I'm Embarressed I Didn't Pick Up On This Sooner...
Decorating By KayMc Updated 13 Jul 2010 , 4:25pm by Debi2
I have been covering my cake boards w/ heavy duty tin foil. I've learned from this message board that it still isn't strong enough to survive the cutting. I'm a hobbyist, and to date have given ALL of my cakes away (just started in April w/ cakes). I don't want to add the cost of the heavy cake foil to my give-aways.
Am I correct to think that MFF is fairly cheap, and that would be a decent way to go in covering these boards? I haven't made it yet, as I've gathering the courage to make my first fondant. I'm thinking I might make my first batch this evening. From what I THINK I can tell, I'm thinking fondant will be the cheapest way to go. Thoughts?
Fondant is a great way to cover cake boards. You can do tons of different things with it. Once you start using it on cakes, you can also keep the fondant scraps in the fridge and use those to cover cake boards. You'll probably want a narrow ribbon to glue around the edge of the cake board. I buy the cheap kind from Hobby Lobby and a $2 spool is enough to do a lot of boards.
Freezer paper (shiny side up) is a great way to cover cake boards. It is very inexpensive, pretty and so durable. That stuff doesn't even leave knife marks when you cut the cake. I also go around the edge of the cakeboard with ribbon like Texas said.
I'm not crazy about covering the board with fondant. I've done it a few times but unless it's one of my "fancier" cakes...I don't like doing it...LOL...
Freezer paper (shiny side up) is a great way to cover cake boards. It is very inexpensive, pretty and so durable. That stuff doesn't even leave knife marks when you cut the cake. I also go around the edge of the cakeboard with ribbon like Texas said.
I'm not crazy about covering the board with fondant. I've done it a few times but unless it's one of my "fancier" cakes...I don't like doing it...LOL...
Me neither...I feel its wasteful haha and also I have a hard time getting it perfect... its pretty though.
Sometimes, I use foil wrapping paper (especially on sale after Christmas) to cover cake boards. I also use contact paper (you can get solid colors at a lot of Michael's - and I always use their coupon.) I know a lot of you will say wrapping paper isn't "food safe" but neither is the florist foil. After having the green come off the florist foil onto a white cake, I don't trust it. I always test the wrapping paper by wiping with water to see if any color comes off.
I put the normal cake board covered with freezer paper under the cake and have a bigger board underneath wrapped in color paper with clear contact paper over it. They can be washed and reused. I ask for my boards back and I get them back 98% of the time (the other 2% is when people are too distracted during clean up to remember or someone who doesn't know to save them cleans up the cake area) and people don't mind holding on to it because it takes up no room.
Sometimes, I use foil wrapping paper (especially on sale after Christmas) to cover cake boards. I also use contact paper (you can get solid colors at a lot of Michael's - and I always use their coupon.) I know a lot of you will say wrapping paper isn't "food safe" but neither is the florist foil. After having the green come off the florist foil onto a white cake, I don't trust it. I always test the wrapping paper by wiping with water to see if any color comes off.
Absolutely! NONE of the items mentioned are food safe!!!! Color coming off is not the issue---it's the LEAD in the colors that leaches out when exposed to greasy foods (like cake & icing), soooooo,
The solution is to make sure that there is a barrier between the cake/icing and the decorative board--that way, you can cover the board with the Sunday comics, if you want.
If the covering absorbs water or grease, then you can put clear contact paper over it--but again, you need a barrier between that and the cake/icing because it's not food safe, either.
The cake board under the cake is the simplest way initial barrier. If you have a large buttercream border, then putting a piece of parchment a bit larger than the cake is a good idea.
HTH
Rae
I always use freezer paper shiny side up, just like "mamarobin" said. However, I did have very first grease mark this weekend with my Eiffel Tower cake, I didn't use cardboard like I normally do, I used a square piece of finished wood, that is actually a shelf from my cake decorating supply cabinet. I just figured it was the wood that caused the grease mark because this has never ever happened before.
Sometimes, I use foil wrapping paper (especially on sale after Christmas) to cover cake boards. I also use contact paper (you can get solid colors at a lot of Michael's - and I always use their coupon.) I know a lot of you will say wrapping paper isn't "food safe" but neither is the florist foil. After having the green come off the florist foil onto a white cake, I don't trust it. I always test the wrapping paper by wiping with water to see if any color comes off.
Absolutely! NONE of the items mentioned are food safe!!!! Color coming off is not the issue---it's the LEAD in the colors that leaches out when exposed to greasy foods (like cake & icing), soooooo,
The solution is to make sure that there is a barrier between the cake/icing and the decorative board--that way, you can cover the board with the Sunday comics, if you want.
If the covering absorbs water or grease, then you can put clear contact paper over it--but again, you need a barrier between that and the cake/icing because it's not food safe, either.
The cake board under the cake is the simplest way initial barrier. If you have a large buttercream border, then putting a piece of parchment a bit larger than the cake is a good idea.
HTH
Rae
hdo make a food safe foil that you can use to cover cake boards. That is what I use.
Who doesn't have the bottom tier on a cakeboard the same size as the cake anyway? I have NEVER put my bottom tier directly on the base to decorate it or ice it. From the time I start filling and crumbcoating that tier (and the others as well) these cakes are on their OWN cardboard circles.
Does anyone actually ever wrap a cake base in decorative paper, cover with contact paper then put a "naked" cake ON the contact paper to fill, crumbcoat, ice, cover with fondant and decorate? Just curious.
Yes, unfortunately, many beginners do just this, especially with sheet cakes or single tier cakes.
I guess you can fault the Wilton waxed boards with the grey printing on them 
Rae
Yes, I do sometimes tort, crumbcoat, and frost right on the foodsafe foil-coverd foamcore with no cardboard under the cake. Many of my cakes are two 11x15's that are too unwieldy for anything else but placing and decorating.
For that matter, I've thrown a 12" round and a 14" round right down too. Mostly party cakes here, but why not. If you always work with foodsafe items, it's not an issue and there is no production slowdown.
Wedding cakes can often be a different story, though...
Yes, unfortunately, many beginners do just this, especially with sheet cakes or single tier cakes.
I guess you can fault the Wilton waxed boards with the grey printing on them
Rae
Rae I certainly didn't think of that and since I don't ever do a sheet cake it never occurred to me that someone would.
[quote="mamawrobin"]Who doesn't have the bottom tier on a cakeboard the same size as the cake anyway? I have NEVER put my bottom tier directly on the base to decorate it or ice it. From the time I start filling and crumbcoating that tier (and the others as well) these cakes are on their OWN cardboard circles. [/quote]
Raises hand. Every single cake (bottom tier) is always directly on the cake drum.
A cake drum is a thick, heavier, decorative board.
Rae
I'm still confused.
Is a cake drum made from cardboard or plastic? Is the only difference between a cake drum and those cardboard rounds from Wilton the thickness of each?
Here's a picture of a cake drum - http://image59.webshots.com/159/4/16/63/2451416630074700991MTCEnb_ph.jpg
Drums are usually 1/2" thick made of cardboard wrapped with foil. They provide more support for your cake and your BC doesn't crack due to board flexing.
A standard cake drum is 3-4 layers of heavy corrugated cardboard, alternating the corrugation to increase strength, glued together and then covered in silver, gold, or white foil.
They are meant to hold great weight, as well as look substantial and nice.
I buy the Wilton ones (2 to a pack) with coupons at Michael's. I believe that they only supply round ones these days.
For other shapes, I make my own out of 1/2 inch foamcore.
Rae
A standard cake drum is 3-4 layers of heavy corrugated cardboard, alternating the corrugation to increase strength, glued together and then covered in silver, gold, or white foil.
They are meant to hold great weight, as well as look substantial and nice.
I buy the Wilton ones (2 to a pack) with coupons at Michael's. I believe that they only supply round ones these days.
For other shapes, I make my own out of 1/2 inch foamcore.
Rae
The Michael's store doesn't carry this product anymore in my city, I was looking for them the other day. (Unless someone stocked up on them en mass from every location in the city lol)
I have started to use the new Wilton glossy "greaseproof" cardboard circles. No need for putting paper on anymore ... I just glue 2 together and then put ribbon around the edge and it looks nice. And I, too, put the cake directly onto the cardboard and then ice/decorate from there. I didn't realize this wasn't normal as this is how I was taught in classes!
TexasRose, do you only place the ribbon on the top of the board then, and not the sides? I'm guessing that's why you're using the ribbon? I hadn't thought of doing it this way.
I put the fondant on the top of the board. I roll it directly onto the board and then roll the rolling pin off the sides of the board all the way around to get rid of the excess fondant. That leaves the naked edge of the foamboard showing, so I glue a ribbon around it with Tacky Glue. You can use double sticky tape or pins if you prefer.
Cover the cake board a few days in advance and it will be nice and solid when you need it. You can do all kinds of things to it.
It's the best way to make the cake board match the cake exactly.
Every tier is on it's own cake board...depending on size, weight, or style, you would decide if it needs a board or drum. Even though I use sps to stack, if I use dowels instead, then I would use cake boards under each tier w/dowel rod through the center stack (I have heard ppl say they have doubled them). They really hold quite a bit of weight. I havn't yet needed to use a drum or double under a 6", 8", or even a 10" tier yet.
As for my cake board, to display the cake (on it's own cake board)- I use foam board doubled, covered in contact paper. I use scraps to build feet on the bottom, and add ribbon on the edge. Looks great and inexpensive. Esp w/Dollar tree $1 boards!
You can use wrapping paper, florist foil etc. Just cover with a layer of clear cellophane.
If the cake is on a board and then set on top of the base board with the cellophane, or foil for that matter, the knife will be touching the board the cake is on, not the base board.
Who doesn't have the bottom tier on a cakeboard the same size as the cake anyway? I have NEVER put my bottom tier directly on the base to decorate it or ice it. From the time I start filling and crumbcoating that tier (and the others as well) these cakes are on their OWN cardboard circles.
Raises hand. Every single cake (bottom tier) is always directly on the cake drum.
I have to raise my hand on this one too.
I use the waxed boards and on party cakes larger that need a 10" or bigger board,i make my own drum by hot gluing several boards together and wrapping the edge with ribbon. sometimes it's just two boards up to five or so, depending on the weight of the cake. be sure to criss cross the grain of the boards as you glue them. I attach fondant cutouts or pipe directly onto the surface of the board to tie cake and the board together. On mre expensive cakes or when the white board is to stark, i cover the board in mmf.
mmf is very inexpensive to make,$1 for marshmallows and $2 for powdered sugar and a tad of shortening for kneading and it makes way more that the packages stuff 
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