Everything to Know About Dummy Wedding Cakes

Displaying a beautiful wedding cake on your big day is sure to make a statement. But what if you’re hoping to command attention with a stunning cake and you don’t actually need that many servings for your guests? A dummy wedding cake may be the perfect fit.

This type of wedding cake can either be entirely made up of faux layers or can incorporate both real cake and faux cake layers. It all depends on your needs for your wedding!

Curious if a dummy wedding cake is the right fit for you? Below, find expert insight on how they’re made and whether there’s actually a cost savings in choosing a fake wedding cake or not.

What is a Dummy Wedding Cake?

A dummy or fake wedding cake is a cake that’s made from faux layers. They can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some dummy wedding cakes are made up of entirely faux layers, with multiple tiers stacked together. Other cakes may include a mixture of both real cake layers and faux cake layers.

Why Choose a Faux Wedding Cake?

Choosing a dummy wedding cake can have a number of different benefits. “Not only does it help with stability in difficult climates with high heat or humidity, but it also allows for the slices of cake being served from a sheet cake to be uniformly sized,” says Tiffany MacIsaac, owner of Buttercream Bakeshop.

A faux wedding cake is also a great option if you want to display a large, beautiful cake but you have a smaller guest list. You can choose to have a full, faux cake with a smaller real cake for serving. Or, you can opt for a tiered cake that’s made up of faux and real layers. That way, there’s less cake waste.

A dummy wedding cake can also help to save time during your reception. You’re able to display a beautiful cake and cut the top tier during your cake cutting. Meanwhile, a sheet cake could be cut behind the scenes to immediately serve to your guests. “This leads to less time waiting for cake post-cake cutting as there is no need to disassemble a tiered cake,” adds MacIsaac.

How are Dummy Wedding Cakes Decorated?

Most designs will work as a faux wedding cake. However, some bakers have restrictions on what they’re able to offer. For MacIsaac, she only offers fondant designs, which are assembled and decorated the same way as her real cakes. Some bakers may be willing to do buttercream designs on a faux cake.

Does a Faux Wedding Cake Save You Money?

According to MacIsaac, there is very little cake cost savings when it comes to choosing a faux cake over a real cake. Overall, the main savings come from eliminating the waste of a lot of cake you don’t actually need. It requires the same amount of time and similar ingredients to make a real cake versus a faux cake. “At the end of the day, making a faux cake actually costs a baker more. The artist is spending the time decorating the cake, faux or real,” says MacIsaac. “We are also still baking and preparing the same number of servings with the sheet cake.”

Because faux cakes are made from styrofoam, bakers still incur the cost of the materials, along with tools, ingredients, and time for assembly and decorating.

If you choose to mix and match real and faux layers, this may result in small cost savings depending on your baker. Sometimes, the cost of actual ingredients for baking a real cake can be less than purchasing the foam needed for shaping a faux cake. “If you want a large cake but have a smaller guest count this could be a fabulous option,” says MacIsaac.