How to make a
$5 Fake Cake
You can buy one on Etsy for about sixty bucks (once you tack on shipping and handling) or you can make them for five dollars a pop! But don't start at the craft store... there are tricks to making your tasty (looking) treats for cheap!
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How to make $50 Fake Cake for $5!!
Cake Materials
Craft Store Shopping List:
1 M star cake decorating tip
Acrylic Paint (about 2 oz/1 small bottle per cake)
Hot Glue, Hot Glue Gun
Tip: only buy dark paint colors, you will use less paint as it is deluted by the joint compound.
Hardware store shopping list
Drywall Joint Compound (approx 1/2 gal per cake. 1 gal = $7.50, 5 gal = $12.99)
Styrofoam Bucket Insulator w/lid (5 gallon size, $2)
Plastic drywall mud spreaders set of three sizes.
Gal. size ziplock bags
Don't be a Dummy!
Craft store cake dummies range from $12 (for an itty bitty one) to $18 (for a decent sized cake). A Styrofoam Bucket insulator is $2 from Home Depot and you can turn it into two cakes!
Mix it up!
Mix the joint compound with your paint (looks much better than painting cake afterwards).
Add water or flour to create a frosting-like consistency.
Glue lid on (if using the bigger, top half of inulator)
Coat the dummy with colored "frosting". Should be a little more watery for this step.
Allow 24 hours to dry.
Base Coat
After 24 hours your cake is ready for embellishments. Your base coat doesn't need to be perfectly smooth if you're making a rosette cake.
Wait 24 hours
Rosettes
Cheap Icing bag
Don't waste your money on craft store icing bags. Simply cut a hole in the corner of a ziplock (gal size) bag and drop your decorating tip in. Secure with tape. (you can also make one out of wax paper).
"Frosting" should be a little thicker for Rosettes, otherwise they will lose their shape. Rosettes are formed by making a spiral with your star tip. There are lots of helpful Youtube videos for this!
Allow at least 48 hours to dry. Then your cake is all done! I hope you have fun baking! or, uh.. faking! Good luck!
Done!
Add a candle to the top if you want to! I wrap the bottom of the candle with plastic wrap and allow it to set. This will form a hole and allow you to switch out the candle and use the cake for years to come!
Embellishments
Yum!
*Tip -- Use Wilton's GEL food coloring for better, less runny consistancy and more brilliant color. But it is very important to use gel coloring and not liquid.
*or substitute food coloring GEL
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