Cake Myth Busted #1

Somewhere, sometime, someplace, I don't know the exact details, someone published in a bridal magazine that a way to save money on a wedding cake was to have styrofoam (faux) tiers of cake.

The reasoning is that because it is styrofoam, and cheap, that you will ultimately save money and still have a large, beautiful wedding cake. This really, really, REALLY bad advice lingers on in blogs, message boards, magazines, etc.

I'm going to explain exactly why this piece of advice is terrible, and not a good idea.

First of all, when it comes to weddings, anything beyond the couple, marriage license, and officiant is a want and/or luxury, not a need. You don't need the fancy dress, the limo, the flowers, the music, the invitations, and you don't need the cake. Yes I said it. And we all know this.

Now that that is out of the way...

I'm going to explain exactly why styrofoam (faux) cake tiers are a bad idea for saving money and BUST THIS CAKE MYTH once and for all!!

1. The styrofoam is cheap, but so are the ingredients for a cake. The cost is nominal, only a small percentage of the cake, you are paying for the time it takes to prepare the ingredients, bake it correctly, ice and decorate. If you have seen any of the Food Network cake shows, you know that it takes more than just eggs, flour, and water to create a really amazing cake.

2. You will end up spending MORE money buy purchasing a fake cake and then adding extra cakes to be plated in the back. Since you are paying for the time, effort and skill of a good decorator, you will still have to pay that same amount to get the dummy cakes decorated like the real cake. Then you STILL have to pay for the extra cakes to b served in the back. Those cakes may not be decorated, but they still have to have the ingredients prepared, then baked correctly, then iced.

In the end, you will actually pay at least DOUBLE the cost of a real cake because you have to pay for the fancy fake cake PLUS the actual cake to be served. The ONLY time a fake cake is advised if if you want a cake to look larger than it needs to be. The fake tiers will then be incorporated with the real tiers. Real cakes can be made to easily accommodate 400 people without the use of dummy tiers, so only a few clients would be eligible for this option anyway.

Throwing good money after bad definitely applies in this situation. Pay for real cake, not the fake cake.