Unusual Items Turned Into Cake Decorating "tools".
Decorating By tanyap Updated 30 Aug 2011 , 9:27pm by laceylady
Sugarfrosted,
How does it work out with the lid? Do you make the plywood smaller so it fits into the lid and the bottom completely closes over the cake? Do you have a picture?
to make calla lilies, I use the water cones to keep the shape.
a light bulb to lightly fringe flowers
to roll out gum paste I use a pasta press
and to hand flowers so they stay in shape, I use a pasta drying rack.
This is a great thread. Thanks everyone for sharing--
A few things I found
- Wooden craft sticks (tongue depressor) work great for mixing in coloring to frosting
- Goodwill or second hand store are a great place to find old Wilton pans cheap.
- Putting strips of wax paper under the cake while doing the base frosting keeps cake board clean.
- Floss works great to score lines on your sheet cakes to mark pieces so peolple know where to cut.
- Cardboard roll in paper towels--- cut length ways works great as flower former.
and one I use....
for those of us who get the sugar-free lemonade (etc.) drink mixes that come in the plastic container w/ little tubs w/ peel off foil tops....
the case: turret former for castles and storage for all kinds of little stuff
the tubs: prefect for mixing luster (etc.) dust paints and all other small amounts of paints and icings needed.
(and at the rate I drink this stuff...tubs are disposable!)
Devilled egg tray and dental floss. Pizza cutter's already been said, but works great.
I have used a bench knife for years to smooth my icing. However, with me now doing more and more of the larger cakes, I now also have a metal paint edger as well. It has a metal blade that is about 12" wide and works great for smoothing over larger surface areas!
Sugarfrosted, How does it work out with the lid? Do you make the plywood smaller so it fits into the lid and the bottom completely closes over the cake? Do you have a picture?
Wow! I am soooo sorry! I never saw this question until today! My DH cuts the cake boards to fit the box, but about 1/2" smaller in width and length of the box, so the board will fit but not get stuck. He rounds and sands the edges of the boards. I cover the boards with white plastic Contact. and then heavy duty foil. I also provide a smooth-edged server, to cut/serve the cake, which will not cut into my board. Remember, I flip the box over so that the lid becomes the base, and the clear plastic box becomes the cover. My clients know they must return my servers, cakeboards and cakeboxes.
The cover has a 1/2" lip all the way around so the boards are cut to fit inside that lip. I don't have a picture of the box and board per se, but there are lots of cake pictures on my website where you can see the edge of the board on the base. Some of my cake boxes are over 15 years old, but they are washable and very very durable. Some are clear, and some are clear light blue. I have small boxes (approx 11x15) which will hold a quarter sheet cake or small character cake, and large boxes (approx 14x20) which will hold a half sheet cake or almost any character cake. I also have a couple of boxes which are very tall to use for any 3D cake or with a 3D aspect to it.
Here is an example of a half sheet cake on the base of the large box I use: http://www.sugarfrosted.com/albums/adult/normal_1424-12x18-9x13-100thbirthday.jpg
I hope this makes sense.
There are so many great tips on here, I printed the entire thread so I could just take it to the store and check things off as I buy them 
I was just thinking today how I HATE having to fumble through trying to find certain tips and I wish there were a better way to organize them - I can't remember who suggested the nail and screw caddy thing but what an awesome idea !!! Do any others have other great ideas on how to store tips in an organized way?
I can't think of anything else I do or use that is better than what I'm reading here! I LOVE getting these tips. THANK YOU!
Esther - I've used the grater too to hold my toothpick roses....my instructor taught us how to use hershey's kisses to make the roses and so you have to stick a toothpick in the base of the kiss so that you can turn and make the petals...I used to hold them for a few minutes before I tried to remove them off the toothpick but that got old so I started using the grater also!
please tell me how to make the roses from kisses, do you follow the wilton method but use the kisses instead of making the bud from fondant?
Instead of purchasing the $100 pasta roller attachment for my KA I bought one from the craft store in the clay section for $12. It rolls out fondant nice and even for making bows and drapes.
Here's my list
Cookie cutters - to cut shapes out of fondant
Candy molds- to mold fondant shapes
Rubber stamps (brand new) to imprint fondant
Lace doilies -place on frosting that has already crusted over, and sprinkle sifted powdered sugar over it. Carefully pick up doilie and you'll have a spectacular looking design.
Sewing pin, to "pop"any bubbles - if they form in the fondant after it's been placed on the cake
After struggling to find 16x16x6 cake boxes for transporting wedding cake tiers I happened on a"under the bed" rubbermaid storage box with a dual flip-top lid that also came off. Anyway, the thing will hold all three tiers of the style I usually make - 14", 10" and 6". And a moving cart that folds and fits into my trunk holds the storage box and any emergency supplies are in a small cooler that I stack on top of the storage box. I can get from my car to set-up site in one trip! Best of all the storage box was only $7.50 at Office Max!!
I dont have anything new to add, but I am So excited by this post!
In response to the pan greasing tip I stumbled upon the best way to grease pans by accident one day. I ran out of pan grease and only had Pam in the cupboard. After spraying the pans with Pam I accidentally grabbed the powdered sugar instead of flour. It works so perfectly and quickly I have not used anything since. The sugar melts right into the cake while baking and the cake comes out clean and CRUSTLESS every time!!!
ty to all of you for posting all of your idesa...i have made myself a list while reading this....and will be doing some shopping tomorrow...hehehehe...
the only thing that i can add to this is that i use the Pam w/ flour to do my pans...i have never had a cake to stick and the bottoms are always soft ( never crusty) i love this stuff and its mess free and easy to use.
also i use plastic storage containers to keep my small things in ( i have a set of stackable ones ) like my colors, bags, brushes etc....
After reading through all the posts, I didn't think I would have anything to add - but I found one 
I love my turntable for frosting cakes, and always wished I could put my 1/4 and 1/2 sheet cakes on it so it would make frosting and decorating easier. I usually end up with my fingers in the cake when trying to turn the cake on the table with just the cake board. I started thinking that if I had something large enough that wouldn't bend it would be perfect. I realized that a porcelain or ceramic tile would be perfect - the only thing I know of that doesn't bend. I went to Lowe's and started looking at tiles and found one that was 16" square for only $2.50!!!! I bought it and then bought contact paper to cover it with - mostly to make clean up easier. I didn't think the contact paper would stick to the back of the tile, so I put a peice on the back of the tile that was big enough to wrap around to the top of the tile. I then put another piece over the top and wrapped it around to the bottom. It is awesome!!! And.....if I happen to drop the tile and it shatters it won't go all over the floor, it will be contained within the contact paper "Package".
Sorry this was so long,
Chelle
Make-up sponge applicators - applying petal dust - wet or dry makes a great 'brush' and no waste!!!!
Corn husk (the green part of the corn cob) dried, wrapped and glued to dowel - makes a great leaf 'veiner'
Ravioli cutter for special edges around your fondant.
Impressions mats, scimpression mats- DOLLAR STORE dish rack mats! You get a perfect basketweave look with them!
Anybody have any creative and cost saving ideas for making dummy cake forms/skeletons?
The styrafoam demensions and prices are restricting. The cake circles stacked together as a dummy cake form can also get expensive when making larger dummy wedding cakes.
P.S. The Dollar Tree sells those hard metal pizza pans that make good a good alternative to disposable cake circles.
I have made cupcake dummies from spray foam wall filler. (I'm not sure what it's really called, but the product is for filling holes in your walls that are too large to spackle - you spray it and it expands to fill the area!)
It is kind of messy and not an exact science though! I much prefer to pick up the styrofoam craft circles while they are on sale (use the 40% off internet coupon!)
I went to Lowes and bought an 18 inch wood "table top" for under $10. It is a beautiful cake base!
My daughter had one of those small three-leg decorator tables in her room. Well, she somehow managed to break one of the legs. I saved the glass topper and table top to use for cake decorating! It has a 20" wood circle for the top, and with the screw bases for the legs to attach, it sits off the table just enough to get your fingers under it. The glass is a 19 1/4" circle. You can use either to place a large cake on, or use together and cover the board with a coordinating fabric, and place your cake on the glass so the fabric shows through!
I purchased both items (seperately) at WalMart. The table sells for under $10, I blieve the glass costs around the same amount.
Well, it isn't exactly household, but a styrofoam block is great for holding flower nails.
Also,
Me too!!!! 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%