Love this thread.. so reasuring to know that I'm not a lonesome cake nutter who stalks the isles for everything related to cake and comes home with barely nothing from her original essential shopping list.. oops!
I made sugarpaste flowers for the first time for a wedding cake due in a fortnight.. after completing my first two (total of 7 all up) I realised I needed something to stick them into.. hmmm.. searched the house and stumbled across hubby's new bulk pack of chunky carwash sponges.. fantastic!
I scabbed the clear vinyl idea off a cc forum to make two massive fondant mats to use for rolling (one to set aside rolled up for laying petals over to dry - handy)
I also used grated chalk pastel for a green tinge in my petals - non-toxic (they aren't going to get eaten anyhow - I tasted them and they are like cardboard!)
I use a piece of non-slip rubber under my cake tier when it's on the turntable for reinforcement.
My biggest saver so far was my deluxe set of Nutrimetics makeup brushes that I brought and never used! Fabulous for my lustre and petal dusts
Oh... and I too use a plastic paint scaper for smoothing out my buttercream crumb coating and sugarveil.. it's great.. it has a fab handle and one main long surface then the opposite ends are also varied sizes to use as scraper too!
My favourite source of inspiration is looking up pc wallpapers and backgrounds and right-clicking on the image and saving them to my hard-drive.. I also do the same when I google stencils - floral, butterflies, elegant etc

MamaD77
Awww, now I see. Whats keeping the top from resting on the cake? And thanks

Actually, nothing! I have to be very careful when transporting them! As long as you don't press down on the wrapping, it stays upright, it's quite stiff when it's all bunched up like that, just have to make sure there's enough headroom for it in the car.
Any cakes I've made for friends that need to be transported outwith my own town, then i put them in a proper cake box with a lid. mostly the ones that I wrap in the cellophane are gifts for family and such.
It's a good solution for very tall cakes though, or ones with wired stuff sticking up that wont fit in a standard box. A better plan may be to put the cake in a proper box, but then wrap in the same way with the cellophane over the box, without having a lid on the box. That way it looks lovely, but the sides of the cake are well protected.
It's also a good solution for transporting cakes on a rainy day. The last two cakes I did last week, I had to deliver in really heavy rain, and the cellophane was fab. Boxes would have gotten really wet, and lids most definitely would have blown off.

Thanks! Great idea! Rains alot where I am too!

It's probably the only thing Scotland and Hawaii have in common!
Yup, rain is one thing you can be guaranteed of in Scotland!

A thought on the wrapping, all of my cakes are fondant covered, but I wouldn't rate the chances much of a buttercream covered cake fairing too well with this type of wrapping. It would definitely need to be in a box first.

Well, I've caught the bug and have been bargain item shopping!

Admitedly I did go to the 'proper' cake supply shop, but I also went to a craft shop and bought 2 packs of childrens foam stamps- one pack of 3 rollers, flowers, paw prints and stars, and one pack of 9 shapes (stars, hearts, cupcakes, ladybird etc). I have no idea how well they'll work yet, but for £1.49 a pack (around $2 I think) I won't complain!!

I'm in the process of starting my mothers Birthday cake, and wanted some messy paw prints all over the top tier to look like the cats had been at it, so the roller should be perfect

This is a very interesting thread for sure , keep your secrets coming. I too use a lot of scrapbooking items. Paper peicing patterens work good too for fondant images.

Awesome thread! Best investment I have made has been this drywall knife. $2.99 at home hardware. The trick is to get one with straight sides as well, when you hold it against the side of your cake, it sits flat on the cake board as well.

I also scour the aisles wherever I am. Walmart, the grocery store, second hand store, and really the hardware store is the best place Cake controls my mind....

http://www.homehardware.ca/Products/index/show/product/I1630836/name/knife_drywall_10_plastic

When I needed a "dummy" cake, I went to Menard's and bought a sheet of styrofoam insulation in the building department. It is 2" thick and 4' X 8' so my husband cuts 2 pieces the size that I need for the finished cake and I tape them together with 4" clear packing tape. Once they are iced and decorated you cannot tell they are made with styrofoam insulation. You can get several different sizes from one sheet and it saves a lot of money. I even made one for my daughter's birthday that I filled with sand to give it the weight of an actual cake and she wasn't able to tell the difference. She tried for several minutes to cut it until she figured out it was fake (she actually 'forcefully' cut all the way through it and had the sand flow out). She did have the real thing waiting in cardboard box (but didn't know it at the time)

I TRIED CUTTING STYROFOAM...........(oops sorry caps) anyway....wow what a mess