Cake Boards, Time Is Of The Essence

Decorating By pburgess68 Updated 19 Feb 2011 , 7:40pm by Elcee

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pburgess68 Posted 19 Feb 2011 , 5:56pm
post #1 of 5

I'm making a 6-9-12 round wedding cake. Will be white on white frosting/dec.

Because money is tight, someone has offered to make some plywood boards for me. I remember reading somewhere about the sizes of the boards, but I can't find it thru a search.

  • Is it 4" on each size?
    So I'd need a 20" for this cake?
    Can I go smaller?
    Would round plywood be the best shape for the round cake?
    How would I cover it? I see things about using fondant to cover the board, but wouldn't have a clue how to wrap a wood board.
    Was considering a ribbon on the edge of the board (however I wind up finishing it off!!!)

4 replies
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m_willford Posted 19 Feb 2011 , 6:11pm
post #2 of 5

I do 2 extra inches around, so a 12 inch layer would need a 16 inch board. That's just me though, because I like to have enough space to do a border, and leave a little for my thumb to grab the board without getting fingers in the frosting. Any more than that looks odd to me.

But I think it's a personal preference on board size. If you want to go bigger, than you can do a bigger border.

When I'm using plywood, I wrap it with butcher paper paper, then heavy duty foil. That way I don't get grease on my board since that's not sanitary. And the paper is in case the foil tears when they cut the cake. You could drape fondant over the foil for looks, and then icing glue a ribbon around the edge. That would look really pretty!

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KJ62798 Posted 19 Feb 2011 , 6:12pm
post #3 of 5

For a 12in cake, a 16in board would be fine. That gives you 2inches of clearance all the way around. If you want to go up to an 18in that would be good. I don't think you need to go as big as a 20in unless you are planning a special decoration on it.

Round board for round cake is good.

If you are using plywood for the base, you need to cover it in something food safe. You can use cake foil, the shiny side of freezer wrap, fondant.

If you do fondant, you would roll it out like for a cake and smooth it over the board. I would grease the board with shortening so it sticks. I've seen instructions here on CC with better info. Most recc that you do the fondant board in advance so that it has time to dry and you don't get fingerprints on it when you are moving it around, adding the cake etc.

If you do foil, you can hot glue ribbon around the edge.

I would still put the base cake on its own cardboard round so you can work with it on your turntable and only put it on the base board when it is done & you are ready to stack.

HTH
Kristy

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springlakecake Posted 19 Feb 2011 , 6:12pm
post #4 of 5

I'd probably do a 16. I have also done it on a 14 when the customer requested a smaller board. I think 20 would look too big

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Elcee Posted 19 Feb 2011 , 7:40pm
post #5 of 5

Sorry to throw yet another opinion into the mix! icon_lol.gif

I like balance so with your tiers having a 3" difference, I'd go with a 15" board since your friend is making a custom one. If that's not possible, I'd go with 14" or 16"; I agree that 20" is too big.

When I use a plywood board I cover it first with clear or white contact paper; grease that and then apply fondant. The cake itself is on it's own board so there plenty of separation from the non-food-safe plywood and contact paper. You can then use a complimentary ribbon on the edges.

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