sheet cakes?

My friend just had a wedding a few weeks ago, and they used a "fake cake" aka a styrofoam cake covered in fondant and flowers, no one knew the difference! The fake cake creator actually put a slice of real cake into it, so when they cut the cake no one had any clue! They ordered their sheet cakes from Sam's, and it tasted great!

I've been thinking about this BUT I don't know how people don't know the cake isn't real. When the cake is on your plate and the design isn't the same it becomes very obvious that the cake wasn't real. I'm very into details so I always notice but do you think others will notice? I think this is a great way to save money.

We had a sheet cake from our local Safeway. DS decorated it with little penguin sculptures that he made.

Takara, I agree - so what my gf did was keep it a simple white fondant, and then the sheet cakes had white icing - obviously if it was a real cake you couldn't eat the fresh flowers anyways, and as far as I have heard not a single person questioned it! BTW, her fake cake was $175, and the two sheet cakes - for 150 people I think, totalled $120. Much less than an $800 cake

I think, personally, the whole cakes/favors thing can go - I'm pretty untraditional anyways, so I think if it's best for your budget and your style you can do whatever you want for dessert! (we're doing a vintage carnival theme - and having elephant ears instead)

We're having a sheet cake for the grooms cake. Since my mom's decorating my cake she's just going to do that one as well. She's not baking the sheet cake though, just ordering it from our local grocery store.

Im thinking about doing the fake cake with sheet cakes in the back!! I really want to save money and figure i could put the savings into something else!!

My fiance and I are having a small 3 tierd cakce, and then making up the difference with sheet cakes. They taste just as good and save a TON of money. :o) Go for it!

We're doing a regular cake and it's only $330.00. It depends on what you want. I didn't want Fondant because I heard it doesn't taste good, not a big cake eater so I've never really had it either. So as long as you aren't too elaborate in your design, it shouldn't cost too much.

We're having a 4 tier cake (will feed about 200), and using a sheet cake to cover the rest of the guests. By time it's cut, noone can tell the difference. And..it gives a variety of cake flavors to the guests.

We did a lovely small tiered cake from a local grocery store that makes incredible cakes and then did sheet cakes for the rest. It worked out really well!!! Plus it saved me a LOT of money.

One thing to keep in mind- i've heard (don't know how true this is) that if you do cakes from a baker and just don't make them stack them, but have them arranged on multiple tiers, you can cut the cost a lot while still having more of the classic wedding cake look. and not have to "hide" sheet cakes in the back.

personally i think we are going to do cupcakes and a small cutting cake for us.

we'll see.

We had a cake that we cut and gave out we also had a sheet cake from BJ'S our tier cake had liquor in it.

The sheet cakes are called "kitchen cakes". Many brides use them when they are afraid their cake will not feed everyone. It's also cheaper to go this route with a smaller real cake or even do a few fake tiers!

Most times you are not allowed to use sheet cakes from a different baker. You have to check your contract. The cake isn'tthe bulk of the cost. It's the decorations that cost an arm and a leg, so if you are getting intricate decorations on styrofoam, it's still going to cost you. For example my cake flavors are 3.50 and 4.50 per slice. A cake to feed 100 people is only 350-450 for buttercream icining.

.... the cakes from my catering company are only $180 for 100 people. but we are just doing cupcakes anyways, not thru the caterer. $350 sounds like a ton of money for cake!

If you are looking to cut cost I would suggest just shopping around... we are having a relatively small wedding but when we priced cakes a the bakeries they were crazy expensive at least IMO I didn't want to pay $400-500 on a cake but we kept shopping and we found this really great mexican bakery .. the cakes taste great and they do beautiful work with the decorating. for a cake that was actually more than we need it will feed about 120 and we are only having about 80 guests. we are paying $250 including delivery.

@ Shellie D. it depends on the kind of cake that you want. I am an avid foodie and I wanted raspberry buttercream with vanilla cake and lemon cake with lemon buttercream. Actually I think it depends on where you are located amd what you want. My cake is actuallly three times the price because of the homemade fondant and sugar flowers. In my area you can expect to pay anywhere from 3.50-10.00 per slice.

I guess I am one person who doesn't think the ART of the Cake is worth every penny you spend. My father was an award winning pastry chef and knowing what I know about how long it takes to make these wonderful works of art, they aren't as expensive as people think they are when the baker is spending 10 or more hours decorating a cake for 200. The more intricate, the more delicate work that needs to be done. I personally can't even ice a cake corectly, daddy and grandpa were the bakers, I never had to learn, so I am always aware of the amount of training and time it took to bake a good and beautiful cake. If my FH knew that I am spending $100 on a small two tier cake from a friend who is a baker, he'd have a baby, so I'm not telling him. I want my cake to be remembered by the people at my reception as being exceptional, not just another cake, but being a caterer's daughter and baker's daughter and granddaughter, food is the only thing more important than my vows.

Please don't take offense, as none was meant, I just am sometimes more aware of the art of baking and catering as I was raised in the industry and I know what goes into the details and cost more than some.

We are doing a sheet cake for the groom's cake. We are only getting a 1/4 sheet of chocolate mainly because we are having a 4 tier carrot cake with whipped cream cheese frosting. The design of the cake is important to me. It actually makes my theme come together. It is not intricate, but it is different. It cost $300, which for 60 people is $5.00 a slice. I considered it a bargain, as I have paid $200 for a carrot cake in a 1/2 sheet form for my daughters' Christenings and Communions.