Can I use buttercream frosting on my dummy cake? How long will that last? Does it need to be refrigerated?

I'm making a wedding cake part dummy/styrofoam and part real cake. I want to make sure they look the same and wanted to use bc icing on both.

Am I nuts, or will this work??

i use my same buttercream icing recipe on dummies all the time. You don't have to refridgerate it, the icing will just dry, and over time it will dry hard and will last YEARS (and i mean years!!) until you remove it from the dummy.

If you have any colors though you'll want to make sure to keep it away from flourecent lighting and any sunlight. The UV/UVA rays break down the color and can fade it quite easily. This is true with any colored icing, but dummies tend to be around longer so the light has more time to change the colors.

Really?? Wow, I never knew that! What type of buttercream do you use? I have always decorated my dummies with fondant or royal icing.

i use a 1/2 butter 1/2 shortening recipe. IN the bakery i used to work in we used an all shortening recipe. I also have seen indydebi say she uses her regular icing too (w/o the flavorings though since it's not being eaten) so her's works well too for long term use on dummies. Really any american buttercream would work, i wouldn't use IMBC or SMBC though, i don't see that lasting long.

I always use a lightweight spackle and it's terrific. You don't have to worry about ants or other insects getting into a sugary frosting. The spackle pipes and tints just like buttercream and it looks beautiful.

DianaJJ

How well can the spackle or buttercream be removed so that the dummy can be reused (for display cake/practice purposes)?

I'm not really sure, I've never tried to remove the spackle. You can clean it up with water so maybe you could try soaking the dummies to get the spackle off.

DianaJJ

for the buttercream, fondant, or royal icing just soak in hot water and it comes off. I just cleaned a dummy last month that had been decorated in fondant and edible images for 4 years, cleaned up without any issues, i just let hot water from the tap run over it for awhile.

Thanks!

If you plan to use it again, put Saran Wrap on the dummy and then the buttercream. That way the grease won't damage/spoil/color the dummy. But now that I read about the spackle, it sounds VERY interesting!

Hmm...spackle sounds interesting! I've used american buttercream but with no butter in it (to save money, no one's eating the cake). Just shortening and icing sugar, no flavouring.

I usually just brush mine with some water and I have never had a problem. Sticks just fine....

Cakelayer, Do you make the spackle?

No, actually I buy it at "Home Depot". It's called "Patch and Paint Lightweight Spackling". It's really terrific and dries rock hard. I colored some to make it look like chocolate and it looks like the real thing. I've have some dummies that I made over a year ago and they look great. You can buy it in the large size and it covers quite a few layers.

DianaJJ

Just purchaed a set of cake dummies and I am eager to take them for a spin . Will colored icing ruin them? Thanks.

Hi!
The chocolate dummy cake that I made with the spackle is shown in my photos if anyone is interested.

DianaJJ

@ Cakelayer,
how to you apply the spackle? they same way as you would on a really cake, i would think that you would need to have tools that are just for spackleing dummy cake right? and how fast does it dyer?

Thank you,
Keisha

I recently bought some dummies as well. I covered them in shortening and then fondant. After 2 weeks, i took the fondant off, put the fondant in the microwave for a few seconds, rolled it out on a mat and viola..nice fondant to be reused with the dummy. I am going to practise on them with the new designer stencils i just bought..cant wait.

If I am going to apply BC to the dummies do i need to treat the dummy with anything or just apply the bc directly to the dummie ? 

If I am going to apply BC to the dummies do i need to treat the dummy with anything or just apply the bc directly to the dummie ? 

I would like to know the answer as well..