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    Home » Other Techniques

    Cake Boards DIY - How to Make and Cover Cake Boards with Foil

    Published: Aug 23, 2020 · Modified: Oct 12, 2020 by Priya Maha

    Learn how to make and cover cake boards with foil and other decorative papers with this awesome cake boards DIY tutorial.

    So the title of this page reads 'cake boards DIY'. Well, do I make my own cake boards, then? My answer is no most of the time, and yes, very rarely.

    Cake boards are not something that people often make on their own. They are so easily available and cheap; there is no reason why anyone would want to make one.

    Poster on cake boards DIY with a finished cake board and step by step images

    Cake Boards DIY - Covering Cake Boards

    When to Make & When to Buy

    But then again, there are times when I do make my own cake boards and these are the times when I am unable to find the right shape or size for my cakes.

    Or when I realize I have run out of cake boards and I am rushing to finish up a cake order and there is no time to run to the store to get one!

    Making cake boards from scratch is really not that difficult, at least in the way I make them. All I use is thick cardboard and food-grade foil (I have even used baking foil) to wrap the board. This can be found in cake decorating supply shops or you can buy them from here. You can even use decorative paper to provide its food safe or you have a layer of plastic wrap around it.   

    These are the steps I follow in making my own cake boards and covering them with paper and other decorative material:


    How to Make and Cover Cake Boards - Make Your Own Cake Boards

    These are the main supplies you need for this cake boards DIY project:

    • Cardboard - This should be slightly larger than the size of the cake you want to make the cake board for.
    • Cake Tin - I use my cake tins to draw out the cake board template. You can also freehand the drawing.
    • Ruler - This is to measure the sides of the cake board accurately so that the cake board is correctly sized.
    • Cake board foil - this is material that will be used to cover the base board.
    • Glue
    • Scissors

    And this is the step by step process for the DIY cake boards:

    The template

    • The first step for making the cake boards is to get the template ready. For instance, if you are going to bake an oval-shaped cake and need an oval-shaped cake board, you would need to trace your oval cake tin outline on a piece of cardboard. 
    An oval cake tin

    Cake boards DIY - An odd-shaped cake pan

    An oval cake tin on a cardboard, with a hand tracing the outline

    Drawing the outline of the cake tin

    • Next, remove the tin and draw another outline, this time, approximately 1 inch to 1.5 inches away from the earlier outline. The 1 to 1.5 inches allowance is to make sure the cake board is slightly bigger than the cake itself. Cut the board following the second outline. 
    • Repeat the process for another board cut out of the same size. I make sure I use at least 2 boards stacked together to hold my cakes, but if you are ok with one, you need not cut 2 pieces of board. One would suffice. 
    Marking a cardboard with pencil and ruler
    An oval template drawing on a brown cardboard
    An oval shaped cardboard cutout

    Cake Boards DIY - the base template

    2 oval shaped brown cardboard cutouts

    Cake Boards DIY - 2 boards for a stronger base

    • Glue both the board pieces together. This would form the base of your cake board.

    Cutting the wrapper paper

    • Next, place the cardboard cutouts on your foil and trace the pattern onto the back of the foil.
    Applying glue to a cardboard
    An oval shaped brown cardboard on the reverse side of a blue wrapping paper
    • Now, the foil piece that you use to wrap the board template cannot be in the exact same size as the cardboard. This is because it needs to be wrapped around the cake board. This is not a full wrap. However, the sides need to be folded underneath so that the cake board looks neat and the cardboard is not visible.
    • For this purpose, when you cut your foil, give it an extra allowance of about 2 inches on the sides. This is so that there is enough foil to fold over the board sides.
    Marking the outline of a brown cardboard cutout onto a white paper with pencil
    An oval template on a paper

    • To make it easier to fold over, make short snips all around the foil. When doing this, make sure the cut does not go beyond the outline of the cake pan you made on it earlier. You can keep each snipping to a distance of about 1 to 2 inches each.
    Using scissors to cut the outline of a paper template
    A brown cardboard cutout on a slightly larger piece of oval paper, with the sides slit in equal intervals

    • Finally, wrap the foil around the board and secure the bottom neatly. Now foil does not need glue to hold it in place. But, if you use paper or other material, you would definitely use glue to hold everything in place.  
    A brown cardboard cutout on a slightly larger piece of oval paper, with the sides slit in equal intervals

    The back of a DIY cake board before wrapping

    A brown cake board wrapped in blue paper

    Cake boards DIY - the back of a completed DIY cake board

    • Once the gluing is all done, turn the board over. And this is how the completed cake board would look like:
    A brown cake board DIY wrapped in blue paper

    Cake Boards DIY - A handmade cake board

    Cake boards DIY note:

    I only use cardboards for small cakes (i.e. less than 8 inches in diameter). Even then, I stack at least 2 cardboards together to make sure they are able to hold the weight of the cakes. If you are planning on making a large cake board to hold a large cake, it is best to use a piece of plywood wrapped in foil as the base. Mere cardboard might not be able to hold the weight of the cake.

    This is how I usually make and cover cake boards for my cake board DIY projects. But this is not just it. In most cases, when I use plain foil to cover my cake boards, I don’t quite like to leave my cake boards plain and not decorated. So most of the time, I cover them with fondant (for fondant covered cakes). Other times, I add some other decorations to it (in the form of fondant cut-outs, candles, doilies, etc). Click here to read all about how I cover my cake boards with fondant and here to read all about other cake board decorating ideas. 

    Hope this cake board DIY tutorial is useful for you in making your own cake boards and covering them with foil.

    If you have any other ideas on how to make and cover cake boards, please feel free to share them below.

    Happy Decorating 🙂

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Phil Jonah

      June 01, 2021 at 6:27 pm

      I really enjoy the teaching hope to come back again for more thanks.

      Reply

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