Im doing my friends wedding cake and I dont have a cake stand the bottom is 12 inches. So I was thinking of getting a 14 inch round plywood and paint it ? cover it? dang I dunno ... any ideas please on how to make a cake board for a wedding... thank you xoxoxo

Why not a cake drum? or base? you can get those at michaels

I found an employee at a local hardware store that took pity on me and cut a piece of plywood into 20 boards for me. They were square 12" boards. I don't know if all stores are set up for round cuts but I would start there. If not I would just buy online. I wrap the boards in saran wrap and then foil but you could also cover it in fondant.

My husband cuts the rounds for me. Then I cover the boards with fondant,I like the look of it. You can use stamps to add decoration.

I'm still learning but...I've read a little bit here on CC.

If you wanna go with plywood, I imagine a hardware type store like Lowe's or Home Depot would be able to pre-cut a piece of plywood to your desired diameter. They will probably ask you how thick. I'm not sure about this part. I'm not sure if it matters, except for the appearances.

As far as covering plywood, you know...I'm not sure. I'm sure you wouldn't want to put cake on a painted wood surface. And, I'm not sure if there is a particular way to cover plywood with fondant as I've never done that.

However, I have covered two cake bases recently. In my gallery you'll see a purple cake and a blue cake. They both are made of something called foam core board. You can get it in sheets at a craft store and sometimes at Walmart. There are different thicknesses. If your cake is going to be heavy, I guess you'd want a thicker board. I guess some craft stores will cut it for you...but I use an exacto knife to cut mine & it works okay. Just gotta be careful with the razor. Oh - foam core is pretty inexpensive.

Lots of folks cover their bases with regular fondant, marshmellow fondant, or I guess you could use rolled buttercream too. I do cookies mostly and love the combo recipe on CC that combines marshmellow fondant and rolled buttercream. It's pretty cheap to make.

Anyway, I'm not sure if there is something that is supposed to be brushed on the cake board or not before you apply your rolled out fondant. But, I just put it on there. I roll out as evenly as possible & then roll it up on my rolling pin & then un-roll over the board. I use a cake smoother to make sure it was smooth after applied, I brushed the excess powdered sugar off...then trimmed with my exacto knife. I made sure it hung over the top edge just a tiny bit. Then, I hot glued my ribbon around the base.

Well...that's what I did. Not sure if that's the exact way it should be done. Hopefully you'll get some more experienced people chiming in.

Good Luck!

i needed a 28" Round base for a cake this past Spring and niether Home Depot or Lowe's would do it for me. So, I went to a lumber yard/supply place and they were more than happy to cut if for me. In fact, they had larger sizes cut for other people.

Look into your local lumber company

Nicciola...thanks for the heads up on the home depot/lowes thing. I don't think I'd ever need plywood for a cake...but I've read that a couple times here on CC. I wonder why there is a difference? Wierd.

But, the lumber yard makes perfect sense? By the way, what is the cost on plywood? Is it expensive in comparison to foam core. And, why would somebody choose plywood over foamcore???

Still learning, I appreciate your opinions!

here is a recent thread talking about foamcore, excellent advice on thread:

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-697778-foamcore.html

thank you everyone such great advice ! I think I am going to either stack a bunch of boards or try to find formcore and cover with fondant and finish with the ribbon that will go on the bottom of each level new question, everytime i cover a board with fondant, I smoosh the edges when I move it ! any suggestions on how to get my fondant not to crack... thanks a million xoxo

I also agree with home depot not being able to precut rounds. The machines they have can only cut squares or rectangles. I bought a slab, I think it was like heavy plywood??, and had them cut various size squares and rectangles for about $10.

Good idea on lumber yards.....I'm gonna go check them out for some round boards

I ran into the same problem with a wedding I have coming up. So I went to Home Depot and found a round table top (it was just the top I think it was for making your own table) so the edges were nicely rounded and it was perfectly smooth. Now all I have to do is paint it! It was like $4.00 I think, so nice and cheap too!

I buy pre-cut round plywood circles at Lowe's. They have them in 12, 16, and 18 inch diameters. They run anywhere from about $4-$6 each.

Wow !I am so glad I asked.... LOWES I am totally checking into that and those little tables, I totally know what you are talking about, they have those at walmart, target... great for a middle of the night need ! wow thanks all you rock!