Fake wedding cakes

I'd wondered about this too as I need a lot of height in mine. Decided in the end to make fruit ones (my Xmas recipe to save money) to cut up as favours but to buy cheapo ones from Asda to have with the evenin snack.

Think it's a good idea. Maybe a fruit one for the bottom so you have something to cut for photos then fake on top?

Until the other day, I had never heard of a fake cake, although fake tiers are quite common to increase the cake size, Personally I don't like the idea of the whole cake being fake, it would feel like I was cheating my guests, which sounds silly considering I might have a fake tier in mine.

As for saving money, someone said they had saved £80 using a fake tier, which I'm all for if it would only go to waste otherwise.

Regards

L x

I saw this on big fat gypsy weddings i thought it was a good idea as they have cakes with 10 or more tiers! were just going to have a m&s wedding cake as there are quite cheap! not sure how much it would cost to buy fake tiers a top tier and a cutting slab and if it would be a good saving if you were only planning on a 3 or 4 tier cake?

Sometimes having a 'fake' tier doesn't cut down the cost too much if your cake has lots of intricate detail this is time consuming and still need to be done to fit in with the rest of the cake depends on the cake though.

I think its quite popular now to cut costs by having fake tiers, with just the one real one to cut.

It also saves time in the kitchen with all the cutting, to have a cutting-cake ready done.

We are defo doing this! I'm making our cake so am doing a fruit bottom layer and then two fake tiers. This means that there's no risk of tiers collapsing if I don't dowel and stack properly and also because I don't like fruit cake, and would rather sponge, but don't want to be making and decorating that so close to the wedding. This way I can have it all done weeks in advance. I'll have home baked cakes in the kitchen for slicing and serving at the evening buffet.

We were going to cut costs, however i mentioned this to my mum and she didnt like the idea so is buying my cake lol

This is the cake I am having (tweaking slightly)

and the top 2 tiers are fake. I dont think you can tell at all. I wanted quite a high cake but without the price tag and too much cake that will be wasted.

I'm having a fake tier but it's nothing to do with costs it's about the weight of cake! I didn't want a large spice cake as I dont like it but was told due to weight of cake it would be difficult to have a sponge on bottom so this one is fake and the cake is just a cutting cake instead but it's same price!

They told me they could make whole cake as fake and do the cake as cutting cake but as there was no difference in price I didn't see the point.

WSS. I'm making my own cake with fruit bottom tier and 3 fake tiers. Dummy cakes will save me lots of time and stress and that's why I'm doing it. I don't think the cost saving is much - only cost of a sponge cake compared to a dummy. Maybe just £15 saving for 3 fake tiers?

I don't think you need to worry about what your guests think or whether it's tacky, because nobody will ever know it's a fake cake unless you tell them.

Wow! that really is a sign of the times. I watched a documentry on women once during the second world war, and they said due to rationing fake cakes were common.

It just shows the recession we are in thats bringing them back.

Personally I'm not keen on fake cakes, I just do not see the point!

This!

But then I think I'm weird in that I don't understand the need to have a tiered cake at all. What's wrong with just having normal cakes? That way you can have loads of variety and guests can have the flavour of their choice, and it's so much more economical! Sorry, I know this thread is about fake cakes and tiers.. I just don't see the point- if you're trying to save money then don't have the traditional style wedding cake. If you're going for height and like the look of the thing but don't actually need that much cake.. well, I suppose that's down to you. I just don't see the point (but that's just my humble opinion and I recognise that most people like the tiered cakes).

I think fake tiers are a good idea, especially if you want the look of a large tiered cake but are only having a small wedding - it stops a lot of cake going to waste. The only thing i would say is remember where the fake tier is! At my Uncle's wedding a few years ago they forgot which one was the fake tier and tried to cut it - cue the knife getting stuck and lots of laughter!

Honestly I don't think you are really saving money if you have a sheet cake and fake tiers. You will still have to pay for the fake cake to be decorated and that still takes just as much time and money as the real cake would. Instead you have the baker making a sheet cake and decorating fake cake. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It's not easy to cut costs when it comes to a wedding cake, you get what you pay for I'm afraid. All I would suggest is perhaps smaller portion sizes resulting in a smaller cake. Have a look at the "cake slicer" app http://cakeslicer.bakingit.com. See what portions you can get out of your cake design and then play around with the portion sizes and see what you can do. But if you want a stunning cake don't try and cut costs.