Hi all. I have alot of different ideas floating around in this head of mine and really want to make some of them. One to see if I could do them..,.lol and two to put pictures of ideas I have on my website..However I do not want to weigh 1000lbs! What do you all use to practice a new idea on? Thanks

Like you I don't want to gain weight. I also love to try new things just to see if I can do it. So, I give all my cakes away. Almost every month, there is someone in the family celebrating a birthday. So I will show up at their door, with cake in hand. So far this month, I made one for my sister-in-law and today I baked one & will be decorating it to give to my best friend for her birthday. You could also look into donating it to a nursing home. They usually have a birthday cake once a month to celebrate the birthdays of the residents.

I also give my cakes away. When I have an idea I want to make, I put a post on FB and offer the cake to my local friends. There is usually a race to see who gets it. Who doesn't love a free cake?? The only thing I don't do this for is when I'm working on a new recipe and trying something out (I bake from scratch and like coming up with my own recipes). I only want other people to try cakes I know taste the best, just in case I ever open a business. I have also (gasp) thrown cakes away. Otherwise I would eat it all myself! It's hard to throw them away, but I think of it in these terms: I pay for the opportunity and joy of making something I love, not for the calories, and putting all of that into my body will only make me feel bad.

You could also get cake dummies to try new ideas out on. They are very inexpensive and easy to use.

I bake form cakes -- edible but not palettable. I also use the stuff from Gordon's -- the "just add water" cake mix (which tastes horrible) and use decorator icing with no flavoring. No temptation there! Then there's cake dummies (styrofoam) and of course local friends -- are you a member of a church, bible study, book club, or anything like that? Try a new recipe and donate it to them! Hope that helps!

Thanks for all the tips. I too bake from scratch and believe it or not my friends and family are getting sick of the cake too! I think Ive tried one to many recipies on them....lol...atleast for the immediate future anyways. I think the styrofoam may be the best way for me to go..Can I buy just regular styrofoam from like Micheals or another craft store? And is there a special recipie for icing that you practice with or do you use your regular icing recipie? Sorry for all the silly questions, Ive always just made a cake and did my thing then fed the neighborhood.....any myself of course. I currently have a little break inbetween orders and want to take adavantage of the time to build my portfolio. Thanks again

Thanks for starting this Thread. I'm in the exact same situation.

I'm eager to practise and try out so man ideas and designs but I'm also trying to lose weight from all the baking I did last year. Just like previous Posters I plan to use friends' birthdays, work colleagues etc to practise. I've got a birthday party coming up next week so I'm trying to decide if I should surprise them with just cup cakes, a cake or both.