38Because I want the base of this cake to be a hexagon
(a shape I don’t make yet in CakeFrame) and I want it
to have more weight at the bottom, I’ve chosen a 14”
drum board as my ‘base’. I’ve still used a CakeFrame
baseboard beneath it though, to fix the foundation
pieces to.
Step 1.
Start by lining it up centrally and on the underside of
the drum board, mark the holes you will need to make
in order to let the foundation pieces through. Mark
and cut your holes with either a sharp knife or an apple
corer. I have chosen all four outer holes.
Steps 2a & b.
Next, attach four long foundation pieces into the four
outer holes of the 10” round CakeFrame baseboard. Be
sure to tighten the lock nuts securely and position them
the right way around (with the flat circle of the lock nut
flush with the baseboard).
Step 3.
Push down the cake drum over the foundation pieces. If
you’ve made your holes too big, or feel the drum board
can easily move up and down, secure it in place with
either a hot glue gun or strong double sided tape.
Step 4.
Next,prepare the cake. When using CakeFrame, you
need to make holes in the sponge BEFORE you make,
fill and decorate the cake. If you’re clear on your design,
you can do ALL the cakes at this stage, or if not, just
concentrate on one tier at a time. Push down each layer
of cake onto the rods, supporting underneath with your
hand to prevent it from splitting or breaking. Once the
holes are done, you can take them back off to fill the
cake as you layer them up.
TIP: I found three layers of cake was just the height I
wanted to match the long foundation pieces, but you
can, of course, height match your foundation pieces and
rods according to your design and needs.
Steps 5a-c.
Using the 11” hexagon drum board as a ganaching
template, give the cake a good crumb coat and then a
second ganache coat to make it smooth and retain its
hexagon shape. Leave to harden and then smooth off
with a metal scraper or palette knife.
TIP: I find dipping the knife in boiling water gives a
smooth surface. To the keep the corners sharp, I work
away from the corners to the middle of each side and
around until I have done all the corners.
Once smooth, remove the drum board and ganache the
top of the cake.
Steps 6a-c.
Prepare the other tiers of cake in a similar way. Create
the required holes in each cake, then place it on a
platform, fill, ganache and cover with sugarpaste. Make
holes in the top of the icing so that when you push the
cake down onto the structure, it doesn’t tear.
The 10” cake (second tier) needs four holes around
the outside (same as the base tier). The 6” cake will
only need a central hole. The 8” cake will only need
one central hole too, but leave assembling, filling and
covering this one for now, as we need to do something
with the platform for it in another step.
Steps 7a & b.
Once covered with sugarpaste, your base cake should
be flush in height with the top of the foundation pieces.
Add an adapter to each of the foundation pieces and on
each adapter, place a CakeFrame collar (raised centre
facing up).
5b 5c
4 5a
2b 3
1 2a
6c
6a 6b
7a