Okay y'all.... I have the worst time in the world covering cake dummies with buttercream or royal icing and getting it to look really good. Any tips? Am tired of covering them in fondant!! Thanks!

Hi, I'm know expert but have you tried covering them with marzipan first to do royal icing decorating? Just a thought. HTH.

Sorry, but marzipan is WAY too expensive to waste on covering dummy.

If you really want to do it with royal or buttercream, thinned royal with extra water and a little corn syrup put on in multiple layers, dried and sanded in between can give you a nice look, but it's not quick.

For buttercream, a cheap recipe using crisco, water, and PS works well.

Good luck.
Rae

i agree, i jsut covered a 3 tier inRI and it looks like crap, ill be washing it all off. i may try sanding it first but that changes the finish. With BC ice as you would a regular cake and smooth with the paper towels. I save all my old white buttercream and put it into one bucket just for doing displays.

I've been trying to cover mine for months. The royal looked like crap. It wouldn't smooth and sanding did nothing for it. I'm on my third coat of BC and it's all bumpy. Why oh why is this happening???

On a positive note, I have finally managed to make it so they don't move around as much. I put a flower nail through a cake board and then into the bottom of the dummy. I also put a thick piece of rubber shelf liner on my turntable. The thinner stuff didn't work, use the thick one.

Thanks for the flower nail tip. I have been fighting with a 5 layer that kept moving around on the turn table. I never dreamed that the lack of weight would make such a difference in icing the dummies! Thanks again for the tip.

What exactly are the types of problems you're having? The dummies moving around? Being able to ice the sharp edges? Just getting it smooth?

Double sided tape on the turntable works well. Also the no-skid material is a great help to hold them in place. I use a cheaped out version of my BC to ice dummies (no vanilla, no dream whip). It hardens like concrete. (I dont' use RI for anything cake.)

Are you stacking the dummies (wedding cake)? If so, you don't have to ice the dead-center of the tops because the next cake up will cover the bare spot. I ice the top just about 3" in from the sides ... just enough that the next tier has some BC glue to hold it in place. It holds great. I pick up 3 and 4 tier dummies by the top tier and carry them around.

Let us know the specific problems you're having and we'll be able to help you out with some specifics for ya!

I was having trouble with them moving around. I haven't even got to the stage of stacking them yet! I am using BC and I did like you said and used the "cheaped out" version of my recipe.

I am doing a stacked wedding cake.

I knew there had to be a trick to doing it, and finally just had to walk away for a while!

Thanks Indydeb!

The little 6" ones are the WORST!

I HATE doing 6" dummies!

I can't get them smooth enough. I have no idea what's going on with them. They look like crap. I don't usually have this problem on real cake. I don't know if it's because I can't work the frosting enough using the Viva method or what. I've tried a straight spatula, an offset spatula, and a putty knife before it crusts. After crusting, I've tried the Viva and a fondant smoother with Viva between the smoother and the cake.

I've beat the tar out of my buttercream, which only made more air bubbles. I've also tried really slathering on the buttercream and chanting, "remove the extra, remove the extra" while smoothing with a spatula. I've tried cursing. I've tried walking away. I've tried more time to crust and less time to crust. I put a 3rd coat on these suckers today and they still look bad.

I'm ready to fondant the whole lot of them.

Attached are a couple of pictures I took after I gave up for the day today. Blech.