Hello my felllow cake decorators!!! I find it hard to practice my cake decorating skills, when there is not always a legitimate reason to make a cake!!! It is hard to practice if you are not making a cake for an occasion, not only is it expensive with all the materials, but if you were to just make a practice cake, you have to eat the end product, not a good idea for my waistline, even though Im eight months pregnant, forget about a waistline!! Does anyone have any suggestions, how to practice, without making an enitre cake?? Thanks!!

You can get the stirofoam "dummy" cakes to practice on....or even turn a cake pan upside down and decorate on it. There is always the possibility of donating the cake if you want to make a cake but don't want to eat it.

I don't have that problem. I just take it to work. They devour it. You would think that they were starving. My co-workers love when I practice. And I have even had several people here pay me to make cakes for them. So that is one idea.

I have heard that some people "ice" a cake pan, turned upside down of course.....that way you can practice techniques without having to bake a cake to try them out on.....

Sometimes I will just make a batch of royal icing and make flowers to practice, since they don't go bad, I make tons of them to practice then when I get a cake order I have quite a variety to choose from!!!

I take it to work too, or give it away. I have brought one for a friend, and to my moms house. In fact I've actually lost a couple pounds spending so much time in the kitchen baking cakes and cleaning up!

I have that problem too, I want to practice different techniques and stuff, but don't want to spend all the money for ingredients & other supplies on a cake for no reason.

I wish I lived near my family, 'cause there are lots of us and I could make cakes for everybody's birthdays, but I don't have many people here to make cakes for, and dh goes to work so early, I don't think the guys he works with would want cake at 4:30 in the morning.

I have found several ways to "get rid of" practice cakes, although you still have in incur the expense. I try and supply the cake for my coworkers monthly birthday parties and usually end up getting a cake order from someone that day. And don't worry about them eating a cake early in morning...our potlucks usually start around breakfast and continue all day...you would be surprised at what people will eat for breakfast!! Another idea is to watch for such things as school or fall festivals. A lot of them will have a cake walk event. I have donated to those also. Helps get your name out and a good way to showcase your work to several at once. If you have an assisted living center or nursing home nearby, you might contact them and see if they have monthly birthday parties. They are normally more than happy for donations. This may require you to have a licenses kitchen though. I would ask before donating to protect all involved. Hope these ideas help.

Thank you so much for the great ideas! Its hard because I am a stay at home mom, so I dont have any coworkers, unless you count my son! Ill definately look into donations, and the cakewalk thing, the dummy idea doesnt sound bad either! Thanks everyone!

Definitely do a dummy cake .. You don't have to buy the expensive syrofoam dummies.. just buy a piece of syrofoam for a craft supply store and cut 2-2" layers out and glue them together.. I cover mine with the Glad sealing type of saran wrap and Icing over that... you have to put the icing kind of thick but it will work... then when you're finished decorating, you just peel off the saran and toss it .. then you can start over again .. yes, it will waste some icing, but you don't have to bake, cool cakes all the time

you can do a dummy cake or do like i do. I send cakes to the neighbors. it is a great way to meet them and get involved with the things going on in your community. now i am the president of my neighborhood association.

I use the 3" pans turned upside down.... then you can scrape the icing off and reuse it on another practise cake.....just mark your container practice icing so you don't use it on a real cake for someone...lol...
cakegal

I use the cake pans turned upside down and you can't tell the difference. If you're using fondant just use some royal icing as your glue....check out the faux cakes in my photos file....(the "love" cake and the "eleni" cake are actually the same fake cake!)

i do alot of volunteer work, so when i want to practice something i ask people to pitch in for ingredients then i bring the cake to them. and for the person about her husband goes to work and 4:30, you'd be suprised at how much men really love sweets at anytime.

Donate to Medical offices, your mechanic, Dentist office, neighbors ect... I am sure you will make LOTS of new friends!
Judy