Hey I'm sure you all already do this but this past week I wanted to do one of my cake dummies in royal icing instead of fondant to save money and also show a "buttercream" cake. I had no clue how I'd ice such a lightweight thing though.

So I got a board and my husband put like 4 nails up through it. Then I just pushed the styrofoam dummy onto the nails and it held it steady while I iced it on my turntable. Then I took two spatulas and carefully slid them under the edges of the "cake" and lifted it straight up off the nails. It worked perfectly!!!! Then I just set them aside to dry.

Thought I'd share just in case its an idea someone had not thought of.

Thanks! I was just mulling that dilemma over a couple days ago. Was thinking I'd glue it with RI to my board, but didn't really like that idea.

What a great idea.

I wanted to add that the nails were only maybe 3" apart...just sort of a central "core" of four nails so any size of cake can fit on it, and its also easier to pull up off, as well.

That seems like a great idea...thanks for sharing! Normally i secure it to its' circle then stick it to a larger larger circle to ice then remove from larger board after it's dried. Your idea will save me from using extra circles

I didn't even really use any circles since it was just a dummy cake....I just stuck each layer right on top of the next layer with royal. The board with nails was a thick wooden board, helped give weight to the dummy tier.

(btw the most recent upload in my photos, with daisies, is the one I iced on this board in this thread....)

Great idea...thanks for sharing...

I just got my dummies the other day. And since we are on the subject, Do I need to seal them with anything? Does the icing mess them up or make them greasy? New at the dummy thing.lol I thought maybe I should put something on them or over them. I don't know. Thanks in advance. Gonna do the nail rick though.. What a great idea.

It depends if you want them for permanent or temporary...

The ones I made for my show, I'm going to keep permanent and just wrap them up and store them for another show or whatever. I didn't use anything under the royal icing...and the royal icing got really hard.

I made a temporary one last year and I used a bit of crisco under the fondant and then when I got home I peeled off the fondant and washed the dummies with soap to get the crisco off.

I did use a thin layer of crisco under my fondant permanent ones too, just to help the fondant adhere.

check this out...it's JUST the pronged piece for your turntable...I'm thinkin' you remove your round plate and insert this piece... DH with a piece of wood and some nails costs a heck of a lot less. thanks again kitagurl!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002A2RVT4/?tag=cakecentral-20

I found it while looking for dummies (I know they're not the cheapest...I have a gift cert to use and was just checkin')

Wow that's really cool! I wondered if anybody had made something like that. Seemed like I couldn't have possibly been the first to think of it!

The only question I have on that one is...where do you grab onto your cake to turn it? I guess you just put your hand on the underneath of the dummy and turn it....I liked being able to grab the wood and turn it, it felt more natural.

And cheaper...yep. haha.

Also, if you have a larger dummy that you don't mind getting beat up, toothpicks do a good job too. I have a huge dummy for these purposes. i stick things in it to dry, I ice my larger squares on it, all sorts of stuff.

Hmmm...silly question that just occurred to me since I haven't made up a dummy version yet: what's the best kind of foam to use? Do you use the large-pore basic white stuff from craft stores, basic green stuff, the dense green floral foam...?

Love the nails-in-a-board idea, can't wait to try!

You should buy premade cake dummies from Dallas Foam...its the best.

I do like that Ateco thing...I was thinking it might not be best for buttercream but MAN for fondant wouldn't that be NICE!!!!! Saving it for the future...

I wouldn't use floral foam for sure...

Why do they block www.**********.com here? Hm. Anyway its the best place to get dummies....they are like a high density foam, nothing like what you get at the craft stores.

Much appreciated Kitagrl - I'll take a look at the site. My main concern right now is being able to afford them, which is why I asked about the generic craft store white blocks.

I've had a coworker who was recently engaged ask me if I do "fake cakes" since they want a traditional ginormous Tower of Cake but are having a very small reception. I told him I would come up with some designs and when we set up a tasting date he could see some samples.

I really appreciate all the advice (and patience) from everyone here.
Thanks guys!

The above foam store is VERY affordable....

The above mentioned foam store is even cheaper on ebay!

Wow. whoda thought???

I always order the 2" ones too as separators so that's a sort of custom thing...