A popular wedding cake option that is practical without sacrificing quality or presentation.

These days many brides and wedding planners have a responsibility to be ‘good shoppers’, and find as many possible cost savings for their wedding, without risking looking cheap or ‘tacky’. A ‘fake cake’, combined with delicious sheet cake for your guests at the reception, is a very practical solution that will save a little money and ensure your wedding is memorable and wonderful.

Photo by Daniela Ciuffa - Ciuffa Photography; Fake Cakes by Sweet Thea

Here’s how it works – your cake designer constructs your wedding cake according to your specifications, using styrofoam layers decorated exactly like a real cake, complete with fondant, icing and all the design details you want. This ‘prop’ cake is set up on the cake table at the reception, and can be exactly the way you want – elegant or humorous, elaborate or simple, a vital and beautiful feature of your wedding day.

The top layer of the cake can be real cake, perfect for the bride and groom to ceremonially cut and share, and for all those wonderful photo opportunities. Then, when it is time to serve your guests, plated slices of sheet or slab cake are quickly and efficiently served from the kitchen. This sheet cake will also be decorated to the same specifications as the fake cake.

Here are some advantages of using a Fake Cake at your wedding:

Economical

The best reasons to use a fake cake are financial – you can definitely save money!  You still have the creative freedom to design the cake of your dreams, without a huge price tag, giving you additional flexibility in your wedding budget. Sheet cake is generally much cheaper than wedding cake, and you usually save on your facility costs, as many venues charge more to cut and plate a wedding cake than to serve slab cake from the kitchen.

Practical

Not every guest will actually eat cake, so you don’t pay for expensive baking and design that you will not need. But it would look really tacky to have a tiny wedding cake on your sweets table! A beautiful, elaborate fake cake will look great, while the sheet cake in the back kitchen is comparatively inexpensive.

Durable

Wedding receptions can be crowded and warm, causing your cake’s icing to melt and sometimes cake tiers will lean after hours at room temperature. With a fake cake, the fondant will stay firm and the decorations will stay pretty and impressive throughout the reception.

Quality

Your guests won’t mind a fake cake, especially if the wedding cake they are served is delicious! A fresh piece of slab cake from the kitchen will probably taste better than a slice from a large cake sitting for hours in a large room full of people!

Tradition

For many families, the bride and groom cutting the cake is an important and meaningful ceremony. By arranging for one tier of your cake to be real, you can be certain that your wedding will pay attention to all the important details.

Memories

Your fake cake will look fabulous in all the photographs commemorating your wedding. Whether it is the professional photographer you hire or a cousin’s cheap camera phone, you will know your cake will look beautiful years after your guests have forgotten whether the cake was real or not.

You can still have a delicious hand-crafted custom cake and a beautiful ceremony – while saving money. Practically perfect!

Some fake cakes made by Sweet Thea  – click on any photo to see in more detail.

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Guests: 200

Caterer: Karen Morgan, Bluebird Bakery

Photographer: Vincent L. Chan, Invisionation Photography

1st tier: passionfruit

2nd & 3rd tiers: Milk Chocolate Hazelnut, with a crunchy base

Slab cake served.

Maria and Andy sent us some photos – you can find them here