Start off by getting the airplane template ready. If you are good at drawing, you can always draw one by hand. Or you can find an image that you could trace from. Kids coloring books are a good place to look for a basic airplane templates.

Another option is to search for airplane coloring pages on the internet and print a template from there. Make sure the size of the airplane fits the size of the cake. If the design you like is complicated, tweak it to remove the intricate details for easier piping.

Once the image is ready, trace it onto a parchment paper. And then place another piece of parchment paper on top and clip both together, preferably onto a cake board so that you get the template on a flat surface.

Next, prepare the royal icing. Portion some into a small bowl and mix black food coloring into it. Fill the piping bag with the black icing (in stiff consistency) and pipe the outline of the airplane on the parchment paper using a small round tip (Wilton tip #3).

Once the outline is done, next is to fill the airplane sections with royal icing. For the filling, the consistency of the royal icing has to be sufficiently runny.

To make the runny royal icing, place some stiff royal icing into a bowl. Add one teaspoon of water. Mix well. Cut the icing with your spoon or a butter knife. If it smooths out in the count of 10 seconds, your icing is ready. If it smooths too fast, your icing is too runny. And you need to correct it by adding some stiff royal icing to it. Similarly, if the icing takes longer than 10 seconds to smooth out, it is still stiff. And you would need to add more water to it.

Similar method is used to make these royal icing butterflies, and you can check out the video tutorial how to make the royal icing butterflies too.

Once the icing is ready, transfer it into a piping bag. Snip the tip (a small hole) and fill the white sections of the airplane.

Repeat the process with maroon and black icing for the other parts of the airplane. To finish off the airplane cake topper, pipe another round of black outline (both outside and inside sections) on the airplane before putting it aside to dry and set.

Leave the airplane aside to set overnight. It is advisable that you make at least 2 of these royal icing airplane cake toppers just in case one of them chips or breaks.

Bake the cakes and let them cool completely to room temperature before decorating.

Level the tops, and stack them together with some buttercream in between.

And the crumb coat the whole cake with a thin layer of buttercream.

Next, tint some white fondant with blue food coloring (very lightly) and roll it to about one eight inch of thickness. Cover the cake with the fondant.

For the border, roll and cut cut a long strip of maroon fondant and attach it all around the lower edge of the cake. You can use warm water to attach the maroon fondant strip to the cake. After that, shape tiny white fondant balls by hand and attach them all around the cake as the border, with some fondant glue.

Once the royal icing airplanes are completely set and dry, peel them off the parchment paper. If properly and well dried, the paper to peel off automatically. If it does not, let the airplane dry more.

Position the royal icing airplane on the cake and secure it in place with dots of royal icing.

Next, roll some maroon fondant thin and cut out the alphabets using the alphabet cutters. Attach them to the cake with a damp brush. And finally, for added decoration, add white clouds randomly on the top of the cake as well as the sides. Cut these free hand out of white fondant using the sugar craft knife.