how they're done.

Thanks for the help Amanda! I figure I have until the middle of the week to obsess over this before I actually have to do something!

[dg10148]

How about doing one side for mom frilly and the other side for dad maybe a tool bench or tools out of gumpaste. Do an oversize cake board covered in fondant so you can write happy fathers day on the bottom and on the other side happy birthday for mom put the cake on a turntable so they can take turns seeing there cakes. I did this for a brother and sister one year apart they were to young to want there own cake.
Wish I had a picture I just cant find it right now if I find it soon I will post it
Denise dg10148

[bupbup74]

What if you made a tool bench or tool box for the bottom teir, and then put a womans purse or shopping bag sitting on top of that?

or, if you still want to do the chair idea, you could make the chair a lazy boy with a remote on one of the arms, and have a frilly pillow cake sitting on the lazy boy seat.

or, you could do just a standard 2 tier cake, and on one side of the cake you could put handmade tools, and things about your dad, and on the other side you could put little handmade presents, and flowers, and make little things your mom likes. As the topper, you could make a couple that maybe could represent the two of them.

[tracymes3]

I may be a little out of my league here, but I will give this a shot.

For mom, I was thinking you could make a quilt out of fondant, decorate the border with lace and for the top have some really pretty flowers laying ontop, in the quilt squares you could have happy birthday mom and some other little nice sayings and for the second cake, i say go with the tools but make a shed for the topper out of gingerbread (gingerbread house materials)...then you could try to duplicate his new project.

[cakebaker]

These are such wonderful ideas, thank you all! I don't know why, but I wasn't getting a single idea at all coming into my head.

Tracymes3, you're definitely not out of your league! The idea of a tool shed topper made out of gingerbread is brilliant! I love it!