Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

HI,

I have been asked to make a Tabla musical instrument and I would like to know the following:

1. The height of the cake will be 14″ tall x 10” base, made up of 3 cakes, what structure should I use?
.One set of 7 long dowels to be used for the bottom 2 cakes? Or
.Each tier dowelled separately? Or
.One long central pole?

2. I Need to ensure the instrument is at an angle so it is tilted, if I cut this how will the base be tilted/supported?

3. White strips on the outside of the instrument should they be made out of Sugar Florist Paste or SugarPaste or SugarPaste with Cmc? as I am concerned the strips might dry out and break.

4. The Wooden blocks should they be made out of Modelling Chocolate or Sugar Florist Paste or SugarPaste or SugarPaste with Cmc? again concerned about the weight of these so they are not too heavy especially with the white strip pulling down them.

5. How will these wooden blocks be attached to the instrument, i.e. with edible glue and/or cocktail sticks?
Note: 1hr journey customer to collect.

Thank you.

Hi Sky Cakes

I made a set of concert tablas for my hubby’s birthday several years ago. I am assuming that you are only making the ‘bayan’ or’ duggi’ which is the base drum or are you making the smaller slightly conicle shaped one ( the dayan)? I used the same size cakes as mentioned above.

Before the cakes were baked I made the girali (circular ring ‘cushion’) which the drum sits on. This can be either made from flowerpaste or a styrofoam ring covered in sugarpaste and left it dry for several days. This supported the bayan to rest at a tilt as in the real thing and elimated the need to carve the tilt or the use of a central support. To ensure the cake didn’t move, I used royal icing to adhere it to the ring cushion. Please use the real thing as reference to get the dimensions accurate.
The cakes were partially frozen, dowelled and stacked same as a tiered wedding cake. Being partially frozen, the carving was achieved more easily than from a fresh cake. Once the bayan was carved, it was crumb coated in ganache and covered in sugarpaste and left to dry.

For the baddhi ( the straps) I used wafer paper and for the gittak ( tuning pegs) I used small marshmallows which were stuck on with a little royal icing.
At that time, cake lace hadn’t been invented. Today you could pipe cake lace to make the straps which would be flexible and not break as gumpaste. If you prefer, you could just paint them on rather than make straps. Please have a peek at my blog on how to measure accuratly the positioning of the straps here:

How to Measure Vertical Lines on Irregular Cakes

The cakes were transported in heavy duty cake boxes sitting on non slip mats in the boot of the car. Give your customer strict instructions to drive slowly, avoiding any lumps and bumps in the road….. and PRAY!!

I can’t remember all the details clearly but I hope you find some of this information useful.

> Hi,
>
> I am making the dayan and will make the girali/circular ring cushion out of flowerpaste.
>
> A. I am assuming I would not need to carve the cake if the girali is supporting the dayan? However will this be able to take the total “weight” of the cake when it is tilted? Or should I carve a wedge at the bottom?
>
> B. I will be using 3 x 10” round cakes so would you recommend to put 2 x 10” cakes together and dowel them as a whole with 9 dowels? And then place the other cake on top?
>
> C. I would like to know would it be possible to make the baddhi/straps out Modelling Chocolate or flowerpaste?
>
> D. Also could the gittak/tuning pegs be made Modelling Chocolate of Flowerpaste as customer does not want marshmallows unfortunately.
>
> E. But for the baddhi and gittak I am concerned about breakage and also about how the gittak would be stuck inside the baddhi?
>
>
> Thank you.

Hi Sky Cakes

The cake will need to be carved to get the shape. All I did was stack all the tiers before filling and dowelling. Then carved the shape using an enlarged photo cut out as a template. Once carved, fill, dowel and stack as per B. Crumb coat and ice.
My dayan sat upright on it’s own cake board. The ‘cushion’ surrounds the base of the cake and is not a support. It is an accent to complete the aesthetic look of the instrument.
If you want the cake to tilt slightly, take a peek at Paul’s topsy turvey cake for advice on how to dowel a sloping cake : https://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/the-topsy-turvy-cake

Modelling chocolate would be a more flexible medium for the baddhi/straps. You can make them from flower paste but the risk of breakage would be higher. Alternatively, wafer paper works well and as suggested above, you could pipe out some cake lace for flexible straps.
The tuning pegs can be made with either modelling chocolate or with flower paste. They don’t need to be too big.
Stick the pegs against the cake with a little royal icing. Let the straps drape over the pegs to give the impression that they are threaded. The following image is a good example of how it should look: http://meinlpercussion.com/products/Product/PER-TABLAS/Product/show/390/388/PER-TABLAS/

Tabla sets in reality do not have to sit at a tilt. They are positoned so when playing. If you need more info please let me know.

Still not sure about the straps…..

.Thank you

Please could you say what it is that you are unsure of. The straps are not a problem, they stick under the braided collar which goes around the top edge. You will only be creating an illusion but it will look realistic.