HI,
I was given dirty cake dummies from my friends wedding. They sat around in a carport for a yr. They have yellowed because of the I believe shortening on them. Plus a little dirt specks and pine needles. Not super bad but they are sticky. I tried hot soapy water and it didnt cut it.
Part of the dummie white foam was starting to come off as I scrubbled. Should I chuck them. There are 4 of them. I only wanted to use them for practice but can't in the current state they are in.
Trash? or no trash? The yellow was coming off.
Thanks for help

I don't see why you should trash them. It's not like anyone will be eating it, or anything that you use on it. Why waste free materials??? As long as they are clean enough for you to practice I say go ahead. Just trash any materials that have touched it after you are done practicing.

Do you know what kind of product I can use to take off the sticky mess. I've cleaned one and it is white but still sticky and I know all the yuck isn't off because I have it on my hands after touching.

Maybe try a degreaser, like Simple Green or some vinegar might do the trick.

You could try something like Goo-Gone.

I've been there, done that - I don't remember anything that will help you. Some people have suggested leaving them out in the sun where bees can 'eat' off the icing; others have told of anchoring them down in a swimming pool for a day or two! Not sure if those ideas will work, I didn't try them.
As others said, why trash them if they are only for practice work? Just scrape off what you can & start over each time.

I don't want to throw them away . Here is a pic. I cleaned off the top one but it is still sticky. All the icing is off of all of them. I think it's just shortening and dirty yuck. You can see the yellow came off of the top one. I just need to get the sticky off so I can handle them
thanks

Try some Purell...it's great at removing stickiness.

Try some Purell...it's great at removing stickiness.

what is purell?

what is purell?

Why don't you just spray paint them? Scrubbing or dissolving aged grease is thankless work...just paint over and have a fresh surface for practise.

Try running them through the dishwasher. I did that with mine after having used shortening on them. They turned yellow where the shortening was but they weren't sticky. I no longer use shortening on dummies, I just spritz them with water to adhere the fondant.

As an aside, I just dismantled a 3-tier dummy cake today and realized they show a bit of all the cakes I've made with them. . And I like that. Dummies don't have to be pristine as long as you're using them just for your own purposes.

ok thanks for suggestions everyone

Purelle is hand sanitizer. Sorry about that!

Since they're already sticky, why not wrap them in plastic wrap. A lot of decorators do that anyway for ease of cleaning when they're done with them. The plastic wrap would form a barrier between the sticky and your hands.

Good idea. I think I will do that .
thanks

If they had pine needles on them the stickiness may be sap. The only thing I know about getting sap off is that when you collect pinecones to use for crafts, you soak them in bleach water overnight to get rid of the sap.

I don't know what bleach will do to styrofoam, though.

Try using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge.

I'm seconding the suggestion for dishwasher

Those look really gross - I would pitch them. I know it is not like they are going to be eaten , but I would be paranoid of getting any of the flecks of stuff stuck in my fondant on the outside of the cake. If it is for your friend tell her she can buy you new ones!

I,m sorry, but i would have to throw them away. They DO look gross.

.........why not wrap them in plastic wrap.......

I tried that many times. I could never get the pastic tight on the styro and wi would pucker when I iced them

Well here's what I came up with.....

I tried the Mr. clean magic eraser and it ripped up the mr clean .

I wrapped them in saran wrap and yes they puckered .

They stink horribly so .... I'm tossing them. I can stand the smell even to practice on.

GONE!!!

Thanks anyway guys