Thread: Fake wedding cakes for thrifty couples ?

Fake wedding cakes for thrifty couples
Tue Jun 12, 2:14 PM ET

GRANDVILLE, Mich. - For the budget-minded bride and groom, a new business is offering a less costly alternative to buying an expensive wedding cake: renting a fake one.

The idea is to have an elegant, multitiered pretend cake for show while serving guests slices from a real, tasty and inexpensive sheet cake.

The inside of a faux wedding cake crafted by Fun Cakes in Grandville contains mostly plastic foam, with a secret spot reserved for a slice of real cake to be shared by the bride and groom. Everything is covered by gum paste and fondant, a frosting-like confection made from sugar and water often used in cakes and pastries.

After a bride and groom take the traditional first slice of their real wedding cake, it's often wheeled away from guests, out of their sight, to be cut up and served on plates. Do the same thing using a fake cake and a sheet cake, and guests will be none the wiser. "The only difference is the inside. nobody can tell," said Kimberly Aya, whose 3-month-old company also bakes real cakes. The online version of her business is called CakeRental.com,

Fake cakes aren't new but renting them is fairly novel. Susan Lobsinger, who opened Rent the Cake of Your Dreams in East Aurora, N.Y., last year, said she knows of only one other cake-rental business — and it's in Canada.

Mary Brown, manager of Cakes Plus in Grand Rapids, said her bakery has rented out its window displays a few times when brides were desperate and needed something at the last minute. "It was happenstance. It's not something that we do," she recently told The Grand Rapids Press. "But I don't see why not. It probably would be good business."

Brown said a typical three-tier cake serving around 100 guests costs an average of $200 to $250. Aya charges $100 to rent an in-stock fake cake and $150 for a custom design.

Bride-to-be Nicole Kreuger, 26, of Grand Rapids, said she will spend about half as much on a fake wedding cake from Fun Cakes paired up with a sheet cake as she would have spent on a real cake elsewhere. "That's saving us a ton of money," she said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/...FowBHed1cuQE4F

On the Net: http://www.cakerental.com

Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/grpress

hmmm.. interesting. I wouldn't do it just b/c I have a design in mind plus it's a fake cake... you can't take the top off and freeze it for sentimental value and I'm not a fan of sheet cake, I like things elaborate, I guess. I like the cutsie designs, I'm not a simpleton

Originally Posted by freeby4me

Great idea!! I would do it!!

I would too!

So in reality you're only saving about $100? I'm sure our members would love that, but if you're so eager to impress with a large cake...chances are you're spending a lot on the rest of the wedding as well. What difference is $100 going to make on a $10,000 wedding? I wouldn't do it unless I was just having a reception or something.

I had a fancy 3 tier cake w/ the pillars.
It was beautiful.
And also several of the sheet cakes, which were much, much cheaper.

I never heard of renting a cake before. That's unique!

JMO-If you really are trying to save on a wedding I think this isn't a bad idea. You could spend more on your wedding set, dress, decorations, putting the money down on a house.

Originally Posted by Shann

you can't take the top off and freeze it for sentimental value

I happened to be in the hospital on our 1st anniversary... and its a good thing too, cuz DH brought up our cake and we both took a bite and I was sicker than a dog for 2 days

Originally Posted by buttrfli

I happened to be in the hospital on our 1st anniversary... and its a good thing too, cuz DH brought up our cake and we both took a bite and I was sicker than a dog for 2 days

Doh!!

I never understood the saving of the cake. Reminds me of that Seinfeld where Elaine eats that 60yr old Kind Edward wedding cake.

Originally Posted by Pepsi4me

We had a very small wedding at my mom-in-laws house so we had just a sheet cake from Costco. But if your spending alot of money anyway what difference would a few hundred make.

That was my point. Yes, it's always nice to save, but $100 in the grand scheme of things (especially someone wanting an impressive wedding) is not going to make a difference. But if you were just having a reception where it was just food and light decorations, THEN it may be worth it.