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Hi. I’m making my daughters wedding cake.shes getting married in August this year My first wedding cake! I’ve always had it in my mind to do. It will be a 5 tier cake. The bottom and top are polystyrene dummies.
Sizes 14 12 10 8 6 The 14 inch polystyrene and then 12 inch fruit cake. 10 inch chocolate cake 8 inch Madeira and. Finally 6 inch polystyrene dummy. This will be on pillars with the bride and groom models underneath.
I have covered the bottom tier in sugarpaste, and it’s been dying for 4 weeks. I made the fruit cake 2 months ago. When can I finish the fruit cake off, and put it on the polystyrene dummy cake. A friend of mine said the fruit cake may sink into the polystyrene dummy cake, ( just the fondant ) do I need to dowel the polystyrene . And where should the cake be stored . At the moment the fruit cake is wrapped up and in the top of the wardrobe in the coolest room.

Hi Hairnaround

Congratulations on your daughter’s forthcoming wedding. How exciting it is to be making her wedding cakes, it’s a lot of work, I can appreciate that you want to get ahead as much as you can.

Dummy cakes are very strong, some can withstand the weight of quite a heavy man! However, for the sake of peace of mind it’s advisable to dowel regardless. I’ve noticed that you have already iced the dummy and it has been drying for the past four weeks. There is a possibilty that when you go to dowel it, the icing may crack slightly since it has been drying for so long. I would get on and dowel now, if there is a problem with cracks it can be rectifed sooner rather than later.
At the moment it’s a little too early for decorating the fruit cake. I would begin to prepare it about three weeks before the wedding. If you have never prepared a fruit cake ready for marzipan and icing you’ll find a guide here:

Preparing cake

The fruit cake must remain on it’s own card during preparation and icing so that it can be stacked onto the dowelled dummy cake. Because the cake is on a card it will not be in contact with the dummy so the icing will not sink as feared by your friend. Allow the icing to dry overnight for ease of transferring the cake without damaging the icing. The cake can then be placed in a cardboard cake box and stored in a cool room away from direct sunlight or radiators ( which won’t be on in the summer we hope!). The box will protect the cake from airborn dust and accidental damage.
If your bride and groom models are quite heavy, it would be safer to have them standing on a small decorated card. The cake on which they will be placed should also be dowelled to prevent the models sinking.

To learn a little more about how dummy cakes are constructed, there is some information here:
http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/cake-dummies-by-madeitwithlove

Hope the above helps, if you need more information or help please post again.

That’s for your help. Much appreciated. I will take on board your suggestion. Looks like I’ll be getting dean to get the drill out, thinking holes made with a drill in the polystyrene will minimise any cracking, and if the worst happens, well I’ve plenty of time to do it again.