Hi all! 

I was wondering what the best way to decorate a cake dummy? I normally just bake a cake and decorate it but that's become costly when all I'm doing is practicing on new techniques and take pictures of my work. I want to use the same dummies over again so I don't want the fondant to get hard. Any advice will be helpful at this point. Thank u

DeeDee

I HATE using dummies, but I do it anyway! Like you, it cost too much to practice on a real cake, and frankly my whole family is sick of cake! LMAO!!! First off, you have to have something on the dummy the fondant can stick to...such as buttercream. make the buttercream as the same color as your fondant, that way when you take off the fondant right after you take your pictures you can just knead it back into your fondant....You can also use crisco to cover the dummy and the same thing applies...Just knead it back into the fondant.

Biggest challenge in doing dummies, is getting them to stick to your cake board!!! If it ain't stuck, you're gonna have a hell of a time. I have found that rubber cement works the best! Just give it time to dry and it will peel off your dummy with no problem when you're done. Scrape off excess buttercream or crisco, then wash in hot soap water, dry and put away fro future use.

Hope this helps

Yes this help me greatly! So just so im clear, I put the criso on the dummies then the fondant? Right? 

AYes you use crisco in place of the buttercream :)

AWhat are cake dummies made of?

rntyler: dummies are styrofoam

Sugar: melted chocolate makes a great glue

I use a corn syrup and water mixture to stick my fondant on, but a lot of people just spray them with water.

You can soak the whole thing in water when you want to take the fondant off, if it has hardened on.

AI wrap my cake dummies in plastic wrap first, then lightly brush corn syrup on the plastic. Fondant sticks and clean up is super simple. Oh, and to get the dummt to stick, just cut some.of.that grip shelf liner that you get with the celboard smaller than the dummy. It keeps dummy from slipping and its reusable.

Because dummies are so light, I have a hard time getting my dummie to stay on my rotating plate (turn table) to frost it and cover it.  What do you use to keep it steady?  It would need to be something temporary so you can lift the dummie off the turn table once it is done. I have tried the shelf liner, they help but don't really do a great job.  I use dummies on top of real cakes, when people want a big cake, but don't have a crowd to eat it.  

AReason, as I stated it my I original post, I use rubber cement for the styrofoam, then cake board, then to the turn table.

I just spray my dummies with water and the fondant sticks just fine.  And it makes it much cleaner if you are going to peel it off and reuse the dummy.

I've used both water and sometimes Karo Syrup.  They say you can also use piping gel, but that's awfully expensive.  But I do something different to get the fondant off.  I pop the cake into my microwave and warm it for short bursts until it just peels right off.  So easy.  Can't do that with the larger tiers but who knows, maybe a few minutes in the oven on a baking sheet might soften it up enough.  Haven't tried that but I will.  Sure beats putting them in a garbage bag full of water on the back porch over night, as someone told me to do.  There was quite a ruckus when two raccoons burst through the bag and got doused with sugar water.

If you bang 2 or 3 nails through a cake drum, you can spear the dummy on top for decorating, then pry it off using a long spatula when you are ready to place it in position. Keep the drum for use with other dummies.
 

Ateco 3-pronged pivot:

http://www.fantes.com/images/8019icing-tools.jpg
 

Thanks- great idea!

I know this may sound crazy, but I hollow out my dummies and insert small cans of tuna in them to weight them down, It was so hard trying to decorate them with BC.

Nice to know, I will definitely try that in the future
 

AWow thanks for all the great advice!!