Creative Ideas for an Elevated Cake Board Design
You put time and effort into baking and decorating a cake, why not give your cake board a little love too? With just a little extra effort you can turn a plain board into a pretty base that matches your cake’s theme and gives it that extra WOW factor!
If your strengths are more along crafting than decorating, then these suggestions are for you!
Getting Started: Creating a Sturdier Cake Board
You can either purchase a thicker ½” cake drum or you can glue 3 standard cardboard cake circles together to make a thicker drum.
If you choose to make your own thicker cake boards, when you glue them together, remember to alternate the direction of the cardboard lines for added strength. I use this type of cake board when I am covering it completely with contact paper, so I don’t need to worry about the cake circles being greaseproof.
Easy Ways to Dress Up Your Board
🎀 Add Ribbon!
I do this for 90% of my cakes. Simply hot glue a pretty ribbon to the edge of the board. It only takes a few minutes and elevates the look instantly.
⚪ Use Contact Paper for an instant greaseproof and custom cake board
I have a supply of adhesive contact paper in white, black and fun patterns that I use to cover my homemade thicker cake drums.
Place a cake board on the contact paper and trace around it
Draw a second circle around the first that is 2” bigger
Cut out the circle
Cut slits every 2” around the outside edge, up to the edge of the inside circle
Remove the backing and have the sticky side up
Place the cake board in the middle of the paper and wrap the excess over the edges of the board
Another option is to cover scrapbook paper with clear contact paper and apply it in exactly the same way.
🌀 Fondant Fans this is for you!
Covering a cake board completely in fondant gives a different look and gives you the opportunity to use letter stamps to press the message on the board. When the fondant is dry you can color in the letters with edible markers. You can do this before or after decorating the cake.
Before: Try baking the fondant covered board so it dries rock hard. This results in a pretty marbled effect. The major con to this is that you have to have your cake completely decorated and very carefully place it on the fondant-covered board, or else you might end up with grease stains.
After: Use a cakeboard that is 2-3” larger than your cake. Place the cake in the center of the board and decorate the cake. Cut out a strip of fondant that is large enough to cover the extra space on the board and wrap it around the cake. This method does require a little more time and skill working with fondant as you are going from a straight piece of fondant and making it round.
🪄 Royal Icing Enthusiasts, we’ve got one for you!
If you like working with royal icing, you can treat your cake board like a giant cookie and create designs with the wet on wet technique, attach sprinkles, sanding sugar or food safe glitter. Like the fondant covered board, you will need to be careful placing the cake on top to avoid grease stains.
🤎 Winter themed cakes become masterpieces with Gingerbread
Cover your cake board in gingerbread and bake for a festive holiday look.
PRO TIP: Add “feet” for easier lifting
Any time I am making a bigger, heavy cake, I always add feet to the bottom of my cake boards. It just makes it so much easier to lift the cake and also makes it slightly nonslip. I purchase self-adhesive, rubber, cabinet door stoppers. To attach them with the least amount of work, I place the stoppers sticky side up on my 12” turntable (which matches my 12” cake boards); I usually add 1-2 in the middle, depending on how heavy my cake is, and then 8 around the edge, about 1” from the side. This way they are invisible. I usually do this last, as the weight of the cake is enough to make sure the sticky door stoppers stay put!
Hopefully this will inspire you to find a simple technique or two to add your unique flair to your cake boards! Drop me a line at robin@cake4kids.org if you have any questions.
- Robin, aka The Cake Robin
