I'm making my first wedding cake this September, for my cousin's wedding. I've been starting to plan how I'm going to manage my time with this cake (I want to be Well prepared..). I think since I'm in the wedding party as well, that I may use dummy cakes. Less headache that way. I'd be really nervous setting up the cake early in the morning, going to get hair/make-up done, then to the ceremony, then pics, then reception. I'd be a nervous wreck the whole time fearing it has fallen over.
My question is, for pictures, when they're cutting the cake, what do you do if you have a cake dummy? How do they do the standard shove-cake up-each-others-noses photo?? Any other tips or warnings about this?
I don't make wedding cakes, but my friends are marrying off at astonishing rates, so I can tell you the little secret I've heard so far: if you're going with dummies, make the bottom layer real - that's the one that gets cut. That way you have the cake for the photo ops, etc., but the top layers are light enough not to cause stress.
I just did this for my SIL's cake. you can read about it here. http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-253221-0.html
The part about the dummy's is on page 2
Thank you both for the replies. I had thought about having one section of the bottom layer real, the rest a dummy. I think I might try that. Silly question... if the cake is all cut and served to the guests, don't they see the cake still sitting on the table, all in one piece? My wedding was so long ago, and I really didn't pay attention, so I'm curious. I honestly don't even know if they used a dummy cake or not..
Dont forget the top tier of the cake is to be kept by the bride and groom for the first anniversary. You might want to make that tier edible too. They probably wont like the dummy cake after it's a year old. Well probably wouldnt like it a day old lol. But you might ask them first. My aunt got married two years ago and decided to share her anniversary tier with the whole family. It was gross in my opinion. I intend to throw mine out and bake my hubby and I a fresh cake for our anniversary in two months. But then again, I was very displeased with my wedding cake.
If you're going to make one of the tiers real cake, I would pick one of the smaller cakes .... if you're not going to cut the display cake, it's a waste to have 14" of cake just sitting there. There is no rule on which tier they cut. Depending on the flavor, my brides have cut any of the 4 tiers!
If you do the whole thing styro, they can do a posed shot with the knife resting on the display cake. For the feeding, have the kitchen cut a corner of one of the sheet cakes and have it off to the side (out of photo shot). When they are ready to do the feeding, they grab this plate of cake and go at it. When it's all laid out in the album, no one knows.
I had an older couple who had a real cake, but did not do the feeding. They did the "pose with the knife" for the photog, then stepped away so I could go to work.
I did this for my SIL. The whole cake is a dummy. At the back of the bottom tier I cut a wedge. Then covered the tier in fondant. Then I cut the fondant where the wedge was and pulled the wedge out. I covered the inside of the cut dummy with royal icing. Then I cut an identical wedge out of the layered kitchen cake and put it into the styrofoam dummy. I decorated the whole cake. No one knew when the bride and groom cut the cake that only that part was real cake.
As for the question about what to do with the dummys when the kitchen cake is brought out... you have several options. We just left it on the table an put the sliced kitchen cakes around it on the table. She wanted it there to look pretty throught the whole reception. It was funny though, because some people were concerned about som much cake being "left over".
Another option would be to take the whole cake into the back and then bring out the slices of kitchen cakes.
The last option is to take the dummys layer by layer into the kitchen ,then bring out kitchen cakes each time you remove a layer.
this is a little off topic, but another cake dummy question. i've never used them before, how do you keep them from sliding all over the place when trying to get them iced? i want to order some so i can practice more without making real cake!
Wow I didn't know people did that. My cake was real. It just sounds so strange. :/
When we practiced with dummy cakes in school, we rubbed shortening on the dummy before putting the fondant on. This allowed us to remove dried fondant fairly easily. It also allowed the fondant to stick. You could use a little water on the dummy cake before applying the fondant if you don't plan on reusing the dummy.
indydebi wrote:
If you do the whole thing styro, they can do a posed shot with the knife resting on the display cake. For the feeding, have the kitchen cut a corner of one of the sheet cakes and have it off to the side (out of photo shot). When they are ready to do the feeding, they grab this plate of cake and go at it. When it's all laid out in the album, no one knows.
I think I'm going to go this way. I really like peacockplace's idea of cutting out a wedge, but this way I won't have to worry about anything being uneven. I do plan on making the top tier real cake so they can keep it. Thank you all so much for all the tips! And peacockplace, that cake is Stunning 
When we practiced with dummy cakes in school, we rubbed shortening on the dummy before putting the fondant on. This allowed us to remove dried fondant fairly easily. It also allowed the fondant to stick. You could use a little water on the dummy cake before applying the fondant if you don't plan on reusing the dummy.
Thank you for the information... I thought my eyes were tricking me! Thank goodness for this site... Everyone is packed full of tips and hints! 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%