First Time Using Cake Dummies.. Help!
Decorating By sweetheart6710 Updated 4 Aug 2010 , 10:12pm by sweetheart6710
My SIL just called and asked me to do a cake for Friday.. long story short, the cake decorator backed out yesterday, so I'm helping by stepping in.
They want a 16-12-8, but I only have to bake the 8in. They want the 16 and 12 in styrofoam, and covered in white fondant. I have covered cakes in fondant a lot, but never styrofoam. Should I cover it in butter cream first to seal any holes?
Also, do I need to put dowels in to add extra support? Or will the styrofoam hold the weight of its self and a real cake on top?
My last question is, how tall should each tier be? 4in? More? I have done a 12-10-8, 10-8-6, but never anything this large, so I want to make sure it looks proportionate
Any advice would be great. Thanks
A spritz of water onto the styro will hold the fondant on.
Each tier should be 4" tall, and that's the standard height for dummies (although you can sometimes find 3" dummies.
I personally like the top tier to be 6", but it sounds like you need the 8" for the serving amount?
I do this all the time to give people a more grand cake without the leftover cake servings. Just coat your dummy with crisco (smooths out the surface and gives something for the fondant to cling to as well as makes it a cinch to remove the fondant after. Use whatever height the other real cake tiers are tho standard size seems to be 4 inch. No, you do not have to dowel the fake tiers, only the real ones. The fake will hold up the real cake just fine.
Cat
I agree, I usually make the top tier 6in as well, but this is what they asked for. Its pretty much going to be boring. 2 dummy cakes, and an 8in cutting cake covered in white fondant with a 2in black satin ribbon around each tier. I offered to bust out some pretty white flowers, but thats all they want. I guess I'll just appreciate the learning experience, and not complain how easy it will be. 
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