I came across this website tonight and didn't know what to think of it. I can't make up my mind if I think it's a good idea or not. If I were the Bride I wouldn't want it but if that's all I could afford maybe I would. What do y'all think? Here's the site: http://www.rentthecakeofyourdreams.com/index.html

Lazy_Susan

In this area, people are cheap. I can see them wantin to do this, as long as there was a way to cut a cake for pictures. In fact, this spring, I offered to do a fabulous fake cake for a fellow I work with... so he can order sheet cakes from the bakery and save on costs. I don;'t have time to do the entire cake now that ihave three jobs, so it was the best I could offer them. But charging $30 fr them isn't so bad....

hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I think that is a really smart idea actually. Especially if all you want is the look but prefer the reliability and price of say a costco cake. Also the place renting them has the possibilty to make more money in the long run on each cake. Pretty smart.

I think it's a cool idea. Not everyone can afford a beautiful cake, but everyone should have one, it's a great solution.

My Auntie had been trying for me to do something like this, almost 3 years ago, except she had suggested using silk flowers to change the themes.

I just couldn't bring myself to do it, as those cakes tend to get a beating.

I don't see renting a cake dummy for 30.00 as they take just as long to do as real cake.

the cost of the cake is minimal...the money and skill in in the artistic interpretation.

don't get me wrong, but ..once you have your recipe...you can have ANYONE follow it and bake your cakes for you. All the time and work is in the decorating

Bump on Freddyfl's comment. I agree, it is smart. I have been there, and it is tough when you are doing your wedding perhaps on your own, and need to adhere to a strict budget. I can understand the need to skimp on the cake, and perhaps splurge on something the bride feels is more important, like the dress. Everyones priorities and visions for their wedding are different.
I think it makes life easier for the decorator as well, why not? I didn't see how much they were charging though, is it really that cheap?

Previous rent-a-cake thread:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-55723-.html

WOW, i had heard of renting a cake before, but not for prices like this. That is super cheap.
This is the place where i'd seen cake rentals from before, but their cakes start at AU$250
http://www.marksqualitycakes.com.au/mqc_flash/mcq_flash.php

having read their brochure...

cake: $30 IF you order your sheet cakes from them -- base price on those -- $1.75/serving

cake $75 if no sheets


so on wedding of 100 -- that's $205 for most basic sheet and sheets faster/easier to do.

and they do have surcharges for special flavors and fillings.

at that rate they could cover twice as many weddings a weekend as decorator doing full custom wedding cake.

I ran their calculator. Using 100 servings at $1.75 plus the $60 charges, that comes to $235.

My cake-only price, for a traditional wedding cake including delivery and set-up, is only $225.

So......WHY is this a good idea?

I'm keeping this website to show brides when they want to "try" the "dummy cake because it's cheaper" idea.

I think this would be cool. Now if they can come up with a way to rent a husband, dress and everything else....Once they get the paper there is a no return policy.

Patricia

Looks like they're located in my neck of the woods. I've seen a lot of people use dummy cakes for their weddings lately. Maybe it's a trend here.

Renting the bridal cake is common in Japan. Apparently they have large showrooms with very exotic cakes displayed. I was told that the rental isn't cheap, either.

When I consider the time and money in a fully decorated dummy, I think the rental fee would have to be substantial because the risk of damage is huge. Repairs could range from simple to impossible depending on how many idiots at the wedding decided to poke the cake to see if it's real

I suppose to make it cheap, the cakes would need to be pretty generic. Anything custom, colorful, or unusual would have to cost plenty because you might never "rent" it again....

I suppose this concept has it's place, too...

Rae

It seems like a cool idea to offer. You could make the cakes on a dummy and use that fake icing stuff that lasts forever. People could rent them if they needed to and you could alos have them out on display. This means decorators could book a few more weddings each weekend and only make sheetcakes! That seems like a good business idea to me. Does anyone on CC even offer this? I would love to hear their take on it.

The woman charges for the rentals and makes money for sure if you read her online brochure. So maybe some people think that they are getting away cheaply but actually are not.
Plus she reuses that cake several times so she gets her money out of her artwork.
I don't think anyone who makes cakes for a living has anything to worry about.
Claire

I think CRUMBSCAKEARTISTRY has it down pat!

From the business standpoint, especially if the cakes (dummies) are re-useable, storable, and hardy enough to withstand a few uses--then good deal!

And with the sheets being pretty easy to whip out and serve, that's a boon to her trade too.

I'm just thinking, WOW on the storage space those cakes (dummies) must be taking up somewhere! On that page, she's got a LOT of them pre-made and ready to photograph. That would take up a pretty large room, right there!

But after the 2nd rental or whatever--she's pretty much covered costs. I guess if you've got the time, space and money to buy all of them and finish them--??

-M-

Now, let me get this straight. I read on the rental site that your "dream" cake "contains a portion of actual cake so you can still make your "first cut"." I'm guessing that the first tier, or part of a tier is actual cake (is this right?) So, if I get a stacked rental cake, part of my real cake is sitting ON a rental cake that has been to other events???? And you don't know how many times it has been used or how many people have touched it?? Or what has landed on it? How sanitary is that? How do you sanitize a rental cake? I'm not thinking that you can "pop" it in the dishwasher!

Am I the only one that finds that really gross??

I am guessing that the top tier is the real cake and it would be on a cake board. No different than setting a cake on a table I would assume.

I had rented a cake for my wedding day because I could not afford to get a real one and the catering company was supplying the dessert. They decorated it for me the way that I had wanted and I was beautiful. I did read one comment earlier in the thread saying that people in there area are cheap, well maybe they had the option like myself where the dessert was provided by the catering company so they felt they did not need to spend another say $200 on cake also. It is a great idea I feel especially when someone wants a wedding cake for pictures but could not afford the whole cake being real. Hope that does not come across to harsh but I was alittle offended by that comment.

It just sounds like a sales gimmick that someone would pull to make people think they're getting a great deal when in fact they're not. You have to pay to rent the cake PLUS pay for the actual sheet cakes to serve guests. I've never seen this done at a wedding. It's a bit tacky to me.

I think it's a really good idea to do that. The people who rent those out are really smart cos they are tapping into another niche market.

Let's face it, weddings do cost a lot of money and some couples are actually deciding to be more careful in their finances even before they start their married life. It's not a good idea to be in debt even before you start your life together.

In the end, we can decide whether or not we want to jump on this rental cake trend, but the final word always depends on the customer.

There are Bridal shops here which offer cake rentals and pretty big damage deposits also.My mom has done a few repairs on some of her cakes at some shops.You wouldn't believe what some people do to these cakes!!! Spilt drinks,Vomit...Yes..Puke!, Decorations picked off,stolen pieces etc..It really is a shame!!!Needless to say those people do not get their deposits back!!!

I worked for a Cake Shoppe that rented there dummies for wedding

showers....etc.
Some people like to rent for a center piece and serve sheet cakes
to the guest. To each his own and whatever one can afford.