Fakey Cakes for Budget Brides
Now this shiz is pretty frickin’ brillz if you ask me. You know how everyone suggests that using a styrofoam dummy cake can save you tons of money on your wedding? Well, I can do you one better! How about rental cakes? Have you heard of this before? It’s definitely the way to go for a chic, but secretly cheap wedding.
Companies like Cakes Confidential in New York, rent out pre-decorated styrofoam cakes, each with a special secret compartment filled with real cake and decorated to match, so you have something to cut into at your reception. The rest of the guests are fed from a matching sheet cake, hidden in the kitchen… and no one is ever the wiser! Talk about a bad ass budget wedding idea! At the end of the night, your fakey cake is taken away… to live on and brighten some other brides day! (whoop, I rhymed)
Schneaky hidden tastiness
According to their site, the benefits of rental include saving 50-70% (holla!), that dummy cakes hold up against heat for summer weddings, safe for outdoor use, and that the slices served from the sheet cake will taste fresher, since it won’t take days to decorate (as traditional cakes can).
You select from a variety of colors, tier numbers, and styles.
I’ve heard of subbing tiers of cake out with styrofoam and having your baker decorate them, to save money… but this is the first time I’ve heard of the cake rental concept. If you google it, you can probably find a similar company near you.
For couples to whom cake is a high priority, this might just make you cringe… so nod, smile and proceed to the next post. I understand. BUT, (and I cannot recommend strongly enough that you do a tasting before you buy in any case) but tend to I say….. if it tastes good, and looks good, and costs less… do a happy dance, pocket that 30-50% savings, and then keep your cake’s true identity on the down low, yo.
What do you think? Anyone out there tried this yet? Would you rent a dummy cake?
We just posted a budget tip on cakes as well. I love this idea!
This is freaking awesome! And such a great idea! If our cake falls through
Bolloxs! it cut my post off… The remainder was… if our cake falls through, I'm so renting one of these puppies!
Brilliant!
Wow, that shiz is pretty brillz. I'd even go a step further and call that shiz "très cray," an expression I've tried in vain to proliferate. It's kind of the older, wiser cousin to "totes cray-cray."
ANYWAY – My fiancée and I haven't done too much cake research yet (aside from hoping her talented aunt might make us a beautiful cake), but this is a nice thing to keep in mind. Thanks for the tip!
Stinking brilliant!
I heard about this at Wedzilla's Rock the Launch party. The Ritz Carlton Vendors told me that "hardly anyone ever makes real cakes anymore" and vouched that sheet cakes are fresher and no one would ever know. I dig it!
Such a great idea!!!! Makes me wish I lived in NYC.
I got my cake from Cakes Confidential a few months! Everyone said it was the prettiest + the tastiest wedding cake they'd ever seen…. no one ever guessed it was a fake. We put the money we saved on the cake towards our honeymoon.
I totally did this at my wedding, except the top layer was real cake (which is what we cut). Any cake vendor can d this for you, as they probably have “dummy cakes” for bridal shows etc.
I wanted something amazingly beautiful and jaw dropping for my cake… instead of a sheet cake, we did cupcakes for our guests, so there was a variety of flavors – which was a HUGE hit.
http://www.eatcakeonline.com to see photos
Happy wedding!
These look better than the real thing and then all you have to invest in is the sheet cake. Perfect for someone like me who is forced to have two weddings; one locally for a big crowd and for great photography and one abroad for his family. making such a HUGE expense cheaper is a godsend. MM
You're not seriously encouraging buying styrofoam in this day and age, are you?
Spend within your budget instead of getting something so toxic and disposable. Or do a small wedding cake and a bigger sheet cake. Somethings are more important than a "perfectly" deceptive wedding.
Joelle, we are encouraging renting it, which is a much more eco-friendly alternative to those who buy styrofoam for disposable dummy cakes. These are reused and recycled over and over! It may not be 100% perfect, but its a great step in the right direction for brides who wish not to sacrifice a grand cake.
Loved the article!! This is a unique idea and i certainly plan to go that way or my wedding next year.
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Dana, great post. This is not only a great way to save money, but also a great way to save on waste. This prevents all those times when beautiful (expensive) cake is just thrown in the trash because people were too full on bubbly and jubilee.
We recently posted about fake cakes, too! http://ninashoes.typepad.com/17thandpark/2010/06/…
I have a few friend that have done this over the past few yrs. No one can tell… except that its getting more and more common (at least in the northeast), but even inf they know, no one cares.
On a side note a friend just had chocolate cake with peanut butter filling at her wedding. OMG so good!!