Hi All,

I delivered a cake today (the bridge in my gallery) on a 3/4" foamcore board. I thought for sure that would be sturdy enough, but when I picked it up out of the back of my car, the frosting cracked all around the lettering at the top of the cake. All I can figure is that the board must've buckled a bit and caused this. Any suggestions for me? My husband said I might have to resort to plywood, but that seems like a big hassle. TIA!!!

P.S. -- I realize my cakes aren't masterpieces like most on here, but I'd still like them to be intact when I deliver them!

The ratio of fat to sugar in your frosting could have also caused it. You may have to increase the butter or shortening in your buttercream recipe. I would think a 3/4" foamcore board should handle it. Sometimes those foamcore boards are warped at the stores, nice flat ones have been difficult for me to find lately.

Hi There,

I have a cake this week, putting two 12x18's together. I went to Home Depot and bought a 24x48 in. MDF board, 1/2 in. thick. I gave it the flex test in store and think it will work well. It cost about $10. I'll be cutting it to fit my cake need.

If it cracked when you picked it up, then it's almost certainly the board. I like to use foam core, too, but for very wide or very heavy cakes I glue 2 sheets of 1/2 inch foam core together after cutting them to the size and shape that I need. Doing that way is actually stronger than a 1 inch thickness. When the glue dries, I cover the piece with white fancy foil.

I always use the mdf board from home depot and get several boards from one piece and have an excuse to use my husbands jig saw lol!

Thanks, everyone!!!!

I use 1/2 inch foamcore base boards for HUGE cakes. I have never had anything close to "flexing" from a board that thick, so I don't think it was the board's fault.

Remember, cake is usually very "flexible". If the icing gets very hard, just the movement of the cake under it will cause issues. If the cake hadn't settled completely before being iced, then once it was moved, it may have caused the cracking.

Some crusting icing recipes get very dry. I think that's more the issue here, especially because the icing "cracked around the lettering".

JMHO
Rae

I use to use cake boards and once in awhile will for a small cake. but i use plywood. Mainly started using it casue my husband is a capenter so i dont have to pay for it and he can cut it for me. I found that i do like using it. Its very sturdy and I have never had a problem with any of my cakes. It does add a little bit of weight to the cakes though. but id rather take the added weight for the extra strength

I had the same thing happen on a very large cake. It only has to flex the tiniest bit to cause cracking. So for large cakes, I only use 1/2" mdf board. Works like a charm.

My father in law is also a carpenter and he made some cake boards out of old countertop for me. I love them!