A castle-themed birthday cake is made from a 10-inch square pan with a height of 2 inches. The cake also has cones on each corner of the square that have a radius of 1 inches and a slant height of 3 inches. Each cone's base rests completely atop the cake's surface. There are 3 layers of the square base of the castle, meaning only the lateral sides and the top face are part of the surface area.

Determine the number of square inches of fondant needed to cover the cake. (1 point)

The baker will need square inches of fondant.

1 answer

To determine the total amount of fondant needed to cover the cake, we need to calculate the surface area of the cake and the four cones.

Step 1: Calculate the surface area of the square cake

The cake is a square prism with:

  • Length of each side of the base = 10 inches
  • Height = 2 inches

The surface area \( A_{\text{cake}} \) consists of:

  1. The lateral sides (4 sides) of the square prism.
  2. The top face (since there are 3 layers we also consider only 1 top face for fondant).

Lateral areas of the sides: Each side has an area of: \[ \text{Area of one side} = \text{height} \times \text{base length} = 2 , \text{inches} \times 10 , \text{inches} = 20 , \text{square inches} \] Thus, the total lateral area from the four sides is: \[ \text{Lateral area} = 4 \times 20 , \text{square inches} = 80 , \text{square inches} \]

Top face: The area of the top face (one layer) is: \[ \text{Area of the top face} = \text{base length} \times \text{base length} = 10 , \text{inches} \times 10 , \text{inches} = 100 , \text{square inches} \]

Total surface area of the cake: \[ A_{\text{cake}} = \text{Lateral area} + \text{Top face area} = 80 + 100 = 180 , \text{square inches} \]

Step 2: Calculate the surface area of the cones

Each cone has:

  • Radius \( r = 1 , \text{inch} \)
  • Slant height \( l = 3 , \text{inches} \)

The surface area \( A_{\text{cone}} \) of one cone (lateral area only, since the base is not covered) is given by: \[ A_{\text{cone}} = \pi r l = \pi \cdot 1 \cdot 3 = 3\pi , \text{square inches} \]

Since there are 4 cones, the total surface area for all cones is: \[ A_{\text{cones}} = 4 \cdot 3\pi = 12\pi , \text{square inches} \]

Step 3: Total surface area requiring fondant

Thus, the total area for fondant will be: \[ \text{Total surface area} = A_{\text{cake}} + A_{\text{cones}} = 180 + 12\pi \]

Using \( \pi \approx 3.14 \) for calculations: \[ A_{\text{cones}} \approx 12 \cdot 3.14 = 37.68 , \text{square inches} \] \[ \text{Total surface area} \approx 180 + 37.68 = 217.68 , \text{square inches} \]

We can round this to: \[ \text{Total surface area} \approx 218 , \text{square inches} \]

Thus, the baker will need approximately 218 square inches of fondant.