Hi Cakers!

I am wanting to make a dummy cake (Styrofoam) this weekend. 10" and 6" round tiered cake. Iced in buttercream.

My go to support system when making the real deal are bubble tea straws. However, these straws will not go through Styrofoam.

How do I support the iced dummy's when stacking so that the icing on the 10" does not smush out when the 6" is placed on top?


Thanks!
Michael

Dummies don't need support but you can put parchment paper between the tiers to protect the buttercream.

Why would you put buttercream on the top center of the bottom tier? I don't know the buttercream design you are doing, but for dummies, you can stack and then frost to make it easier.
I have never found a styrofoam glue that works. They seem to take forever to dry.
I use hot glue and toothpicks. I "peg the bottom tier with toothpicks, Then I take one really short thin wooden dowel and mark the center of each tier. Make a small hole in the bottom of the top tier. Place the thin dowel in the center of the top of the center of the bottom tier.
Place hot glue on bottom tier, line up, and push together

Doesn't hot glue melt your dummy? I use regular white wood glue, and toothpicks/skewers.

I never had a problem with hot glue for styrofoam. BUT I never let the gun touch the dummy. The tip of the gun is too hot and causes a melt spot. Wood glue is a good choice if the drying time is acceptable. The benefit of the wood glue is that you have a lot more time to line up your layers

I've just used wood skewers from the dollar store. Double sided tape worked as well.

I ice my cakes the way Sharon Zambito does.

I cannot stack the cakes first and get the desired smoothness, crisp edges, and polished looked the BC gets when doing it the SZ way.

The icing on top of the 10" is going to be about 1/4" thick/high. I would think lowering the 6" on top of the larger cake would smash the top icing on the 10" out to the sides.

I am wanting to build my cake collection and icing the dummies to perfection is my goal...

I appreciate the feedback

You can just put a slightly thinner layer of BC on top of the 10". The 6" won't be heavy enough to "smoosh" out the BC on the 10". Just let the BC on the 10" set up/crust well before applying the 6".

No need for any supports or special method of stacking them. Pipe a bit of fresh BC on the landing spot for the 6" and sit the 6" down. It'll be fine.

Rae

I use a little white glue and it works well.

I don't possess the skill to ice an already stacked dummy, so I do it just as I would with real cakes. I ice them on boards, let set up a bit, pull off board and stack with a little BC as glue in between. I have done this with both royal and a shortening based icing. The styro dummies are so light they have never smooshed each other!

Thanks folks!

they are prob light enough u dont need supports but i use the straws anyway to be safe. just cut them the thickness of the icing on top only.