Cake #6-Mr. Cooper's 90th Birthday

To say this guy is the sweetest man on Earth, would be an understatement. Seriously.  He is the grandfather of one of my best friends.   He is a fun loving gentleman who loves to play cards.  His daughter came to me with the idea to do a "King of Our Hearts" cake for his 90th birthday.  Of course, I said yes...

The Cake:

Triple chocolate

White butter cream icing  

Two 8" round pans

Two 10" round pans

The Details:

To create the deck of cards, I used a food dye marker to draw out a pattern on fondant molded into a rectangular shape.  I used some card decks for reference.  This is not the proper design from any deck of cards, but a collaboration of a few different styles.  

The King of Hearts:

This was a tough one.  I free-handed the King of Hearts onto some fondant, using food dye markers and a lot of patience.  I don't have the steadiest of hands, so this was tricky.  (Also, die hard card players will notice something is off about the card design.  Yes, I know his sword is missing.  This is the "Suicide King," but this is also a birthday cake.  So I took some artistic liberties with that one.  So there.)

The Hearts:

To make the hearts stand up on top of the cake, I took two hearts I cut out of red dyed fondant and placed two tooth picks on the inside of them and molded them together.  To get them to stick I just used a little bit of warm water as a "paste."

Borders:

For the King's crown border, I cut a strip of black dyed fondant measuring 24"x2", and then cut out the little triangle to form the crown shape.

For the suits border, I cut out hearts and diamonds from red dyed fondant, and spades and clubs from black dyed fondant. 

I attatched both borders using warm water to get them to stick.  

The Tiers:

To attatch the two tiers, I just placed a dollop of icing in the center of the lower tier and placed the top tier in the center.  The icing should hold it.  If you are travelling with your cake, I recommend using a few dowels to keep your tiers in place.