Styrofoam Wedding Cake?

I used to work for a bakery supply company. They are called styrofoam dummies. They are meant to imitate a wedding cake - mostly for decorating and showing at a bakery, or a bakery show. I think it`s unusual that they are actually using them at weddings now. I would imagine you could get away really cheap if you knew somone who could decorate it for you.

If you were interested in getting the styro dummies and decorating it yourself, you could check with an independent bakery to see if they would sell it to you, or call bakery distributors and see if they sell to the public and order from them. Otherwise, I would guess that any bakery would be willing to decorate styro dummies for you. Just ask. Good luck!

To echo JoAnne, I`ve also heard of it being done at weddings as a way of saving money. It`s not that unusual. The guests do NOT know the difference as long as the sheet cakes are cut in slices rather than blocks or cubes. No offense to our bakery friends -- as I realize that everyone has to make money and charge rates that people will pay -- but with wedding cake bakers charging up to $8 per slice (in some geographic areas) because it`s a "wedding" cake, you can`t blame couples for finding a short cut that is less expensive. Most of the time, there is cake left over, so it makes sense.

Well, the thing about styrofoam, is that it`s not really a good way to save money on a wedding cake. Styrofoam is used for a lot of things but economics is not one of them. When you pay for a serving of wedding cake you aren`t paying for the cake as much as you would think, flour and sugar are cheap. What you are paying for is the time and experience of the decorator. The price is high not just because its "wedding cake", but because they are huge and difficult to make, not to mention transport and set up. Styrofoam is employed because, the bride wants a giant cake and a small guest list, wants her cake to do something that it wasn`t intended to do (read: defy gravity), etc. It can also be used if there is a giant guest list and the wedding party want`s to feed them dessert before 2 am, you can have sheet cakes cut and plated before hand ready to go out ofter the ceremonial cake cutting. Also, I have a little bit of a bug up my you know where about people who think that $8 a serving is highway robbery. The average profit for a bakery is $0.10 for every dollar of revenue, that means if you do say 3 cakes a week of 150 servings at $8 a pop, sure people pay the $3600.00 but you only actually take home (profit) $360.00. So not exactly a money maker, please think about the facts before you form an opinion.

Callie... Congrats! :) I`m glad it worked out for you. Thank you for explaining it the way you did.

Francois, I`m sorry if you found my message offensive to the professional bakers. I`m not against professional bakers making a profit.

My beef is with many vendors/retailers when it comes to weddings -- because it seems as though the price automatically inflates once someone says it`s for a wedding. For example, if someone called a catering hall and said they wanted to book a sit down dinner for 100 people at a family reunion, they will likely get a MUCH lower price (for the same food) than if that same person said, "It`s a wedding reception". Same food.. .same people attending. In helping friends and family members with wedding planning, I`ve seen that happen over and over -- with everything from limos to photography to food. Can anyone tell me why "wedding" makes the price go up?

I know that there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there, rest assured I understand that. As far as price jumps go for weddings, my best theory is supply and demand. If you have a party at a particular hall they will give you one price when the demand is low just get the place filled, the price jumps for weddings because of the going rate. A hall doesn`t want word of mouth about their super low prices during busy season when 3-4 parties want the place on any given weekend. They have to make money for the entire year in the span of a couple months, and weddings, not get togethers, are the money makers. And add to that an extra cherge for having to deal with the bride and her family who want "a perfect wedding" and won`t let anyone ruin "their special day" you have a big bill. The secret is the "jerk factor" the higher the odds of having a total drama queen calling the shots makes people charge more. Here`s a tip, if you really want a fair deal with a wedding, try being nice and less demanding, because when it comes right down to it isn`t the thing that makes the day special the person you`re getting married to and not the floral arrangments? Anyway my theory may be a bit flawed, it`s just the way I see it

Callie - where did you get this fake cake made? i would love one for our upcoming weding.