Making a Fake Wedding Cake

A funny story I HAVE to share!When my Daughter married last year I baked her wedding cake.Along with all the other chores to be done I was running on a tight schedule and didn't get it baked until 2 in the morning of the wedding,and the top layer hadn't baked completely when I started decorating. In tears I vowed I wouldn.t be defeated. I iced the pan of the top layer(which wouldn't have been eaten anyway!!) and instructed the girl cutting the cake to take it off discreetly before cutting the other layers.HEY---you gotta do what you gotta do!!! No one at the reception but me and her knew the difference!

If you go to a craft store that carries Wilton products, they sometimes also carry styrofoam "cakes" in all shapes and sizes. The styrofoam is more like the kind they used to make coolers with - not so porous. I found this out the hard way, when I was asked to make a display wedding cake, and bought styrofoam circles from Michael's and had to glue numerous ones together to make a full layer. In all, I used about 12 pieces, in 3 sizes, when I could have bought 3 pieces in the heights I needed. Live and learn! I did mine in Royal Icing, which hardened almost immediately, so work quick, but to this day, the hotel is still using that cake! they keep it refrigerated to be safe, but it has stood up beautifully. Good luck!

this is adorable..you can use the large towel at the bottom and go from there...cause 12 hand towels, etc. there's got to be a better way, lol
http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=496

Traditional bakeries use styrofoam bases covered in, and decorated with, the actual icing that is used on their wedding cakes. It dries, to form permanent displays. If their "icings" are a type that won't dry properly, they use a Royal Icing (egg white based icing) that dries hard. Sometimes these display cakes are iced with a thinned plaster/joint compound, but be careful that it dries white, because they look really bad when they yellow or someone tries to paint them white.

While in a craft store I noticed the "unfinished" lightweight cardboard boxes (with lids) in various sizes and shapes......square, round and oval. I got the idea to stack three round ones (in graduated sizes) to represent a wedding cake. I painted them white, inside and out, and hot glued various widths of white lace around each layer and draped and hot glued the small "pearl" rope, which you can buy by the yard, on each layer too. I used this "fake" wedding cake as the container for my gifts to my future daughter-in-law at her bridal shower. I put shredded tissue paper in each box and placed the various gift items on the tissue. On the very top I placed a clear glass saucer which had wet floral foam holding fresh white carnations and baby's breath. I held the boxes and floral arrangement in place with a small dab of the "tack it" stuff kids use to put posters on the wall. My daughter-in -law loved it. She uses the boxes to store keepsakes in now, many years later.
Perhaps some variation of this idea may work for you.

Styrofoam...go to the craft store. The white kind is sturdy. The green kind that you can soak in water is easiest to carve into unique shapes.