♥Perfect for Photos and Home Decor
Have you ever seen a picture with an amazing looking cake in the background? I see them all the time, and think, “man, I wish I had time to make a cake for my photos….
…and then I think…
“I wish I could make a cake that even looked good for photos.”
Well did you know there is such thing as a Faux Cake that people use for their photos.
There are, and they can be quite expensive to buy.
So, I did what I always do when I don’t want to spend money on something, and I decided to teach myself how to do it…. and guess what…
This was one project that wasn’t a Flop… it was a HUGE Success.
I love when that happens. ♥♥♥♥♥
What you need:
♥a package of 8 inch styrofoam rounds (can be found here on Amazon)
♥a big container of compound spackle also found here
♥many many many plastic butter knifes
♥parchment paper
♥brown and yellow craft paint
♥faux flowers, stems, or faux fruit
**For the sake of showing you how I made these, I am making it on a much smaller scale today. I am using these small styrofoam squares that I found at the dollar store. They also make adorable square cakes too.
These would be a great activity to make with a child.
If you buy these dollar store styrofoam, and make on a smaller scale: this is great summer project with your kiddos!!
I did take a video of me making these for the first time. This is a video of the above round cakes. This video shows you in length how I figured out this process as I went, and how you can make these too!!
Here is a step by step guide using photos and the smaller styrofoam:
If you want to have just a white cake. Skip this step of painting the styrofoam.
You are painting the styrofoam to make it look like a brown or yellow cake underneath.
Once it is painted you need to let it dry really well. You do not need to paint the bottom.
Once it is dry or if you are just covering it to be a completely white frosted cake, you will start by covering the whole cake with the spackle. Do this by using the butter knife.
Start by covering the top, and then push it down on to the sides and cover really well and thick. The white cake needs a thicker layer.
Once it is covered well, you will get a fresh plastic knife, making sure to use the flat edge.
You will wipe off the excess of the spackle and wipe it in the container.
You do this all around the sides leaving a smooth edge on the white cake.
On the painted cakes, you want to pull enough off that you can see the styrofoam underneath. Leaving it to look like a naked cake. Some frosted, but some “cake” showing.
Please note: this works so much better on the type of styrofoam ordered from Amazon. These squares from the Dollar Store are a little thicker, coarser, and don’t look quite as natural.
Once the cake is covered, smoothed, and looks how you want; it will need to dry for 1 to 2 days.
Then you can start adding all the fun stuff to the top to make it look like a decorated cake.
I bought flowers, stems, and faux fruit from Hobby Lobby to add to the top.
My plan is not to attach the “toppings” to any of the cakes so that I can change it out for the seasons and holidays.
I even picked some fresh flowers and leaves from my yard to make the small cakes look really lovely in photos.
…and a fun way to display these is by using stemware turned upside down, and add a small plate to the top for a unique cake stand.
I can’t wait to put these on display in my house and use them for a backdrop in some of my photos.
I hope that you enjoy making some of these for yourself.
If you make some, please share your photos with me at my instagram @valleviewabode
