Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

A friend of mine asked me to make a cake like the second one on this link
http://penguinsandparentheses.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/bringing-lego-to-life-bright-sweetness.html

My question is how do I get all the strips of sugarpaste onto the cake so that it creates reasonably straight lines, anyone know a handy trick?

Thanks in advance, Tammy

Hi Tammy

What you do is cut a parchment or silicone paper collar the same depth and diametre of your cake. It should go all the way round with a a small over hang at the end. Lay the collar down on a flat surface and smear it lightly with some trex. Cut all the stripes out with a ribbon cutter so the are equal size and lay them on the collar to form the pattern you want. Use smoothers or the edge of a ruler to keep the stipes straight. Begin with laying the stripes flush against one end of the collar but not exceeding the overhang at the other end. Once in position, leave them for a few minutes to settle.
Lightly smear some piping gel on the sides of the cake to act as glue for the stripes. Adhere the flush end of the stripes against to the what will be the back of cake. Gently proceed with the rest sticking down as you go along. The two ends should meet neatly, leaving the overhang to peel the paper away. You could roll the collar up for easier handling but I find it distorts some of the strips when unrolling. However if the collar is large it does help. Hope this makes sense!

Makes perfect sense thank you! seems really obvious now, looking forward to trying it

Try it out on the side of a cake tin or a dummy first so you can get the feel of it! I always pat the pattern down with a bit of tissue and give it a final edge with smoother or ruler.
Good luck with it!