Cake Dummies

[emmascakes.co.uk]

I want to make some cakes up on cake dummies so I can take them to craft events and possibly a wedding fair. Does anyone have any hints about best place to get cheap dummies from, tips for making them look professionally done, any pitfalls in using them etc.

Also do have a look at this:
www.margaretbraun.com/
I think she's FANTASTIC! I love these wacky american designers - would love to know of any other cake-heroines anyone else has.

[dkcrooby]

Hi Emma

You can get dummies from newlook.design-a-cake.co.uk/. I have done quite a few dummies and my last two have just been put on the Show Cake section. It's one cake but i've used it for two simple designs so i can take a photo of each for my website. Certainly saves time! Don't whatever you do leave them in a freezing cold room because my icing actually slid off the dummy when i left it in the conservatory (we don't use it over winter because there's no heating there).

Margaret's designs are really wierd but amazing! She must spend months on each cake. Thanks for letting us know the site.

[emmascakes.co.uk]

Thanks - I'll look up this site. Yes she must take months to do them - but they are stunning, just out of this world.

[rach]

wow her stuff is really different..big and bold.......
Love all the colours on them..stunning.....

I am afraid I havent used dummies prefer to make the cake aswell at least someone can get the benefit of eating it afterwards...I feel its a waste to use the sugarpaste and not eat..maybe thats where I am going wrong in my diet.........
No seriously I dont eat them I just donate them but most of the time they are cake comminsions which I havent done before so get the practise that way..roll on my peepa pig cake which as you can tell I am worring about...

[dkcrooby]

Hi Rach,

Rach, I find dummies easier because they're quick if you want to do what i'm doing, taking photos of them for a website or practising because you can reuse the dummies. It takes time to make the real cakes and it costs using the ingredients too.

Emma, the one thing i forgot to mention was that if you were doing a dummy to take to a show, I would use a thick layer of sugarpaste or marzipan underneath the sugarpaste as you can sometimes see the ridges and bumps of the polystyrene.

[dkcrooby]

Emma, i wanted to ask you how you do your butterflies on the tea set cake you did. I know they're run outs but what is the secret to making them work? Do you use a heat lamp?

Thanks!
Shianne

[rach]

Hiya emma

I would like to know where you got the idea from for the tea set book..was it from a particular book...or did u make it up yourself

[emmascakes.co.uk]

Hello - I made up the tea set idea myself. I just thought it would be nice. I've seen Lindy Smith do a teapot before, although I didn't like her design. My friend was moving to a new office and wanted to take a cake in to welcome everyone to the new offices and I thought tea cups and a teapot are sort of officey things.

The butterflies are run-outs like you said. You fold a piece of card into a zig-zag shape and rest the two wings so they form a 'v' shape and then squeeze royal icing sugar in-between them to make the body. I also make two short icing sugar lines which I poke into the squashy icing for antennae. They just dry normally - I have an aga which makes the kitchen quite a good drying area in the winter.

Thanks for all the cake dummy tips - I've bought some and am going to start designing something for them. I would like to do a wedding fair so I need some 'cakes' I can carry round and take to fairs. Do you use anything to ''stick' the icing to the dummy - like jam, or does it just stick on it's own?

[dkcrooby]

thanks for the butterfly tips! just brush water onto the dummies and they'll stick well.