Might be a really stupid question...but can you use cake dummies along with real cake to make a cake look bigger? What tier do you use it on, top or bottom? If bottom, will that support the weight of the rest of the cake? My cousin wants a 4 tier wedding cake next year but not nearly enough people for all that cake so I was just wondering! Thank you!

Yes you can. I would use it on the bottom tier, and it will definitely hold the weight of the cake above (you can pretty much sit on a dummy and it won't crush). The good thing is you can get started on the bottom dummy tier and board way ahead of time - just keep it away from dust and light til you need it. Although ultimately the tier/s you choose as a dummy will depend on how many real servings she actually needs.
I think most people charge around 80% of the cost of a regular cake for the same size dummy (e.g. if you would charge $100 for that tier normally, you would charge $80 if it were a dummy).

Awesome thanks for the response! I might start using some more often just to practice bigger cakes and more decorating in order to build up some more pics! Can't wait till August when WA cottage law goes through so I can start to look at getting licensed! Not right away as I have much to practice still...that is why I Love cc! You can learn so much just by reading all the posts!

I just did one a couple of weeks ago. Just be prepared for people to not understand why the dummy tier isn't free because "it's not real cake so why should I pay for it?" You'll end up having ot explain that it takes the same amount of time and materials to decorate a fake cake as a real cake, so the only thing you're really saving is the baking time, which really isn't that much.

You can use it on whichever tier you need to use to give you the correct servings of actual cake and make the cake bigger. It's all good.

Great info guys thank you! And now I won't be caught off guard when (in the distant future) someone complains about paying for a dummy layer! I never even thought about that.

Dummy TIER not layer lol....yeah....let's put a styrofoam layer right in the middle of one tier Hahaha. Sheesh can you imagine?