Hi guys...I am stopping the procrastinating and finally starting a very large cake for a Christening next month. I need the cake to look very grand so I am starting with the bottom cake...it will be a 17" dummy cake that will have a 14" cake on top, pillars on top of that, a 10" on top of the pillars, and a pillow-shaped cake on top of that...

Do I need to dowel the dummy cake, or is the styrofoam strong enough to carry the weight?

Also, do I use regular BC and fondant on top as I would a regular cake? Or is there a cheaper method of making the BC for the dummy? Like, I guess....no flavorings are necessary, and probably no butter, right? Thanks everyone!

(I'll have more ??? re: pillars at a later date)

Good question...wish I knew for ya. I would assume skip the flavoring and the dummy would be strong enough. I hope someone can help.

I wonder if you could use some of that non-skid stuff between the layers when you set it up....that way you wouldn't ruin the dummies. I've never tried it, but it's a thought. The dummies are actually pretty light and I wouldn't trust them just resting on top of each other if you're going to have an actual cake on the top.

Yes, skip flavoring and just use crisco, sugar and water for your buttercream.

You want the dummy to match the rest of your cake, so use the same as what you use on the real stuff. It's almost impossible to exactly match color in two different batches of icing let alone two different batches of different kinds of icing.

Hey adven! I use dummy cakes A LOT, and I never cover them in buttercream, I apply the MMF or fondant directly to the cake, as a primer, you can use royal icing. Make sure your styrofoam is lined up evenly, or it will show through. You can also roll out your MMF thicker then normal, to hide any flaws. As far as pillars are concerned, I would think the styrofoam would be sturdy enough without them, but to make sure and pillar the real cakes! Good Luck, sounds like quite a project!!!