I am making a cake for a competition and have a cake dummy that I need to carve. Unfortunately it does not carve well (little balls all over the place).

Does anyone else use something other than these cake dummys (it will be approx. 9 X 9 inches) that I need.

Make rice crispy dummy's. When you leave them over night they firm up and carve up nice.

Or make a dense pound cake without any filling.

Good Luck

Hi hope u dont mind me asking but I never heard of rice crispy dummy. Really interested in finding out more. How are they made? would not mind having a go.
thanks

don`t want anything edible.

Rice Krispies are made from melted marshmallows, a little butter and lots of crisp rice cereal pressed into cake pans to get the shape. Let them cool and set, then carve away. Or mold them into shapes while still warm. Once cool and set they get firm and hold their shape.

http://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/recipes/the-original-treats.html#/en_US/recipes/the-original-treats

Have Fun

The pink foam sheets from the hardware store cut better, no little balls. They are not as thick as a dummy but you could cut out a couple 9x9 squares and glue them together before carving. Just use foam glue for a permanent hold.

Other than that idea I wouldn't know of anything else to use.

Good Luck

also the green florist foam at craft stores

Using the pink foam from the hardware store sounds like something I'll have to try!

Well I have my carving 75% done - have to work on some details now.

My question now is - what can I put on it to smooth it out before putting on the fondant?

I was wondering about drywall compound (spackling?) Does anyone have any suggestions?

I DON'T want to us buttercream or anything edible as this is going to sit around for some months.

did you check the rules for the competition? Most cake comps require that a carved cake be made out of real cake with only a small percentage made from inedible materials.
also using buttercream, fondant on a display/comp piece will last a very long time, it will not mold. Good luck in the competition.

can be made of foam, rice cereal treats no more than 25%

So I am okay.

i need to practice carving cakes but don't want to waste ingredients, any idea what i could use instead? What's the pink foam? insulation foam?  tia