My grandmother just sent me an article about the whole "fake cake" issue EVERYONE discusses on here! I can't believe it's being published in magazines now!! Do they not want bakeries/decorators to make any money??? WHY?? I don't get it! Actually, this article goes to the extreme to say that a $500 some dollar cake would only cost...$100!!! I don't think so!!!

Here is what the article says if you can't read it:

As the cost of weddings keep soaring, some couples are finding at least on way to cut corners: a fake cake. Why not? Real wedding cakes fetch about $543 on average. For as low as $100, you can snag a pretty good replica made out of foam, with a secret compartment tucked in the back for hiding that special first piece. Once that ritual's done, just whisk it away and serve guests slices of something less pricey. How sweet is that?

What are your thoughts on this? I am just shocked!

BTW...it's Reader's Digest...I think me or someone like Indydebi should write to them!

I actually did this for my sons first birthday/baptism 18 years ago. The theme was sailors and ships, I made this huge fake cake with card board and icing it look like the Titanic! and made the regular cake to serve the guest with plain white bc icing, everyone though the ship face cake was for real, and when told it wasn't they agree it was a great idea!

I saw this. Yes, it is the Reader's Digest. I was appalled! As a guest to a wedding...WEDDING....I'll get dressed up, do hair, nails, makeup, clothes, etc. Bring a nice gift. Probably brought a nice gift to the shower. Or a gift-card...something, ya know? Something nice.

By gollly, I'd better get a piece of their "nice" wedding cake and not some schmucky sheet cake they have hidden in the back-kitchen!

(Please no offense to anyone who did this to some other sort of party, I'm talking about a black-tie, cocktail dress wedding, folks!)

But I think this subject has been thoroughly hashed somewhere in the CC forums.

By gollly, I'd better get a piece of their "nice" wedding cake and not some schmucky sheet cake they have hidden in the back-kitchen!

(Please no offense to anyone who did this to some other sort of party, I'm talking about a black-tie, cocktail dress wedding, folks!)

But I think this subject has been thoroughly hashed somewhere in the CC forums.[/quote]

Some people do not care about the decoration as much as to the taste. I had beautiful decorated cakes that where not so great tasting at some fancy weddings.

i really don't mean to tick anyone off here, but what i find more unbelievable is people getting up in arms over someone else's budget.

at our wedding, i had a budget of $2000 and the dreams that had built from the time i was a little girl and were worth well over $50,000, probably. i managed with a dress that fit my budget, a church that was free, a photographer that managed to miss some of the most precious memories, a hairdo that fell before i even got to the recieving line, a cake that was quickly picked out of a book, and a ridiculous uninspiring honeymoon, etc...yes, indeed, i am just as married, but i will always mourn for the wedding of my dreams...or even a small reasonable piece of it.

this all may sound spoiled to you, but i can guarantee you that, as the queen of bargains, if i could have had my dream day and fell a little short of money for the cake, i'd go for the styrofoam filled dream, and the people that i invited to attend, the people who really love me for who i am and not what i provide for them, would care less, as long as the cake was good.

Look, I add styrofoams to my wedding cakes all the time to add the height and grandeur that the bride is looking for.

What ticks me off about articles like this is that I am NOT doing a 3 or 5 tier styrofoam cake for a lousy hundred bucks.

What ticks me off about articles like this is the impression it leaves with brides on what things actually cost.

What ticks me off about articles like this is that these articles set me up to be the bad guy when *I* have to be the one to explain to Miss Bride how the magazines and websites are lying to her, and *I* have to be the one to tell her what she's really going to pay.

I could care less if I get a piece of "real" wedding cake or the same cake baked in a sheet pan.

I don't like the way they are misleading brides.

I had just clicked on an ad concerning this. While I personally don't like the idea as it is not something I would do, for those who can't really afford a nice big fancy cake, guess that is better than no cake for their pictures. But my thought is you still have to have enough cake for all the guests, so by the time you buy sheet cakes (usually the same price per serving) plus rent the dummy, does it really save that much?

deb

I have seen a website that will actually rent out "fake cakes"... I just can't help but wonder how sanitary it would be...esp in regard to renting the "cake" -

I got a lovely wedding cake for $243 from a nice bakery in Oklahoma...I was amazed that it wasn't over $350 -b/c it was similiar to the fancy castle cake that was on the cover of a Wilton book a few years back -of course it wasn't as big...a total of 4 cakes (which included our 1st anniversary cake).

I was a bride on a budget, and I pulled it off and didn't even spend $2000 - My dress was $500 - I made all 5 bridesmaids dresses -less than $100 to make all five, I made their flower bouquets, my bouquet was only $35 from the florist, and I made my own garter, the unity candle set I decorated...and had a lovely wedding cake. It can be done!

I too saw this article and was confused. The article makes it sound like a great option, but on the other hand the picture of the lady with the face says another. I guess depending on how you take the article, it could benefit either side.

We all shouldn't be appalled by the use of the "fake cake" - but by the price that they say you can get one for - HA! -

Real cake or not my time for a large tiered cake whether real or fake is the same - just minus the baking time. Part of the cost of the cake is the price you pay for the talent of the cake decorator not just the cake to eat.

Why do they think it would be soooo much cheaper??

edit to add - part of my wedding cake was "fake" just so that I could have the height I wanted - did not need the cake, if I remember right we only saved about $50.

I can see renting one for $100. A compartment in the back? What the heck is that all about?
That's really ridiculous to think that a "fake" cake should be cheap. Since when is labor "fake"? Fondant? Fake? gumpaste? fake?
please! Sure I'll subtract the cost of the butter, flour and eggs for that tier, but, in my experience, dummies are just as hard (sometimes harder because they are so damn light) to decorate.
BTW, anyone have any tips on decorating dummies. THe light weight has been a problem when it comes to putting a "crumbcoat" on a turntable......Should I just do straight fondant??

Personally, I don't know if It think it'll be a big deal. Also, I wouldn't be insulted to not recieve a piece of (extravagant) cake at someone's wedding. I went to a girlfriend's wedding where I was served lobster, it was an all day elaborate affair and I never tasted the huge wedding cake. (I wonder sometimes if it was a fake). I ate chocolate mousse. I didn't feel slighted. I think she wanted the cake to match the rest of the wedding...maybe they needed to cut something and that was it.

I personally don't see this as that much different from decorating the whole cake with fondant and gumpaste....then pulling it all off to eat the cake underneath. Since the cake is taken to the kitchen before serving...no one really knows what they are getting...and if the sheet cake they are actually served is made from the same recipe you would have for a wedding cake...I don't think the guests are being short changed at all.
Of course, my idea of a wedding cake is to make an awesome tasting cake, ice it in buttercream and serve it right in front of the guests. It used to be that was what decorating was all about....make something beautiful that you could cut into and eat.
Times are changing and what used to be important to people no longer holds true. I never really understood why the groom rented a tuxedo for the ceremony, while the bride paid way over her budget for a wedding gown. I guess we will get used to whatever becomes the in thing to do.

I agree with indydebi. I've never seen them take the cake out of the room to cut it at a wedding.

This is what I'm talking about. I really LOVE what Indydebi said about having to explain to these brides about how much it REALLY costs. (I wanna send all of what she said to Reader's Digest) I mean, that much of a price cut is ridiculous. BUT who is getting this information and where??? We all know that we would charge a slightly less fee to decorate a dummy cake but, not this significant!!!

And don't get me wrong! I am all for saving money on weddings too! I did the whole $2000 budget as well! But, I would rather have an actual CAKE! (which I did) I just don't get why cake is the tradition, but it's not important as much now?

I also feel that the ad/read could be misleading for both parts. That woman does look disgusted with the cake...why would they think that face would help!? Such a weird thing...

Decorating a dummy cake can be slighter easier, yes. When I decorate them I make sure to either glue the dummy to the board or put some royal icing under the foam to give it a little more weight.

This is great! I just wanted to get everyone's perspective on this article!
Thanks guys!

I totally agree about taking the cake to the back...WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN?? I have always seen the cake cut right there! There are definitely some strange NEW traditions happening with the cakes...could be good or bad!?

All of the weddings I have been to here in California do it this way now. Most of the receptions are in a restaurant and they have their servers slice it up in the kitchen. When my son was married 9 years ago, I made a beautiful 4 tier cake for him and carefully transported it 4 hours away. I was so proud of it...then when it came time to serve it they wheeled it to the kitchen. I was in shock. It could easily have been a dummy...or made out of rubber for all the guest knew. I think it really takes away from the craft. Another of my sons is getting married in May and they have already reserved the reception site and I have already been informed that the cake will be taken to the kitchen to be cut.

My husband and I eloped. Just me and him.

Anyway, I though it DID cost just as much to do a styrafoam cake as a real one, if not more! When I priced styrafoam at hobby lobby for a fair cake I decided to go with cake instead. Those pieces are outrageously expensive.

I have never priced them wholesale. Besides styrafoam is Bad, Bad, Bad for the environment. It never goes away. I won't even buy styrafoam plates and cups.

I have learned on CC again though. I will always point out to my brides about cakes being the thing the guests are going to ohh and ahh over. And I will absolutely stress cutting and serving the cake in front of the guests.

Everyone loves a great decorated cake. I love how happy my cakes make people and how special they make their day. I would think they would especially want that feeling on their big day!

Is there a company that is pumping out these rented styrafoam dummies? Is this a California thing? lol

I am sometimes gobsmacked by brides who have no clue. I used to do bridal makeup a few years ago and was driven out by tight arsed brides who wanted to look like a model for thirty bucks. They didnt think twice about spending $5000 on a dress, but more than $50 on makeup was too much. Are they for real????

You want to get married, you have a budget. You cant allocate 30% to a dress and then allocate .5% to a cake if you want to impress your guests. It's all about balance.

I'd much rather have a smaller simpler cake that I could afford than have a massive overdone fake.

I'm with indydebi here. Where do the magazine people think the cost of the cake comes from? You still have to ice and decorate the styrofoam cakes, which takes materials and time. So how do they figure it'll only cost $100???? Talk about misleading!

There is so much that is fake these days, it is a shame that traditions like a wonderful wedding cake, that not only looks good, but should taste good too, are being lost. Let's keep some good things around........like real cake. I do agree that you can use fake to add height to a cake, but I strongly feel that the cake the guests are going to eat should be part of the real cake. I guess I am old fashioned. I do think it is acceptable to have extra sheet cakes if the wedding is very large, but they should be the same type of cake & filling etc. as the main wedding cake. There was a trend many years ago, where dummy cakes were used & slices of real cake were packaged in some form of plastic wrap inside the bottom tier, onlty the bottom tier was fake, the other tiers were real cake. These cakes were always fruit cake which is not popular in the USA, but even then I did not like the idea at all. It was a gimmick & died a natural death, hooray.

Did I just dream this, or did I hear or read it some place. I was under the impression that with the dummy wedding cakes they reused them. The same cake might be used for a dozen different weddings. I think they just change the ribbon and flowers to match your colors. I am not trying to be funny, I think they do that.

I agree, the cakes do not get the fame they once did. Yes, I am just as disappointed as anyone. I personally am glad my decorating career was at it's height in the 80's and 90's. They rolled out the red carpet for decorators then. Private bakeries who were passed down for generations are going out of business now.
Please don't attack me....I still think it is because we quit using buttercream and baking from scratch. We tried to make the cakes not look like cakes ....so the tradition of a for real cake is dying.

This has been talked about before on here. I personally don't see what the big deal is. I had a fake cake at my wedding because I already had 2 different deserts with the meal and saw no point in spending more money on a real cake. I was on a budget also so the money that I would have paid for a real cake I was able to put it towards something else.

I did know how much work it was to do cakes and can really appreciate even more now that I have made afew now myself. If this is away that people could save some money like I did and still wanted to have a cake for pictures then that is perfect for those couples that are getting married.

I don't want you to think that I am being harsh about this but that is just how I see it. Now as for the price being around $100 then that is totally untrue and very unrealistic for the Reader's Digest to print that because that is miss leading.

Sorry if I sound harsh!!