Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Stacy is making a cake for Icing Smiles https://www.icingsmiles.org/ where volunteers make cakes for children who are very ill. Stacy needs some help and with Paul away this week I thought I’d put the question out there….

Next month I will provide my first Icing Smiles cake and am
thoroughly ecstatic about it. It will be a pistons basketball theme and I
want to add a scoreboard that lights up with “Happy 8th Birthday” and
have it as a cake topper.

My ask is if you can provide some guidance on how to construct the
scoreboard with lights? Thought is that I would create a template and use
gumpaste that would secure around dowel rods that would go in the cake.
Would I use wafer paper as the front piece with the message and have string
lights behind it? Would you recommend using the single use lights or a mini
led strand? I am unsure how to proceed and would really appreciate any
guidance.

Hi David

If I was doing this cake, I’d want to keep it quite simple but effective. The cake itself could be the court, easily covered in icing print team logo. Use toy players but make the baskets as in the following guide:
: https://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/2233221/basketball-court
… and pipe out the nets with some cake lace, once dry, attach to hoops with a little edible glue or vodka.

I think single use little lights would be more practical on a small topper. I believe they can be stuck down directly on to the decoration..
eg http://cakecraftcity.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=66
The battery pack on string lights would be problematic to hide away unless making an enclosed topper.

There are many more ideas online , especially on pinterest, which could be utilized to add extra interest eg images of the team players, trophies, the basketball, game tickets, game time nibbles and treats.

Hope some of these suggestions help.

Thank you madeitwithlove for the response. I took a look at the picture you shared and the description and will possibly leverage some of the detail. Have you ever used the pegboard with the pre-drilled holes, that may be hung up in a tool shop, and put lights through the holes?

Hi Swimbley

I haven’t used the peg boards with pre drilled holes for lighting. I tend to steer clear of anything which involves too many lights. I did include lights in my carousel cake, these were laid inside the roofing and very easy to do.

I think perhaps you do have a good idea with this board. I hope it works out for you. If you manage to do it, any feedback to help other members would be brilliant. Many thanks. 🙂