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Do what your budget allows you too. I'm not sure how much money they save but if its signifacant I say do it, no one will notice they're eatting sheet cake.
It can be considered green! See the California Courting entry on Real Green Weddings - http://realgreenweddings.blogspot.com/
I think fake cakes are a little silly, it's just buying into what the wedding world tells you you have to have. If you want sheet cakes, go for sheet cakes. No one is going to care. Cut a cupcake, heck, don't even serve cake, cut a pie or have individual little deserts. You can be creative, and it will only make your wedding more unique.
My personal opinion is that it is a great way to save some money if you want to have a traditional cake for pics, etc. Nobody will notice the difference when the cake is cut. I certainly wouldn't think that it is 'dishonest', and I doubt that your guests would either. I also think that there are plenty of other great dessert options if you are on a budget and aren't really attached to the cake. Really, it's dessert...how can you go wrong!
Ok, "dishonest" is a little harsh when we're talking about cake. As a guest, all I would care about is that the cake looks good and tastes great. It doesn't matter if it was from a sheet cake or not. Besides, I've worked in the hotel banquets business, the cake turns into a gigantic mess when they cut it up in the back and a good chunk of it gets thrown out because they cut the pieces so small to make sure they have enough for everyone.
We talked about doing a fake cake or a fake layer to the cake and the price we got from our baker was not much different from that of a real cake. The cost of the styrofoam and the icing ingredients and labor time added up to much more than we expected. We just went with a slightly smaller traditional wedding cake than we had planned instead.
My parent's cake (in 1978) was kind of a fake cake. Apparently, the bottom layer was real cake, and the top 2 layers were fake (styrofoam? or whatever it is they use). Or maybe it was the top layer that was real, and the bottom layers were fake. I'd have to ask my mom again, but either way: 2 layers were fake. They like the look of layers, but it wasn't a large enough wedding to need layers. They would have had a lot of leftover cake if they had had real layers of cake.
So, I say it's GREEN to have fake layers if you like the look of layers, but don't need the layers!
As for the cost, if you have a sheet cake, chelseamorning makes a good point. I know some people who have had fake layers plus a styrofoam cake because it was cheaper, so it must depend on the baker and the design.
I say price it out, and do what makes sense, do not worry about what's dishonest. I say honesty is two people getting married who love each other in front of their family & friends. The rest is just details! :) (But oh how I love the details ... :)
Intro-header.jpg (81.1 KB, 43 downloads) 2 years old
I'm having a fake cake and it will actually benefit the guests.... I found an amazing cake "artist" who creates beautiful fondant cakes, but they taste like crap. So I am using her to design a gorgeous looking fake (the top tier will be real for cutting) and will be having an awesome bakery make sheet cakes of the most delicious cake I have ever tasted- best of both worlds! 
Plus for some crazy reason the fancy cake designer is only charging me 1/4 of her real cake price- I guess she really loves making sugar flowers.... both cakes for 140 guest will be costing me a total of $300 - my original budget had been $500.
I wouldn't worry about people who think the idea is "silly or dishonest", I bet they don't even realize that they have probably been to plenty of "fake cake" weddings!
My opinion is: instead of payinf for a fake cake, just get a smaller cake or just a sheat cake that is beautifully decorated.
A cake does not need to be 4 stories high to be pretty.
We are not going to have a traditionnal wedding cake. I'd rather go for a variety of tastes, our plan is to have seasonal cakes. I know I want a pumpkin cheescake and will probably get that one decorated so we get the fun of cutting it. My hubby wants a red velvet cake and after talking with our baker she also suggested an apple cake and a hummingbird cake.
You should look online for picture of one layer cake and how they were decorated, you can find something really pretty. Or just have the family bake things with family recipes, it can make it even more meaninful that way.
We are doing a little 2 tier cake and then we are having sheet cakes. This will save us money....but we will still have a cute "traditional" cake to cute into. :)
Fake cakes seem wasteful to me, since they'll just end up in the trash at the end of the night. :( What about a small cutting cake, and then serving your guests from a sheet cake?
I don't think it's tacky, but it's a waste and it probably won't save you any money. The price is mainly made up of decorating and labor costs, not the actual cake.
Only the top layer of our cake was real, the other two were fake. We took this route for several reasons:
Our venue was outside in the summer and we were worried about the icing melting.
The sheet cake tastes way better! (Buttercream icing instead of fondant)
Plus, it was a little bit cheaper to get the fake cake + sheet cake than the tiered cake. We actually ended up getting more pieces for less money that way.
I'm not sure the guests would even notice, since you often take the cake away to cut it then out come pieces of cake on plates.
Unless they are pitching in money to pay for a real cake, I wouldn't worry about what they think. Do what makes you happy. :)
-Laura
Wow, I had no idea some people were so against fake cakes. We'll be having a fake cake at our wedding (well, 1 real layer for cutting) and I love the idea. I totally agree with Maren that it's great for summer weddings and the buttercream tastes way better than fondant. Also, you don't have to worry as much about them dropping a heavy 3 or 4 tiered cake because you have sheet cakes which transport well and the fake is light.
My friend actually had a fake cake at her wedding. It wasn't planned. Very last minute that her venue pulled together because her cake never showed up.
Bakery was closed. There was no way to contact bakery, thus reception site went out and found a store display cake and bought a ton of sheet cake.
All in all no one knew.
I really like this site for fake cakes. The cakes have a compartment to hide a real slice of cake.
http://www.cakerental.com/about_us.html
But all in all, everything is up to you.
I think a fake cake is completely tacky.
Why make your guests think they are getting a piece of the "cake" on display then pull a fast one and feed them the sheet cake in the back? I think you can make a lovely small cake if you need to save on money, guests will realize they are not necessarily getting a peice of it, and have sheet cake or whatever in the back. I don't see the point in having a huge fake cake sitting around. That's just me.
I think faux cakes are a great way to save money and to use your creativity!
I just did a faux wedding cake that cost me $15.00! I get my dessert buffet but won't have to spend hundreds of dollars.
You can check out the steps to make one at my blog:
http://peachesbyplums.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/wedding-cake-diy-style/
Good Luck!
I think faux cakes are a great way to save money. Another option you might want to consider is having one or two layers of real cake (so you can cut it) and the other ones faux. Or you could do a smaller cake and supplement with sheet cake (this is what we will be doing because feeding 250 people cake at $3.50+ a slice is rediculous). Do what you are comfortable with- either way, your guests probably won't notice
I'm going the fake cake route. I know several people here have mentioned that it's not necessarily cheaper, but it depends on your baker. Our baker is charging us the price she charges for sheet cakes for things like birthday parties, rather than the wedding mark up. We're getting a fake cake and two sheet cakes to serve 150 guests for $300. In DC. The second cheapest bid I got was going to be $900.
It's the only option for us for another reason: we have an outdoor ceremony in summer. Our baker was quite concerned that the cake would melt and the tiers would all slide apart.
@Aerika, I don't think it's it's an issue of being deceitful. And I don't think it matters. People think they are getting a slice of cake and they are getting a slice of cake. One that hasn't been frozen and baked in enough time for it to be perfectly decorated.
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Do you think fake cakes are tacky, or smart? I'm thinking of doing one, but I'm reading a lot of negativity online- one person even called it 'dishonest.' Are fake cakes dumb? We're on a budget.
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