Cake Dummy - Top Or Bottom?

Decorating By jlh Updated 3 Dec 2008 , 11:49pm by indydebi

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jlh Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 6:36am
post #1 of 7

I am about to buy my first dummy. Young girl wants 3 tiered cake, but her mother only wants 2. This is a gift cake. I would be happy to do 3 cake layers, but I don't want to irritate mom. Plus, I assume transporting 2 real, and 1 dummy layer would be easier and less likely to have an accident?? Is this true? It's going to be 6, 8 10"". Would you suggest, I get the 6" or 10" dummy? Which layer (of the 3) is best to do as a dummy? Either way, we'll have plenty of cake. It's a small party.
Thanks!!

6 replies
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Sweet_Guys Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 11:46am
post #2 of 7

Have you already set a price for the entire cake? You can then charge accordingly based on the number of servings that were paid for plus the cost of the dummy. From reading other posts on here, it takes as much time to decorate a dummy as it does a real cake. So the question to ask would be: Do they really need a 3-tier cake?

Paul (& Peter)

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luelue1971 Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 12:38pm
post #3 of 7

I have used a cake dummy as the bottom tier and as teh middle tier. Either worked fine. I think using it as the bottom is more stable but it may just be mine imagination.

Everyone does say it as difficult to decorate a dummy as it is a real cake but I think they are much easier because there are no crumbs to deal with and the cake is perfectly level which is yet another reason to use it on the bottom.

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kakeladi Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 3:59pm
post #4 of 7

The bottom tier is best if you have to make a choice.
The cakeis going to be a bit top heavy....another reason for a nice, firm solid base.

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PinkZiab Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 4:27pm
post #5 of 7

Well, to me, the deciding factor would be how many servings to they require?

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KoryAK Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 5:54pm
post #6 of 7

If they already have plenty of servings with the top 2 layers of cake, do the dummy as the bottom. If you do it as the top, you will have styro sitting right against cake or you will have to place a cardboard under it and then trim or fill the gap if its not the exact same size. Just easier all around to styro the big one.

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indydebi Posted 3 Dec 2008 , 11:49pm
post #7 of 7

I prefer the bottom tier to be the dummy because I hate screwing around with a 6" styrofoam! Plus I can go ahead and put the middle tier on the dummy (just set it on there .... no dowels, no nothing ... the icing holds it in place) and the cake is half assembled!

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