10/18/2016
Hey guys ! I am still working on this cake but I was able to take a few photos of the pleats as I made them. I wanted a flat surface for the cake going on top of the pleated tier so here is what I did.
Step 1. Create even strips of fondant or gumpaste - if you have a pasta roller, use it.
Step 2 . What I found so helpful here is having the same angle on the bottom for all my strips. I made one template and made sure other strips have the same angle or cut.
Step 3-4 . Notice the red arrows here, the cuts we made previously will flush exactly on the bottom of the tier. This takes away the uncertainty when attaching the next strip and will serve as a guide.
Step 5. Attach the rest of the strips with just a light brushing of edible glue .
Step 6. You may notice my strips did not go all the way to the center of the cake- because I did not need them to . I had a circle guide in the ,middle to show me the size of the tier I will put on it, and made sure the strips covered up to that part. Here I had the 6 inch cake pan as a guide to the size I need.
Step 7. I used a cutter to take away the excess fondant . Since we did not glue the whole strips top each other , it is easy to take away the excess here.
Step 8. This will show you the empty circle in the middle that will expose my ganached cake underneath that is still firm. Put dowels in and place your tier on it.
Last photo shows my cake still in parts but shows you what it looks like after I airbrushed that pleated tier and added two more tiers on top of it .
I hope you enjoy this short tutorial !Please feel free to share it if you think it will be useful to your friends :) --Mayen
