Hi Rose,
Thank you for your wonderful recipes and techniques.  They have been a delight to create and given my family many happy memories of special occasions.  I am hoping to create another memory for my son’s 2nd birthday; I am planning a Wilton 3D teddy bear in your Perfect Pound cake sitting atop a sheet cake [recipe TBD, but one of yours of course!].
- I want to use a thin glaze over the bear to help the star frosting stick and cover the butter cake in case of any gaps in my chocolate piping.  I tried the Chocolate Butter Glaze but it was too thick. Should I change the ratio of ingredients to make it thinner or would you suggest another glaze?
- I plan on piping stars with the Sour Cream Ganache all over the bear. On my first try, the ganache was too soft to pipe.  Will it pipe after cooling, and if so, will the stars stay at room temperature or will I have to refridgerate the cake until serving?  Or would you suggest an alternative frosting that can hold stars at room temp?
- I’m using pound cake because Wilton suggests using a pound cake.  I also thought the other kids and parents may not like chocolate cake with chocolate frosting [though too much chocolate is not a problem for me!].  Would you suggest any other cakes that would be strong enough to stand and support lots of chocolate frosting?
- Any suggestions of the sheet cake below the bear, something that’s different from the bear yet complements the flavors?
Thanks, Mita

Mita, my favorite frosting for piping fill stars on 3d bears is the mousseline.  Be sure it is executed correctly because a thinner mousseline will be a bit too runny for stars.  Use the chocolate variation if you wish.  I wouldn’t recommend glazing the bear prior to fill in possible gaps from piping stars, a very valid concern.  To fill gaps I use either 2 methods:  with a toothpick I swirl between the gaps, or with tip #2 or so I pipe little dots or you can use a small french opening tip, too.

I’ve done bears with buttermilk country cake, golden genoise, and chocolate genoise.  Elicia loves using the Golden Luxury cake.  I like to refrigerate the cake well so it becomes sturdier, specially when handling the piping or during transportation.  For added strength, I leave the center core, or fill it with aluminum foil or cardboard.

Mita, I have successfully used Rose’s Chocolate Fudge cake recipe for my 3D cakes. I once made Pooh bear for my niece. I don’t cover my cakes with a glaze. I pipe the stars directly onto the cake. Like Hector I use the toothpick method for covering up the gaps. When I made the cake for my niece, I made it at home and had to transport it to my brother’s place which is a 30 minute drive from my place. I had my heart in my mouth the whole way. The bear made it safely. I used a dowel to secure it. Leaving the core in the cake is a great idea. I couldn’t do it b/c my sister-in-law borrowed the pan from a friend and had to return it.
Make sure to wrap the cake pan in wet paper towels and then in foil to prevent the outer part from getting overdone. Good luck and do post pics.

Hi Hector and Rosanne,

Thanks for the advice.  I think I’ll go with the chocolate mousseline, though as you mentioned, I’ll have to work out the right consistency.  I’m using meringue powder to avoid any raw egg incidents or nervous parents.  I think skipping the icing will make it a LOT easier and hopefully I’ll be able to cover up any gaps with the toothpick and dot methods.

I was thinking about the Choc Fudge cake because a- I love it and b- I thought a choc cake-choc bc bear with a non-choc sheet cake and bc below would be a good option for people who don’t care for chocolate.  I saw pictures of Elicia’s cake and it looked amazing.  I was also thinking about the White Choc Whisper cake because Rose says the cocoa butter makes it easier to cut. Have either of you noticed an appreciable difference in cutting the WCW versus the Choc Fudge or Golden Luxury?  If there isn’t much of a difference, I’ll use Choc Fudge for the bear and either WCW or GL for the sheet below.

Thanks for the tips on about refridgeration, the core and covering it in wet paper towels and foil.