When you use a cake dummy for the bottom tier of a wedding cake, can you decorate it with buttercream to match the rest of the cake? Or do you have to use royal icing?

P. S. Thank to all for such a wealth of information on this website. I have learned sooo much!!

You can use BC....the exact same one you use to frost the cake. HTH

The bottom tier of this one was a dummy and done in the same bc as the cake.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1183169

If you are keeping the dummy around for a while make sure you use buttercream with no butter in it or flavoring for the matter. Just just shortning powedered sugar and your water and what ever else you use. Just my advice

Do you cover the dummy with anything or just put the buttercream directly on it?

i am a wilton teacher.. when i have to do a demo with buttercream.. i do wrap the dummy with press n seal.. the name brand.. it works great.. then by the time i get home.. i just pull the whole thing off.. if i keep , it for a while... it does great this way also... hth

Yep, it certainly can be done in b'cream I've done 100s of dummy cakes in b'cream.

so ok, let me make sure Im reading right:

You "can" use a dummy to fill in a cake display and make a cake look bigger. But if you plan on using the dummy again, wrap it first in saran wrap, and the Ice???

When done, just peel off and throw away the mess? I thinking Im needing this very soon (april) father is wanting a princess cake for 50 people for his daug. but wants it to look like a big beautiful cake...Im thinking...castle on a center cake, being a dummy...and surrounding cakes smaller to eat?

The bottom tiers of each of these 3 cakes are dummies:
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1014353

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1065803

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1092783

I use the same buttercream as for the rest of the cake because I don't want to risk the colors not being the same. I don't wrap the tiers in anything, just ice them and scrape them off afterwards. Very easy. Jump in and try it!

I dont' wrap mine in anything either. Even if I keep them around for 2 years, when I'm ready to change them, I just run a knife under the icing and it pops right off.

Exactly what Indy said.

Will the icing harden and how long will it last on the cake?

The same icing I use on my cakes, crusts well but remains nice and soft when it's cut .... but when I put it on a dummy, it turns concrete hard. I tell people, "SUre! You can touch the cakes!" I pick them up by the top tier to carry them around. The icing stays on until I scrape it off.....years.

Ok, went and shopped yesterday. found the cake dummies. Its just styrofoam circles or whatever shape!! Doesnt it contaminate the dummy? wont it tear them when taken off?

If your just using it to practice or lets say to use a dummy on weddings, wont that hurt the dummy? sorry but I feel like the "dummy" here with this. Why wouldnt you wrap them?

so your saying when you go to walmart, in those cases..those are dummies with real b/c icing that has harden? Couldnt u just use reg. styrofoam that they have at hobby lobby or michaels?

Cake dummies have a super smooth surface. Craft dummies, or "regular styrofoam", have a very porous surface, which makes it more difficult to put icing on. Cake dummies work much better for cake-work.

On the cake dummies, no, the hardened BC doesn't tear the dummy when it's removed. I run a knife under the dried icing, and it pops off, pretty clean. Mine barely need more than a damp rag wiped over it when I'm done.

The craft dummies, since they are very porous, MIGHT have some damage to them when you try to scrape the icing off, simply because the icing will have gone down INTO the styrofoam, so you won't have a smooth, clean surface to just scrape off. That's why we use cake dummies and not craft dummies.

I'm not sure what you mean by "contaminate" the dummy. No one is going to eat this stuff, so cross contamination isn't really an issue on a display cake.

I dont' wrap them simply because I don't see any need for it. Never had a problem removing the icing. Never had a problem with damaged styro's. I've got styro's that are years old and I've used them over and over.