Well, I've been asked to do my first "Fake cake". I have to say I really don't get the whole fake cake thing. I mean, of course, doing them for practice is obviously a requirement, but to have one for your actual wedding? I just imagine all those poor reception guess's oogling this fabulous looking cake and counting down the seconds until they finally get to have a piece....and alas....it's a fake. What a bummer!

Of course, having said that, I have no objection to someone actually paying me to do one!

SO, getting to my question(s)...when you do a "fake cake" I'm assuming you use actual fondant but what about the decorations on the fondant? Would you use royal icing? The difficulty I have with the royal is that it seems to flake off fondant quite easily when it dries. The design they are looking at is 4 layers with a lot of scrollwork on it so I'm just afraid that knowing that it is a fake cake whoever is handling it might be a little less careful then they would normally be and schmuck it, etc.

I'm sure someone out there has had experiences with fake wedding cakes...any advice?

I've never heard of having a fake wedding cake, Why would anyone want one? Do they have another one, like a sheet cake or something to serve? I'm lost?!!!!

There are a couple of reasons to have a dummy cake. One is that you have a really big wedding reception, and can't afford a tiered cake big enough, so you have a dummy to look all pretty, and sheet cakes for serving. Another is that you are having a really small reception, and want a nice impressive tiered cake (without a zillion extra servings). You have a dummy cake for at least some of the layers. Finally, some reception sites won't allow you to go with an outside vendor for the cake, and they either only do sheet cakes or have ugly tiered cakes. You serve their sheet cakes and display the pretty cake.

RedPanda

Actually, I had a fake cake at my wedding. We had a family friend who decorated the fake cake, but also made sheet cakes to serve to guests. Having the fake cake enabled her to relax a little more, she decorated the fake cake in advance, and only had to worry about the simply decorated sheet cakes right before the wedding.

This makes perfect sense! I just decorate cakes for fun and have only done 1 wedding cake and it was like a 4th marriage so I wasn't to stressed!
Thanks for filling me in!

At the last wedding I went to, they had a real tiered cake plus a sheet cake.

My son got served a piece of the real wedding cake that was filled, and the rest of the table got a little piece of sheet cake without filling. The sheet cake was dry and boring. His piece tasted great, since he got an outside slice with plenty of icing.

I think sheet cakes for weddings should be filled. Maybe the bride was on a tight budget?

We were all disappointed...except him!

Part of my wedding was fake. I had a beautiful two-tiered cake, the bottom was styrofoam and the upper was a real cake used for the cake cutting ceremony. The reason I had a partial fake cake was because we opted for a dessert bar with chocolate fountain, cakes, cookies, brownies, etc. It was one of the best decisions we made. The baker told me it was a lot easier to handle and deliver the cake. Everybody was happy!

Thanks so much for all the posts, though no-one has actually addressed my decorating question yet.... ?

I guess I can kind of see why you might use a fake cake...and I really didn't mean to offend anyone, if I did... I just don't see the point of wasting all that time and money for something that is supposed to be eatten but can't be, and I think when people find out a cake is fake, they ask the same thing..."why bother?". It's just a personal thing and I'm really not judging anyone who might do this.

Anyway...still open for discussion....

If this is for a one day event and not prolonged display I wouldn't worry about the royal flaking. It will with time but it takes quite a while for that to happen. Just make sure that your "fake" cake with fondant and the royal are pretty much the same temp. Sometimes things that are different temps have a hard time adhering to one another. (frozen cakes and buttercream, good example).
Another reason is temp shrinkage and expansion. So try not to have the cake in extreme temperatures.

No offense taken at all! I'm sorry that I did not answer your decorating question.... Mine was iced in all crusting buttercream. It was white on white decorations (white dots, cornelli lace, etc. - different design for each tier) and there were red rose petals scattered on each tier and all over the table. It was very basic, but elegant. My wedding colors were white, red, and black.

I opted for the fake cake to give the our friend more time to participate in some activities that we had planned in the days leading up to our wedding...since she is a close friend. The sheet cakes I had in 3 different flavors, and all were filled.

Ok - the bottom line here - PRICE....The labour cost on any creation is the same - real or fake, but the added cost of the cake sometimes puts too much strain on the budget.....yes - I agree - sheetcakes should be filled, and iced.....I do them all the time....and suggest to the bride to have whoever is doing her sheet cake (if not me) fill and ice it. Most times the bride has a family member offer to do the sheet cakes which are served at the reception.
For your question about sticking of RI to fondant. I have used a soft small paint brush with water to dampen the area that I am working on (this is when the fondant is DRY) then pipe....sticks pretty good....does not matter if on dummy or real cake....if you place the fondant and pipe withing a few hours, no need to dampen. But I always seem to cover one day, and pipe and design the next....so end up using a little water.
What I have found is that scrollwork stays really well, but swiss dots tend to come off at the slightest touch - so I take a piping bag with me to the venue (always) for last-minute touch ups!!!!

Please check out the cake that I did that was partially FAKE...

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=Candy120&cat=0&pos=22

This cake served 125 pieces of cake. It was a small wedding but she wanted the MAC DADDY of all cakes. Lots of styrofoam...