@Tintagel
With you saying this cake was 'relatively straight' I need to ask if you level your cakes first. Whenever I make a cake, I always level it first with a cake leveller and take the excess off the top of the cake. I then flip the cake over so the bottom becomes the top, and I then have a flat, round surface to work with.
Were you going to stick the ribbon to the cake or just tie it around? Lol! Don't worry about forgetting to put things on. I once made a Peppa Pig cake and forgot her tail!
As for the slight gap at the bottom, I have a few other ways of preventing that from happening when you cover it, so if you want to know that, I can let you know.
Yeah, another thing you could do with the bats is fold the wings over, as in overlap them when you bring them out of the mould and then stick them upside down on your cake. You could even leave the eyes black on a few of them, and then they would look like they were asleep upside down.
Now back to the tree, whenever I make a topper, I always try to make it in advance of the cake otherwise, you have to bake it, level fill and cover it and then start the decoration, so if you prep in advance and make the decorations first when you come to make the cake all you have to do is assemble the cake together once you have covered it. I find it less stressful, and you can concentrate on one thing at a time.
I like making 6-inch cakes, especially because there are only three of us, so there is always plenty for everyone. My point is I keep a stash of very thin 6-inch cake boards in my cupboard. Then when I'm making a topper, I gauge the size against the board and can plan in advance where everything is going to go, and I can see the finished article before I've even begun to make the cake.
You can even make the decorations on the board. Firstly you would have to clean the board with either hot water/kitchen towel or vodka and then you can cover it in clingfilm. You then effectively have the top of a 6-inch cake to work with. I used to use my tin for this but then I needed my tin for the cake so I bought the boards instead.
They're only cheap but I find they come in very handy when I'm making things.
So for your tree, in future you could set aside time and perfect it in advance. That way you can play about with it until you get it right. You could also see the overall look of the design. Just a thought, you could have done the tree on the top and then added roots/branches down the side of the cake so you had a top and side view adding extra bits down the sides when the cake was done.
For the tree you would have been better just free-handing it and building it in layers. I too have a wood grain stencil but I think that is better served on fences and floor/plank effects as the pattern is a little rigid. I think with the tree you could have spread out the fondant and moulded it to how you wanted it. I then think a dresden tool would have allowed you to score the tree giving you free rein of where the bark imprints would go and then you could create your own movement and flow.
When you next make a cake send me a picture of it before you do anything to it. I'm just wondering why your cake is leaning? I tend to surround my tin with baking paper to give me more of an even rise but I still level them when they come out. I'm wondering if your tin is causing cake issues. Or do you sandwich two layers together? I make one cake and cut it in two. PME cake tins are fabulous so I changed mine to those a while back.
The pumpkins look good and I like the fact you used green cases to add extra colour. Are you making fruitcake or just decorating cakes for Christmas. Very good luck with the op and we look forward to seeing you next bakes.
I have just made a quick tree on a 6-inch board so I will post the pics later so you can see what I did. It took me about 5 mins but may give you a better idea of how to make one.
I'll post back in a bit.