how to decorate the cake board

If you are baking a cake in a different shape than those typical round, square and rectangle shapes, you might have difficulty in finding a ready made board. Or if you are baking an extra large cake which needs an extra large base, then you are left with the only option of making it on your own.


Cake boards - how to make them from scratch?

• All you need is a thick cardboard and silver or gold colored foil to wrap around it. For instance, if you are baking a star-shaped cake, place your cake tin on the cardboard and trace it on the cardboard. Remove the tin and make an outline around the traced pattern with an extra allowance of 1 inch. Cut out the pattern on the outer outline.

• Place the cut out pattern on your foil and trace the pattern on the foil lightly. Remove the cardboard and make an outline around the traced pattern with an extra allowance of 1 to 1 ½ inches. Cut out the pattern on the outer outline. Make short snips with a scissor on the traced foil from the outer outline and the inner outline with a distance of 2 to 3 inches between each snip. Be careful not to snip beyond the inner outline or else the cardboard will be visible once the foil is wrapped around your cardboard.

• Finally, wrap the foil around the board and secure the bottom neatly.

Note: If you are baking a cake which of an extra large size, it is best to use a piece of plywood wrapped in foil as the base A mere cardboard might not be able to take the weight of the cake.


Once the board is ready, the next step in would be to decorate the boards to present your cakes. 


Decorating guide


You have a choice of either leaving them plain and placing your cake on it, or alternatively, you may also decorate your cake board. Decorated ones look more professional than plain ones. Here are some interesting decorating ideas:



Covering with fondant 
– if your cake is covered with fondant, you can use the same fondant to cover the top of your board. You can then place your fondant covered cake on it and decorate the board where it is not covered by the cake. You can either pipe some patterns on the edges, on just about any other decorations that you wish. Some people prefer to place their candles on the cake board instead of the cake. 

Flowers
– this is another interesting decorating idea. You can use whole flowers or drop a few flower petals on the board for an elegant look. This decorating technique is most widely used in wedding cakes. 

Ribbons and laces
– when you have a heavy cake and your board is thick, you can wrap a ribbon or lace around it as a decoration. Choose a ribbon or lace in a color that matches the rest of your cake decorations.

Candles 
– if you are making a birthday cake, instead of poking the candles on the cake, you can pipe little rosettes on the cake board and stick each candle into them. This is particularly creative if you have a novelty cake like a doll cake where you do not wish to spoil the shape of the cake by sticking candles on it.

Ruffles/Doilies
– ruffles are another form of decoration that is widely used and is available in most cake supply stores. These are placed on a cake board and topped with the cake to give it a grand appearance. Alternatively, you can also use doilies to cover the boards. Just make sure to choose doilies which are of the same diameter as the boards. 

Decorating Cake Boards with Fondant

Decorating cake boards with fondant is a very simple way of dressing up a cake board and gives it a very professionally decorated look.

Fondant is typically used to decorate cake boards when the cake itself is also covered in fondant. If your cake is covered in buttercream or cream cheese, you can still use fondant, but be sure to line your cake with a thin sheet of clear plastic (cellophane paper) so that the butter cream doesn’t seep into the fondant and create grease marks on it. Once you have finished applying the buttercream onto your cakes, trim the plastic as close as possible to the cake using a pen knife without leaving any cut marks on the fondant itself.

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Things you need for decorating cake boards with fondant are:

• 2 cake boards or a cake drum to fit the size of your cake (normally, I choose cake boards which are about 3 inches larger than the cake diameter)

• Glue gun

• Ribbon in a color that matches the theme color of the cake. Also you may want to make sure you get ribbon which has enough width to cover the thickness of about 3 cakes boards (i.e. 2 cake boards stacked together and a layer on fondant on it). If you want to use a wider ribbon, you will probably need to stack more than 2 cake boards or make your fondant extra thick. The choice is entirely yours :)

• Fondant

• Rolling pin

• Fondant smoother

• Royal icing

• Icing sugar to dust

• Pizza cutter and a small kitchen knife

• Turntable

• Pastry brush and some warm water

Cake drums are generally more expensive, so most often, I use two cake boards to create my own cake drum. Please bear in mind that while this technique works well for smaller and lighter cakes, it might not necessarily work for larger and heavier tiered ones. In such circumstances, I would still prefer to use a cake drum or a plywood to stand the weight of the cake. If you are using a cake drum or plywood, then you don’t need the glue gun. 

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Decorating Cake Boards with Fondant - step by step guide and pictures:

Get 2 cake boards of the same size. Stick them together using hot glue (glue gun).

Brush the top of the cake boards with some boiled warm water.

Roll fondant large enough to cover the entire cake board. Lift the fondant with your rolling pin as shown in the picture. Please remember to dust the rolled fondant with some icing sugar to prevent it from sticking when you roll it with the rolling pin.

Unroll the fondant steadily on your cake boards.

Using a pizza cutter, trim off excess fondant around the cake board as shown. At this point, don’t trim too close to the cake board. You need to do this step as you will be lifting the fondant covered board onto a turntable to make it easier to trim the edges beautifully. If there is too much of excess fondant, there is a risk of the fondant tearing when you lift it.

Use a fondant smoother to smoothen the fondant.

Next, lift it gently and place it onto a turntable.

Holding a small kitchen knife at a 90 degrees angle, trim off all the excess fondant as close as possible to the cake board.

Now you will have a nicely trimmed fondant covered cake board.

Brush off all the icing sugar that is visible on the fondant using a damp brush.

Now its time to wrap the ribbon around the cake board. For this purpose, you can either use royal icing or the hot glue to stick your ribbon around the board. Here I am using royal icing. Pipe a dot of icing as shown. Stick your ribbon to it. Then pipe a line of royal icing all around the cake board.

Gently stick the ribbon all around the cake board. Make sure the ribbon is well stretched for a professional finish to your cake boards.

There you go, the cake board is now ready for the cake. Hope you find this tutorial on decorating cake boards with fondant useful.