Can Somebody Please Tell Me...........
Decorating By duncansmom Updated 27 Mar 2007 , 3:00pm by Chef_Stef
Hi, I'm not a professional. Just a stay at home mom who likes to decorate cakes for friends and family. Keep in mind that I usually only charge what it costs to make the cakes and am doing it right now for the practice not the money. O.K. I got an order from a friend of a friend who wants a three tier whimsical Alice in Wonderland Cake. She wants to know what's cheaper. Fondant or Icing? I'm not sure. I make my fondant from Marshmellow so it's not really any more expensive than making buttercream. Am I right? She also wants to know if it would be cheaper to make two of the layers from styrofoam rather than real cake. Again, I'm not sure. Also, is it easy to make a whimsical cake from styrofoam? I've only made one before and it was real cake and I was not happy with it. THanks everyone.
you can get whimsical cake dummies, but either way its going to be an expense. dont under estimate your supplies and time. marshmallow fondant may be cheaper to make, but it takes time and sweat to knead it. plus its going to take the same amount of BC or fondant to cover dummie verses real cake, so there is no savings in using a dummy, you'll only be saving your stress level knowing that it will all stay standing!!!
Dummy layers are not necessarily that much cheaper. I just priced a wedding cake and it turned out to be cheaper for them to buy all cake than two dummy layers in a 3-tier cake and a bunch of sheet cakes on the side. Be careful to price what this will REALLY cost you before you quote her. I've been surprised by it when I sat down and did the math.
MMF probably cheaper than BC, but certainly not if you use SatinIce or something else.
I think those cakes look really cool done in all fondant. Good luck!
YOUR fondant is cheeper but usually one pays considerably more for fondant- remember it will go over another frosting/glazw too so it isn't totally a one or the other thing and technically it is more complicated as well and is another step. I am not familiar w/ dummy pricing but depending on the cake I doubt they would be that much cheeper- although I would guess they would be easier to support than real cake but I am sure someone else will speak to that 
I think it's dallas foam that has whimsical/topsy turvy styrofoam cake dummies. It's not a lot cheaper though b/c I think each dummy is around $4.00 - about what you would spend on cake mix & ingredients....
As for fondant vs. buttercream - normally fondant is more expensive because people buy the pre-made like Satin Ice. I prefer that to the MMF b/c I think it's a LOT easier to work with. However, even if you use fondant, you usually put a layer of buttercream underneath (at least I do) or marzipan although I think marzipan is more expensive and not so popular in the states - especially w/ kids. I would hate to eat a cake w/ just fondant and no buttercream at all - and I like fondant but I think when it soaks up some of the buttercream flavor it makes the fondant softer and it tastes so good!
Anyway, I would tell your friend that buttercream is less expensive. Otherwise you have to make buttercream AND fondant to cover the cake. I would also tell her that you could add some fondant "accents" like cutout shapes and such if she was really keen on that. Granted, then you would be making MMF, but you could probably freeze or refrigerate it for your next cake or use the rest of it to practice making figures or something and just use a little bit of it on her cake. Or you could halve the recipe and only make a little MMF.
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