Inner Support For A "head" Cake (Question)
Decorating By kellertur Updated 31 Oct 2007 , 3:22am by kellertur
Hello, 
I'm sculpting a zombie "head" for Halloween (for husband) but do not want to use a foam head- I want the head to be entirely cake. Now I've carved heads from plaster, clay- but have NO idea what to use for a support/armature so the cake doesn't collapse.
Do people even use armatures for cake "heads"??? I feel kind of stupid asking.... 
I don't have an egg or ball pan yet, 
Is there another way? I'm worried the neck will collapse under the weight of the head, so I'll probably just do a "head". 
Can anyone please help- any tips are welcome and MUCH appreciated.
thanks so much 
I haven't done such a thing, but would rice krispie treats work?
Do you have any bowls that you could use to make a half of a ball? We've done 3D cakes and use the ball pan. If you had a bowl to use, you could make it twice.
YOu could try to make a ball-like cake as kdannewells said, but if you decrease the space between his chin & shoulders, you could use a cardboard base between the head & the body & put dowels under the cardboard in the body, Does that make sense? Feel free to PM me if further questions.
Usually what I do is use wooden dowels and a custom cut plywood cake board. Then I either glue or screw on the dowels for the support. Then if needed I round out the underside with carved styrofoam. Although.....I'm planning on trying out a PVC structure for a zombie cake that I'm doing next week b/c I want his arms to be in the air too. We'll see how it goes...I'm a little worried about not being able to stick anything to PVC arms.
What did you decide to do?? I'd love to see a pic!
Courtney
Just an idea for Courtney....After reading your response, I thought about how to get anything to stick to the PVC. You might try roughing up the PVC with some sandpaper or wrapping it in foil and tucking the ends inside of it. I know you didn't ask, but since I was thinking about it...why not post it here...someone else might use it.
Kelli
Just an idea for Courtney....After reading your response, I thought about how to get anything to stick to the PVC. You might try roughing up the PVC with some sandpaper or wrapping it in foil and tucking the ends inside of it. I know you didn't ask, but since I was thinking about it...why not post it here...someone else might use it.
Kelli
Thanks Kelli! I like your ideas....especially the foil idea b/c it would help add a little bit more size to the arms so they aren't so skinny....although I guess the skinny bony arms would work for a zombie
http://www.theyrecoming.com/ seems to be down (I hope not for good), but these are their directions...(and their cake)
Make 5 round cake layers. Stack 2, then cake board and dowels, add the other 2 or 3 layers, carve. Make sure the board is smaller than the edge of your zombie head...
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