Most of my cakes are a combination of dummies and real cake. I find that dummies are soooo much harder to cover. They are sooo much harder to smooth and hard to stay in place because they extremely light weight. I hate doing small dummy tiers because they are so light. I've tried all tapes and they will eventually lose it's stickyness. I wish I can fill these dummies with rocks. Am I the only on who feels this way?

I have a heavy cake board that has a large nail in the center. I just place the cake dummy on the nail while i'm covering it with fondant. I also put non stick pad under the nail cake board. It keeps everything centered and keeps it from sliding while you are placing the fondant on the cake.

I hope this helps...

Oh Rylan - do what i do when they don't want to stay in place - Glue them to the cake board - lollll
Then sometimes i have used double sided tape so as to adhere the cakeboard to the cake turntable whilst working on them - voula -
nothing dares move then.

Great to *see* you again by the way -

Bluehue.

I find that covering the 3" dummies are easier than 4" high dummies. While it is not exactly representative of how tall my cakes will be, they reduce the horrible headache.

I stuck a skewer in the middle of mine so I'd have something to hold onto while I iced them.

Currently, I'm watching them predict the weather this summer. Every time it rains, gets really hot, or gets humid, they get sticky. They're covered in MMF. I had a horrible time getting them covered and had to patch them using drywall mud. I used the kind that changes colors as it dries and now that the fondant has been constantly changing from dry to damp, there are what appear to be permenant gray stains under the fondant.

Eeeyyuuck! Dummies are not my friends and may never be.

Yep a agree, they are different than icing a regular cake.

When I have students that ask me if they can practice on styrofoam I am like sure you can, but it is a totally different feeling, atleast to me. Plus with dummies they are more forgiving than real cakes. You are always starting with a smooth surface and hard sides. You don't have issues with crumbs or maybe an uneven top.

A long time ago I posted the "dummy decorator" I made but it was lost in the big crash. I will post it again. I really love using it and I'll bet you all will too!

I use non skid material under the dummy and that seems to make it SO much easier. I will need to be doing this more often...have a wedding faire coming up and will need at least 3 representations of my work...so I'm using my "free" afternoons designing away on my sketchpad! LOL!

Cat

I have a 1/2 wooden cake board with a screw in it that I stick the dummy onto then I place the board on my turn table (with rubber mat on it) and got to it.

Keep up the AMAZING work Rylan and thanks for sharing you art with us!

Here you go!

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6899005.html#6899005

THANK YOU ALL for the suggestions! I never thought of anything you have all thought of. Maxine, the tape to me doesn't work maybe because I use shortening to adhere my fondant--sometimes I can't avoid touching the bottom part (which probably cause the tape to not stick). I'll definitely try the board with nail/screw and the skid mat too.

Kory, thanks a lot for posting that! I usually elevate my dummies so this would be extremely helpful. I'll build this and the others too.

THANKS EVERYONE! I appreciate all your help.

Will be going to home depot in a few minutes.