My daughter wants a 3 tiered cake for her birthday. As we are just having smaller family party I agreed with the idea that two bottom tiers are dummy cakes. I need to know how long I can put fondant on a dummy cake and it still look as nice as the layer I am making our of real cake. Also how to add support if I need to add any to the bottom layers to support the real cake.Since the final design is a surprise I would like to get the fake layers done asap. Her birthday is Febuary 7th.
Second thing is a request she's a really big choclate lover and I would like to find a easy filling for devils food cake thats super choclatley. My thought is to use aa chocolate buttercream to dirty ice her cake under the fondant I am using.
We put supports in our cakes so the upper tiers dont' sink into the bottom tiers. Nothing is going to sink into styrofoam, so youi dont' need dowels in the 2 fake bottom tiers to support one upper tier of real cake.
I've made a few 4 and 5 tier wedding cakes with a stryo bottom and never put dowels in the styro.
You can put the fondant on the styrofoam weeks in advance and decorate it. Just cover it lightly with plastic and place it away from direct sunlight. If you are using any pink or purple fondant cover the cake with a dark plastic bag and put into a dark area or the colours will fade. If you dust them they will stay bright longer. This way all you have to do is the top layer at the last minute.
Thank you ladies. I am just learning and never have done dummy cakes. I will post a picture of the cake when we my son and I are finished.
Welcome to CC!
I have a fudgey chocolate filling that I will be happy to provide. It is a crazy-mad favorite when I make it. I don't have it in front of me, but will PM you with the recipe later today.
Also, with dummies... if you have never worked with them before they can be a little difficult. Fondant wants to tear off where the top and the sides meet because it is such a sharp cut. Either sand the edges to soften them. or bash them on a hard surface to soften them. I actually bash first, then sand. 
Good therapy.
A lot of people ask if you have to put buttercream underneath and the answer is no. A light coating of shortening or piping gel will suffice. I actually roll my fondant a little thicker for dummies. Elevating the dummy on a can (coffee, shortening, etc.) helps the fondant smoothing (that's even a good idea on a real cake) go a little easier.
I "glue" my tiers together with some royal icing or melted chocolate. No additional support necessary.
That's just a few things I can think of that might help.
The owner of the local cake store also advised me on "rounding" the corners as it would tear through the fondant. She personally rolls teh edges on her counter. Now to the actual design of the cake LOL. I will be making sure I got enough fondant made tomorrow. I bought Red and chocolate that I will make into black since she was out of black right now. The rest is MMF in white mostly which I will make.
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