I've never used fondant before. I'm thinking of buying a cake dummy. If I use a styrofoam cake dummy, can I use piping gel to spreaad on the dummy, and than fondant over it? I'd then want to be able to take the fondant off, wash the dummies, and use a different fondant color/ pattern another day. Would this work?

Thanks!

Katie

I haven't tried it with piping gel before. I either just wet the dummy with a damp paper towel (as long as the dummy is nice and smooth...I've got some older dummies that are a little dented or pitted and those I can't just get wet and make look good) Or, I use royal icing. Just don't let it get too dry. It's harder to clean, but works to fill in any imperfections.

Another thing that I like to do is to put a thin layer of shortening (very thin) on the dummy. The fondant sticks and then when you take it off, you can re-knead the fondant (if it hasn't dried yet) and do it again!

Thanks everybody. I will try the crisco and see how it works.

Katie

I would just make a cake and practice on that. I thought about getting a dummy but I decided to try to new cake recipes too, so I just do it all at once. I've only had to throw out one cake.

The cake tasted horrible and the decorations looked crappy so I just tossed it out after my hubby and I each took a piece. I took 1 bite, spit it out and threw it away. As far as the decorations, I had a design in my mind, starting looking for my cutters and realized I hadn't bought them yet so I had to change in midstream. I really didn't like what I came up with so it was a practice cake all around.