I love the look of spiral tiers! In today’s tutorial I’m going to incorporate an adorable train theme into a spiral cake design. There are so many different styles of cakes that work well with spiral tiers– We have a sweet Sledding Snowman video with a spiral tier design which also demonstrates covering the tiers in fondant.
There are a couple of points that I wanted to emphasize. In the video, I am using 9″ and 6″ stacked tiers. The 3″ size difference works well for me because it allows me a difference of 1 ½″ to work with all the way around, and therefore I am able to make a ledge that is 1 ½″ wide.
If there is a 4″ difference between your tiers, you could even bump up the width of your ledge to 2″, if you would like to have room next to the track for more grass, flowers, etc., or you stick to the 1 ½″ ledge if you would like to have a little more cake :0) —
A 2″ difference between your tiers would be more difficult to work with, because you would only have 1″ of space around the base of the top tier to work with in order to create your track. A track this narrow would of course require a train that is smaller and more narrow than the one in my video. For this reason, I recommend a difference of at least 3″ between tiers.
Let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy the video!
I don’t have a 9 inch pan. Would I be able to use a 10 inch and 6 inch pan?
Hi there–yes, that would be fine! You just don’t want to go to less than a 3 inch difference between pans. More than 3″ is fine :0)
how many would the 6 & 9 serve? What size would be best for about 40 people? Thanks :) Can’t wait to try it out!
Theresa, I was wondering the same thing. I also have 40 guest.
Hi there- These carved cakes can be a little tricky as far as serving estimates ;0) – What I like to do is to determine how many servings a tier combination would feed, and then estimate based on how many cake servings were removed. Keep in mind that you’ll want at least a 3″ difference between your tiers if your design is like mine, so that you will have plenty of space for your ledge.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/helpful-links/
Based on Wilton’s Party Serving Chart (which is more generous), two 10″/6″ rounds would serve 40. Based on their Wedding Chart, the same two tiers would serve 50. So, if a good number of your servings will be for children….or if your cake will be served after a meal, etc. , then you should be fine with 10″/6″ tiers (because servings will be smaller).
Alternatives: If by chance you have 7″ pans, 10″/7″ tiers would give you a boost. If you are expecting that everyone will want a large piece of cake, you could even bump to a 12″/6″, which by Wilton’s Party Serving Chart would give you approx 52 servings (prior to carving) —
One final option that I wanted to mention is that if you are doing a train theme, and want to avoid carving the top tier (for the sake a few extra servings), you could create the look of a tunnel (by using a black piece of fondant in an arched shape with maybe a fondant stone border around it) on the front of the top tier, and then you could create tracks emerging from the tunnel which would then spiral down the bottom tier. Just a thought :0)
Thank you!!! I am making a sprial cake this week. Wish me luck!!! Ohhhh… the request is lemon and strawberry cake. Any recipe sugesstions for a firm enough cake to carve.
I love this idea! I saw on another website a cake with just one single path going up that connected the two cakes: http://www.thecakeblog.com/page/2. How do you think they cut the cake so the spiral connected? Would they stack it, then cut it. And then take the top tier off to cover it?
I’m so excited, I get to make one of these this week–wish me luck! Any tips on covering the carved tiers in fondant?? Cover each tier like a regular cake all at once (blue fondant) and then cut away the top and road and cover those with the green colored fondant? Or cover tops and road first in green fondant, and then wrap the blue fondant around the sides? Or…any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help!
Alex
hi melissa i was just wondering what cake recipe did you use to make this cake
Hi Trina, we used the White Almond Sour Cream recipe
thank you BeBe i just love this site i took the wilton courses at my local hobby lobby and i have learned more on here than in the classes my teacher even said that i dont need the classes lol thank yall for the site i love it and thanks for getting answering my question so quick have a blessed day
Can I frost with ganache?
And then cover in fondant?
Hi Jass–Yes, you can (ganache & cover in fondant). I’ve always used buttercream when decorating this cake but we’ve had members who have covered spiral tiers with fondant.
Hi Jass28, yes, you can.
Thank you Trina!!!
I’m pretty new to this, so this might be a dumb question, but… If I’m using fondant, do I have to use all one piece/color, or can I piece together the green and blue? Thanks!
Hi Alisa! Not a dumb question at all! You could do it either way–but I think it would be easiest to cover the spiral tiers just as if you were covering a standard round tier…and then just immediately start smoothing the fondant over the curves and spiraled shape of each tier. I would cover in the most prominent color and then layer on the other contrasting colors of fondant. Let us know how it goes!
Hi
I think I am being a bit thick also, but just thought I’d ask as I am planning to do this at the end of the month.
Once I have covered the cake with white almond sour cream and refrigerated, do I then cover with more almond sour cream but coloured green or blue accordingly or is the coloured coat something different. Also, how are you colouring your cream? Is it food colouring or something else?
Many thanks and sorry for very basic questions.
Alexis
Hi Alexis, the white almond sour cream is the cake flavor. We crumb coated the cake with a thin layer of buttercream and refrigerated for a short while. Then we colored our buttercream with the various colors we were using. We use Americolor gel food coloring to color our buttercream.
How many people does this cake feeds?
Love this cake design/shape!! It is just the thing I was looking for. I am making a roller coaster cake for a co-workers son and I was stuck on how I can do it. THANK YOU!! :D
Hello i love this cake and would love to make it for my son;s 3rd b’day , he is crazy for trains.. Please tell me what kind of cake is used for carving and where can i find the recipe and how should I alter the recipe for different size pan.
many thanks for all these wonderful tutorials :)
Hi Sagarika, I think we used the White Almond Sour Cream – Doctored Cake, here is a link to the recipe, https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes/white-almond-sour-cream-cake/ It is in the recipe section. You will need to double the recipe to have enough cake batter. Good luck with your cake.
Can you tell me what Americolor gels you used?
I know sky blue for the sky, but what about the blue, red, and yellow fir the train and the shades of green for the grass and trees. If you don’t remember, can you recommend the colors to use? This is my first time making scale like this.
Thanks,
Angela
Hi Angela, I’m glad that you are making this! –
I most likely used Americolor Super Red, Sky Blue, Lemon Yellow, & Super Black (for the grey). The green is probably either Americolor Electric Green or Wilton Leaf Green. Of course you can change things up, but these are the shades that I often use. Good luck!
I’m guessing it would be a bad idea to use carrot cake ( which my son would like for the cake). I have 2 Lamborghini model cars ( 2″ x 5″ wide, metal) I want to put on the cake with a road.
Would I need to dowel under each car? I might use fondant on the cake instead of buttercream, but not sure. Thank you.
I’m guessing it would be a bad idea to use carrot cake ( which my son would like for the cake). I have 2 Lamborghini model cars ( 2″ x 5″ wide, metal) that I want to put on the cake with a road.
Would I need to dowel under each car?
Also, I might use fondant on the cake instead of buttercream, but not sure. Thank you.
Ok, please disregard above. Carrot cake is a very bad idea. Sorry for that double entry.
Ack! Paintmycake, I’m sorry–I started to answer this yesterday and then was going to come back to it after figuring what size tiers would be best to give you the needed ledge width (ours was just 1 1/2 wide)- I was also going to advise against the carrot cake if your recipe is anything like ours (too moist) –Sounds like you have things figured out! As a side note, I do dowel/use at least a bubble tea straw beneath any toppers or decorations that have a bit of weight to them. Good luck!
Hi, are you able to give me any idea how much buttercream I am likely to need to cover and decorate this cake? (using a 6 inch and 8inch pan)? Thanks!
Hi Wuzza, I would treat these tiers as if they were just ordinary tiers when calculating the number of cups of frosting required. I’m attaching a link to Wilton’s Party Servings Chart below which includes a column for frosting amounts.
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-serving-guide.cfm
Also, as I mentioned above the video, I used 9″ and 6″ tiers because it gave me a bit more room to carve the “track” into the cake. If you are working with 8″ and 6″ tiers, you won’t want to make your track as deep. Good luck! Let us know if you have any more questions.
hi, can i use fresh cream/ whip cream instead of butter cream ?
Hi Rupa, Whipped cream would not work well for this cake.
Hi Melissa,
I love your cake, i was wondering if i could use chocolate cake insted of your flavour. Would that be sturdy enough to carve and will dark chocolate color show through the blue and green icing.
And also want to know is it possible to put few cars made from fondant on to of the cake , will it be too much weight for the cake?…
And also want to know what kind of cracker pk you used to amke those trains, do you know anything similar here in australia?
Sorry for so many question, cz i really love ve to make this cake…