Basketball Cake

 

This cake was for a boy turning 14 who loves basketball and the color blue, so I wanted to create a cake that depicted a basketball as it was going into the hoop. I created a tie-dye effect on the buttercream base with slightly different shades of blue. Then, I used white buttercream to create the net pattern all around the sides of the cake. I used a wide piping tip to create a thick orange border representing the rim of the hoop. 

To create the basketball, I baked cakes in two round bowls, put them together to create a sphere, then cut a flat bottom so only 3/4 of the sphere would be visible. I used flexible acetate to smooth the orange buttercream on the ball, then rolled black fondant to create the stripes. 

Lastly, I added support to the center of the cake and placed the ball on top!