This has probably been discussed before, but I've been away. There is a place in town renting wedding cakes for $100. Then they charge $3.75 pp for the kitchen cake. They will decorate the rental cake any way you like.

What, I ask you, is the point of this? Why not just make the cake for real? Am I missing something here?

Wow! That is strange to me. It would be torture to keep looking at the beautiful wedding cake thinking you are going to get a slice and then they bring you something else. I would feel totally robbed.

I think because most beautiful cake is more expensive than $3.75/serving so they give brides an option but I think $3.75 for kitchen is pretty high.

I first saw a rental cake in Saskatchewan, Canada 25 years ago. My cousins rented it, they posed for the "cutting the cake" photo and then put down the knife and passed out fruit cake slices... I was quite confused, but everyone did that there. Recently, I visited a wedding shop there where you rent all the things needed to decorate for a reception and they had these gorgeous dummy cakes displayed for rental. Certainly much easier for the decorator to deliver!

I used to make a lot of fake cakes and I offer rentals decorated to order with my biz. I love doing fake as they are light and I love working with royal icing. Trends these days are more towards real. I have only done one fake cake this year as it had to be shipped 800 miles. Back when I started decorating in the 70's fake was really in (at least in my area).

My daughter wants a 14 layer cake for her New Years Eve wedding and half of the cake will be fake as she wants lights built into the main teired cake and quite elabourate snowflakes, stars,..etc..so I am happy to do ;styro for half of it;0;0. I also get the odd couple that want the top layer fake so they can keep it as well.

where I live, it is very touristy, ppl do like this idea as it is for their photos only. A kitchen cake is then served later. it is often cheaper for them, if they really want a four tier cake, but are only have 20 ppl at the wedding.