A beautiful cake with a lot of decorations and simply filled with mirror glaze requires an appropriate presentation. And an ordinary tray, even the most beautiful one, is not suitable for this. This task is best handled by special substrates that you can make yourself.
General rules for the manufacture of the substrate
It is especially important to follow the rules when creating a substrate for heavy multi-tiered cakes, since in this case the emphasis is not so much on the decorative properties of the product, but on its strength. So, do-it-yourself cake substrate can be made:
- from any solid material (the choice depends on the mass of the cake itself), for example, from chipboard or foam sheets;
- strictly according to the size of the lower cake layer (if a little more, then this is not critical, but if the substrate is even a few millimeters smaller, this can lead to a break in the cake);
- covered with cling film or foil so that it does not come into contact with the cake itself.
How to make your own cake topperStyrofoam hands?
In addition to polystyrene, you can also use polystyrene foam boards (penoplex), but only for cakes weighing up to 1 kg. To make the substrate you need:
- foam or foam plastic;
- stationary knife (if there is none, you can take a regular kitchen knife, but it must first be warmed up in the sun);
- food wrap;
- fine sandpaper;
- double sided tape;
- decorative satin ribbon according to the thickness of the base material.
Now you can make your own cake base by following the instructions:
- Cut out a circle or any other shape from foam, depending on the design of the cake itself.
- Finish the edges of the workpiece with sandpaper.
- Wrap the cut circle in cling film so that the edible cake does not come into contact with the foam (the latter tends to crumble).
- Now you can decorate the substrate depending on the design of the cake. For decoration, you can use a satin ribbon (wrap the edge of the product with it), foil, mastic.
Fibreboard stand
This material is chipboard of a certain size. Despite the apparent flexibility, the fiberboard substrate can withstand a cake weighing up to 5 kg.
It is not always possible to use this material to make a DIY cake base. This is due to the need to use a special tool - a jigsaw. In addition, during the cutting of a circle, there may remaina lot of garbage, so you have to allocate a separate room, which is also not always possible.
If you managed to find a company that provides a service for cutting fiberboard, or a ready-made circle, then to make your own cake base from it, just wrap the workpiece with foil or cloth, and then with cling film.
Do-it-yourself cardboard cake pad
This option for making the substrate is considered the simplest and most affordable. For such a product you need:
- three-layer cardboard;
- paper (packaging, self-adhesive or any other decorative paper);
- plain plastic bag.
After preparing all the tools and materials, you can begin the work itself. You need to do this as follows:
- Cutting out the circle is optional. It will be much more interesting to look at a do-it-yourself square-shaped cake base that protrudes beyond the cake. The stand must be wrapped with wrapping paper, fixed on the wrong side with tape. Then it is worth protecting the product with cling film.
- You need to collect the cake immediately on the substrate, but first you need to lay a circle cut out of baking paper on it.
Such a substrate is convenient to use, besides, the increased size expands the possibilities of decorating.
The substrate performs not only a practical, but also a decorative function. Therefore, it is recommended to arrange it in harmony with the maincake design, and only durable reliable materials are used for manufacturing.
