Hello everybody @ CCs
does anybody know how to preserve a dummy cake for display?
Using frosting, gumpaste flowers and fondant I think it will attract bugs and will overtime collect dust if not covered by something.
Any ideas

Meh, it will probably be OK. I have sprayed mine with any spray on occasion. And yes, just like anything else, they will gather dust, so you have to dust them.

Thanks for responding. What kind of spray? acrylic

agree with leah. no special treatment required. I never sprayed, preserved, or covered in any way, any of my dummies. Some were more than 2 years old. Never had bugs or mold or anything else in that vein. Mold needs moisture to form and once the icing crusts, there is no moisture left.

indydebi - I'm doing a styrofoam dummy cake this weekend for the 1st time. I would like to keep it afterwards to store at my business. I'm afraid the fondant will crack and dry out eventually - or discolor. Do you have any insight for me or pointers for me on this? I'm planning on just covering a 12 or 14" round styrofoam with either water or shortening then using fondant to cover it, and have fondant accents (including flowers on it and possibly suspended on wires)....and present bow and spirals on top.

I"m worried it will either fall apart or dry out if i leave it set out. Also how long are they able to set out before you notice 'wear' on them?

Thank you so much for any advice anyone!!

I've done more BC dummies than fondant but CCer jillmakescakes has a lot of fondant dummies in her shop. In conversations with her and trips to her shop, I can tell you that she has fondant covered dummies that are 2 years old with no cracking or dried-out effect. I know she uses piping gel to apply the fondant to her dummies.

I agree i have had some dummies for atleast a year in a box in my house. No bugs or cracking. Now cakes on display exposed to the sun i would imagine would probably fade after a while.

I have been playing with dummies lately for a lot of practice. Thanks to the CCer's here I have picked up a lot of tips that helped.
I will tell you that you can use buttercream just leave out the flavoring when you make it. I actually prefer to use buttercream or fondant on the dummies over royal icing. It might just be me (because I am still super slow) but I have a hard time getting the royal smooth before it gets to hard to manipulate. I do love it for decorations, but just not as your basic cover.

As mentioned above, yes you can use BC for dummies. I also leave out the flavoring. Mine would crust up hard as concrete (like royal does? no idea since I never use royal for anything cake) and people would love it when I'd tell them in the shop or at a bridal show, "Sure! You can touch 'em! Go ahead!"

Thanks ladies for the great tips! I'll try it with buttercream made with just powder sugar and shortening since it has less moisture than butter and its less expensive.