I have noticed on CC that some people use cake dummies to practice their decorating. I have also noticed that some people use the 2" pink styrofoam house insulation for this purpose. My question is, what do you cover the dummy with before you start your decorating. Do you cover it in plastic wrap or some other type of product. Help.

I use to cover it in plastic wrap but that did not work very well...so I finally rubbed them with crisco and rubbed cs into them to make them smooth...and keep them in a plastic bag until I decide to use them.

I usually cover dummies with fondant and I just use a little crisco rubbed on the outside so it will stick. When I'm ready to reuse, I pull the fondant and wash with a little soap (Dawn) and water and it's ready to go again. I've got one dummy I using for the 3rd time and it has even been covered with black fondant.

I read on the internet that some people cover them with royal icing to smooth them out instead of like a crumb coat. Have you ever tried this? Sounds messy after a while, but it would smooth out any imperfections.

I rub a little crisco and apply fondant. Remove and wash with dish soap. Dry and do it again!

Another option is to spritz a bit of water on the foam. Let it sit on a paper towel while you are rolling out your fondant. The towel will absorb any excess water. Take the foam off the towel and apply the fondant.

I only apply royal icing to areas that have deep gouges and then smooth it.

You may need to lightly sand the edges of the foam so that the sharp edge does not rip the fondant.

I've only ever done dummies in RI. It dries cement-hard. Looks beautiful. See the wedding cake in my photos.

I do all of my dummies in BC (I leave out the dream whip and the vanilla since taste isn't an issue). It dries hard as concrete. Folks love it at bridal shows when I tell them, "Sure! You can touch them!"

To remove, just run a knife or your spatula under the BC and it pops off in sheets.

OK, stupid question but here goes. I've never done a dummy, but next weekend someone wants me to make them a 3 tier cake, but they only need 2 tiers to eat. They said the 3rd tier can be a dummy. Has anyone seen the price of the 1" styrafoam discs? And I'd need 4 of them to get the 4" height. What would you all suggest? Also, the cake will be covered in BC, I was going to cover the dummy in plastic wrap first, are you saying I don't need to? Or maybe I should since it's being mixed with other tiers that will be eaten?

Oh my gosh prterrell that cake in your photos is smashing. Very intricate scrollwork and the drapes. I only wish I were that good. Hopefully with some practice and all the info you experts keep giving me, someday I will be that good too. Thanks so much for the info.

To Kelly0406- I just went to my local lumber yard and asked if they had any 2" styrofoam house insulation. My husband cut them out with a jigsaw. I smoothed the edges. The 4'x 8' sheet cost me 27.00 and I cut out forms for square, sheet, 1/2 sheet, 1/4 sheet, 12" rounds x4 , 10 rounds x 4, 6 inch rounds x 2 and still have some left. How cheap is that. I could have probably gotten it cheaper if they would have had a broken sheet laying around.

My husband just made my cake dummies, we used 1.5 inch pink house foam and we only did 3 inch tall and we used less than a 1/2 of a sheet....I might have him make me another set of dummies

I got the following sizes out of a 4x8x1.5

6,8,10,12 inch round
8x8,12x12,16x16 square

Each was two ply. We cut them with a jig saw...a bandsaw would work too and we used gorilla glue to hold them together and then sanded them! I am going to make some dummie cakes tomorrow! I am so stinking excited!

I'm trying to do dummies right now. I've given them 2 coats of royal icing so far. The royal will just not smooth for me. Is there a trick to it? I can't even sand them smooth.

If I can't figure this out soon, I'm going to try putting a coat of buttercream on them.

OMG, thank you everyone for the great tips. I have a very handy hubby with lots of tools, etc....may as well put him to work on this hobby of mine too! Now I can't wait for him to get back from his trip so he can help me with this. Looks like a Home Depot trip tomorrow night after he gets back, I'm sure he'll be so excited!

If you use the foam insulation instead of pre-made dummies, do you have to do anything different. It's funny because I was just going to ask what to do if you want to practice, but don't want to be eating cake 24/7!!

Heres my two cents......I always use royal icing on mine. Ive tried the water thing and the crisco thing. I didnt have a spritzer so the water always collected on the bottom and was too wet. The crisco didnt hide the imperfections at all. So I make a batch of RI and make it so that its thick but not too thick to spread. It works well for me.
The only problem is that it is a lot harder to get the fondant off of it. You have to soak it all day sometimes. The plastic wrap always creases for me so I didnt like that option either. I think if you use the press and seal it will work much better though.

I found this website for purchasing cake dummies, and thought I would share.
They have great prices for a wide variety of sizes and shapes like the standard round or square, but they also have hearts, petals and hexagons.

http://www.dallas-foam.com/store/cakedummies.html

Wow they even have dummies for pedestals, and pillow cakes! Thanks for the info!

I heart Dallas-Foam!