My SIL and I are planning an Open House for my IL's 50th anniversary later this month. I'm making the cake & having trouble deciding on what style of cake to make.

Stacked?
Cupcake tower w/tiered cake on top?
Dummy cake w/kitchen cakes for serving?

Since it's an open house style party, I kind of want the cake to be part of the decor...which makes me lean toward doing a dummy cake for display. And, kitchen cakes will be easier to serve.

But the practical side of me says to do a stacked cake so it can be both decor and food.

I like the idea of a cupcake tower, but that might be too modern for a 50th anniversary.

Help! (thanks in advance!) Other ideas welcome too!

I like the cupcake idea. If its the type of thing where people will be dropping by all day and they cut the cake it could start to get stale after a few hours and cupcakes are wrapped in their papers so you don't have to worry about that. I know you could cover the cake but then if someone forgets then you could have trouble.

I had a client a couple of years ago with the very same concerns. She wanted those who arrived at 4:30 to see the same cake as those who had arrived at 2:00.

We opted for a small 2-tier (with pillars) dummy cake, with sheet cakes in the kitchen. Since I was doing the catering, it was easy for my crew to keep the dessert table filled with pieces of cake on a plate for the guests, with the dummy cake as the centerpiece. (I did the dummy at no charge because (a) I was also doing the catering, so they were spending a considerable amount of money with me (b) it was only 2 tiers, so not much work at all.)

Thanks IndyDebi...that's exactly what I was thinking. Just needed confirmation from the pro's!

Here's a pic of the finished cake:

I love this! well done

It's gorgeous! As a newbie, can you tell me how this is done? Is the piping all freehand or stenciled? Is the middle tier fondant, and is that called quilting? What kind of tool do you use to get that look?