Form Cakes and Other Fakes (Interruption continued)

I recently discovered a couple of ingenious tools for cake competitions...the first is cake dummies made of styrofoam! Not all competitions will allow them and, if truth be told, I truly believe real cake requires more skill to decorate. Real cake moves, and shifts, and bulges, and gets stale. All that being said, my purchase a few months ago of 4 "tiers" of  styrofoam cake is what is enabling me to enter more than one cake in the upcoming Sweet Times in the Rockies cake show. I will be covering them in fondant this weekend, more than two weeks before the show, as opposed to two days before the show. They look like this...

Styrofoam cake dummies

The other is a recipe for something called a form cake. There are competitions that don't allow styrofoam cakes. The recipe was originated as an alternative. It's "real" cake, but isn't truly edible and will last forever without molding. Hmm, except for the molding, it sounds a bit like my pound cake! Fellow Cake Central member bobwonderbuns (aka Cindy) tracked it down on a state fair website (I understand it's since been taken down) and very graciously shared the fruits of her labor with the rest of us! I made some this past weekend for my second entry, which will require very specific cakes shapes and sizes for which I don't have dummies. It baked beautifully! It's very firm and has a lovely outside texture. Here's a couple of pictures...

I'm really looking forward to decorating them!

The recipe is...
1 cake mix (I used the cheapest yellow cake mix I could find)
3 tbs flour
3 tbs meringue powder
1 cup water (due to my high altitude, I added an additional 3 tbs)

Mix for about 2 minutes, until well blended and smooth. Batter will be thick. Spread in greased pans (I also line the bottoms of my pans with parchment paper) and bake at 350 until browned (I was making small cakes so they were done in about 30 minutes).

I come from a long line of women for whom food equals love. Thus, I find great joy in cooking and baking good food for the people I care about. I do have to confess, though, that it is nice to take a little break from making sure it tastes as good as it looks. Just don't tell anyone I said that!

Next up...back to the past with Sweet Times in the Rockies 2010, Chapter Two, The Cake!  I mean it this time.