I need to make a cake that looks like a tornado. How would you do it?

Question

We're trying to make a three-dimensional tornado. Problem is, how does one get a funnel shape to stand up?

Answer 1

Wilton makes a cake pan that is cone-shaped that would probably be the best way to achieve a tornado shaped cake. It is called the Wonder Mold and it is the pan used to create those doll cakes.....the pan creates the "skirt" for the doll pick.

This pan wouldn't produce a very tall cone-shaped cake, so if you'd need greater height you would have to stack it onto some other layers of cake and stabilize it with wooden dowels. (You can find these in the cake decorating aisle of craft stores, and most stores that carry Wilton products do carry the Wonder Mold pan (link is in Sources). It comes with a base (for supporting the cake in the oven as it bakes) and a metal rod (that goes in the center of the cake pan as it bakes to better conduct the heat), so it is packaged in a box and not as a loose pan.

The other option would be to make small round layers of cake, stack them together with icing in between the layers, then sculpt/carve the cake into the shape that you want. Again, depending on what height you need to achieve, you would probably want to stabilize with dowels. You could also use something non-edible, such as a mixing bowl or something, covered in icing if you desire, as a base for the tornado to make it taller.

I tried to find some on-line photos of tornado cakes, but the ones I found were just tornado designs on the top of round or rectangular shaped cakes, not a tornado-shaped cake.

Good luck and Happy Baking!
Maria

Answer 2

It's easy although it's going to take a while. Get some round cake pans (different sizes) you will have to bake each one separately. If you can't find small enough pans then just cut off the excess from around the edge. Just stack the layers up from biggest to smallest. Frost it with a swirl pattern so it looks like wind blowing in a circle.....Good luck.

Answer 3

Look online for funnel cakes.