Hi, I'm new to the forum. Can anyone tell me anything about dummies? What do you use for frosting? Can they be reused? I would appreciate any info as I have never made one, but have a show coming up soon. Thanks!
Hi, Bonniecakes!
We've been working on our first ones. Everything we've read in this forum talk about using fondant and attaching it to the dummy with piping gel or buttercream. They have used them over again, from what I understand.
HTH
Paul (& Peter)
Yes, I've reused my dummies. You just pull off the fondant, wash and reuse. I have only made fondant dummies but for BC you can purchase Permaice (sp?) which is made for frosting dummies or some people use the shortening based decoraters frosting to ice their dummies.
The best way to reuse cake dummies without all the mess is to cover your cake dummy with plastic wrap (saran wrap) before you ice it. The best plastic wrap is the kind with the sticky back...I think it is called press and seal or something like that. Use it first before you ice it and then when you are done and want to reuse the dummy just peel off the wrap and off comes the icing or fondant or whatever. I have used fondant and water and fondant and piping gel without the wrap and it is so messy, I ended up throwing the dummies away. I definitely say if you are using real icing to decorate your dummy, wrap it first. Hope that helps.
I have used my dummies quite a lot. I wrap them with plastic wrap as TASHA22284 said, I have used my regular BC icing, and fondant. When I use the BC, after I'm done i just use a spatula and scrape it right off, wipe off the plastic wrap, and ready to go again, when I use fondant, it will d y a bit so it will just peel off, again, wipe it down, and off and running. 
I sand the top edge of my dummies before I apply fondant so the fondant does not tear on the edge.
My girlfriend, Elaine, softens the edge by putting a sock over her curling iron and rubbing that over the sharp edge--no messy residue like from sanding.
You want to think about achoring that light weight dummy onto your turntable somehow--I have a board that has nails sticking up out of it that I stick my dummy on so it does not slide all over.
A couple cake dummy ideas for you.
I've started doing dummies using non-edible items like wall spackle, spray paint, silk florals, stuff from the scrap book section, etc.
It's been a lot cheaper for me, and they last through lots of moves back and forth and the bugs stay away. They sit in my store window with my sign that says "not open yet" lol
I've done a few dummies to practice. I used foil to wrap the cake and after it was wrapped, I rolled it on my counter so the foil would smooth itself out and it was really easy to ice and peel off.
I use BC (no vanilla, no dream whip) on my dummies. It goes straight on the styrofoam. It hardens like concrete, but when you're ready to change it, just get your spatula under the icing and it pops right off. I actually tell my customers, "Sure! YOu can touch them!" No bugs, ever, and some of my dummies are over 2 years old.
I've done one (only one) dummy with fondant (it was the bottom tier in my blue skirted cakes). I put just a smear of BC on the top of the dummy an attached the fondant to that. When I tore that cake apart, it came off with very little trouble ... but i think my next fondant dummy, I'll add more BC underneath for even easier removal.
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