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I wonder if this is a US-only phenomenon. I've been to a number of weddings in Poland. The cake is real! They don't wheel it back to the kitchen for cutting.

I wonder if this is a US-only phenomenon. I've been to a number of weddings in Poland. The cake is real! They don't wheel it back to the kitchen for cutting. It's served right there in the middle of the reception hall. I guess it is less elegant than a stream of plated cake slices flowing out of the kitchen. However, you know what you are eating. Can anyone share their experience?

saberdancer 8y ago
I think it depends. When I got married, we had the option of having tiered one with lower levels fake and sheet cake cut behind the scenes for the majority of the guests, or full tiered cake. We had a full tiered cake, no fake parts involved. If I remember correctly, downside to non fake tiered cake is that you are limited by types of tiers you can have, "softer" cake types cannot be used as one of the lower tiers. Oh, and it's cheaper to have fake lower levels.
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  I've personally made a wedding cake (once, and never again - too much work), and they were correct: The softer cakes cannot be used that way. The cake itself needs structural integrity. Even with supports, you run the risk of the cake collapsing on itself if it does not.. No one wants that. Most box cake mixes won't do, though I know folks use them. I wouldn't take the risk. That said, I still don't actually understand why some are so tasteless.
scaryclam 8y ago
Same in the UK. I think people would ask for their money back if the cake wasn't real (and they hadn't asked for it on purpose). I even had to store a tier of my friends cake as they couldn't fit it in their own fridge!
micheljansen 8y ago
Netherlands reporting in: the cake is not a lie. Wedding cakes here are always made on the day of the party. A stale, frozen cake (like in the story) would definitely raise eyebrows. We picked our cake based on flavour after a tasting session at the baker and it was then created and finished to our "specifications", so it looked and tasted great. We ate it all!
- jacobush 8y ago
  IMHO the best cake is made the day before, for the moisture to spread just right throughout all the "bread" parts, then dressed the day of serving.
  - kaitai 8y ago
    That's true for the nice layered cakes so common in parts of Europe (my favorites are the Finnish cakes with a sponge-cake layer and then a lot of berries, maybe bananas or kiwis, other fruits, cream). I think there is less moisture-spread with a buttercream frosting and an American sponge cake. The two sponge recipes are quite different: the Finnish layer cake has much more in common with Passover cakes that don't use leavening and only use, for instance, potato flour; the American sponge cake uses butter and wheat flour and baking powder for leavening. Somehow there is a different effect to moistening such a cake with juice or liqueur, as one commonly does with the Finnish sponge cake. Ok. Now I'm hungry.
walterstucco 8y ago
Same in Italy. And it better be good! It says a lot about the couple's taste.
KozmoNau7 8y ago
Reporting in from Denmark, where multi-tier wedding cakes are definitely real, and definitely eaten straight from being cut at the table. The slices may not be picture perfect, but they are damn tasty.
taneq 8y ago
Australia here and I've never seen a fake cake.
edgarvaldes 8y ago
Mexico: Weddings here use starter, main dish and dessert, and some of them use the cake as dessert. So the cake here is real. But just the last weekend we attended a wedding and the cake was never cut. "Must be fake" said my wife. The american culture is very influential here, so maybe the fake cake is destined to replace the real one.
jmmcd 8y ago
Ireland here. Never heard of a fake cake. Had an amazing Bailey's and chocolate biscuit cake for my own wedding.
athenot 8y ago
I got married in the US but had the traditional French cake: the "Pièce Montée", a tower of cream puffs that are glued together with caramel. It satisfies both the flashy tower requirement, and is relatively easy to dish out since it's just a matter of pulling it apart, serving 2-3 cream puffs per person. And it tastes way better than the US cakes which are glorified pound cakes with tasteless super-sweet icing. http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/1/29/25/37/20150328/ob_d45696_piece-montee-traditionnelle-pour-mar.jpg http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/1/29/25/37/20150328/ob_d45696_...
- masklinn 8y ago
  FWIW a pièce montée refers to any large/"architectual" pastry, so a tiered cake would be considered a pièce montée. The specific dessert you're talking about is the croquembouche. Delicious, but the caramel ones are so damn sticky. FWIW an other common option for pièces montées is to use multiple cakes on supports, which avoids the structural issues and limited edibility of a tiered cake, and offers more flexibility (e.g. depending on layout you may be able to use cakes with pretty different looks and ingredients, or you can create pretty cool-looking scenes).
pluma 8y ago
Germany here. Have been to several weddings including my own, the cake was always real. Typically 1-3 tiers depending on the crowd, the first slice is traditionally shared by the groom and bride (feeding each other) after cutting, then the rest is cut and served by staff. That said, the fondant and icing is pretty disgusting and the cake itself is usually just "okay", but cake is cake.
patates 8y ago
In my wedding in Istanbul, it was 39°C outside, and we had to choose between a fake cake or no cake ceremony because of health concerns. We chose the fake cake. Didn't know it was a thing before.
pwinnski 8y ago
US here, I'd never heard of a fake cake before this article. Reading other threads, however, it actually seems to be more common outside the US than inside, and the fact that I've never heard of them here seems to mean little, since many other people have.

saberdancer 8y ago

I think it depends. When I got married, we had the option of having tiered one with lower levels fake and sheet cake cut behind the scenes for the majority of the guests, or full tiered cake. We had a full tiered cake, no fake parts involved. If I remember correctly, downside to non fake tiered cake is that you are limited by types of tiers you can have, "softer" cake types cannot be used as one of the lower tiers. Oh, and it's cheaper to have fake lower levels.

Broken_Hippo 8y ago
I've personally made a wedding cake (once, and never again - too much work), and they were correct: The softer cakes cannot be used that way. The cake itself needs structural integrity. Even with supports, you run the risk of the cake collapsing on itself if it does not.. No one wants that. Most box cake mixes won't do, though I know folks use them. I wouldn't take the risk. That said, I still don't actually understand why some are so tasteless.

scaryclam 8y ago

Same in the UK. I think people would ask for their money back if the cake wasn't real (and they hadn't asked for it on purpose). I even had to store a tier of my friends cake as they couldn't fit it in their own fridge!

micheljansen 8y ago

Netherlands reporting in: the cake is not a lie. Wedding cakes here are always made on the day of the party. A stale, frozen cake (like in the story) would definitely raise eyebrows. We picked our cake based on flavour after a tasting session at the baker and it was then created and finished to our "specifications", so it looked and tasted great. We ate it all!

jacobush 8y ago
IMHO the best cake is made the day before, for the moisture to spread just right throughout all the "bread" parts, then dressed the day of serving.
- kaitai 8y ago
  That's true for the nice layered cakes so common in parts of Europe (my favorites are the Finnish cakes with a sponge-cake layer and then a lot of berries, maybe bananas or kiwis, other fruits, cream). I think there is less moisture-spread with a buttercream frosting and an American sponge cake. The two sponge recipes are quite different: the Finnish layer cake has much more in common with Passover cakes that don't use leavening and only use, for instance, potato flour; the American sponge cake uses butter and wheat flour and baking powder for leavening. Somehow there is a different effect to moistening such a cake with juice or liqueur, as one commonly does with the Finnish sponge cake. Ok. Now I'm hungry.

walterstucco 8y ago

Same in Italy. And it better be good! It says a lot about the couple's taste.

KozmoNau7 8y ago

Reporting in from Denmark, where multi-tier wedding cakes are definitely real, and definitely eaten straight from being cut at the table. The slices may not be picture perfect, but they are damn tasty.

taneq 8y ago

Australia here and I've never seen a fake cake.

edgarvaldes 8y ago

Mexico: Weddings here use starter, main dish and dessert, and some of them use the cake as dessert. So the cake here is real. But just the last weekend we attended a wedding and the cake was never cut. "Must be fake" said my wife. The american culture is very influential here, so maybe the fake cake is destined to replace the real one.

jmmcd 8y ago

Ireland here. Never heard of a fake cake. Had an amazing Bailey's and chocolate biscuit cake for my own wedding.

athenot 8y ago

I got married in the US but had the traditional French cake: the "Pièce Montée", a tower of cream puffs that are glued together with caramel. It satisfies both the flashy tower requirement, and is relatively easy to dish out since it's just a matter of pulling it apart, serving 2-3 cream puffs per person. And it tastes way better than the US cakes which are glorified pound cakes with tasteless super-sweet icing. http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/1/29/25/37/20150328/ob_d45696_piece-montee-traditionnelle-pour-mar.jpg http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/1/29/25/37/20150328/ob_d45696_...

masklinn 8y ago
FWIW a pièce montée refers to any large/"architectual" pastry, so a tiered cake would be considered a pièce montée. The specific dessert you're talking about is the croquembouche. Delicious, but the caramel ones are so damn sticky. FWIW an other common option for pièces montées is to use multiple cakes on supports, which avoids the structural issues and limited edibility of a tiered cake, and offers more flexibility (e.g. depending on layout you may be able to use cakes with pretty different looks and ingredients, or you can create pretty cool-looking scenes).

pluma 8y ago

Germany here. Have been to several weddings including my own, the cake was always real. Typically 1-3 tiers depending on the crowd, the first slice is traditionally shared by the groom and bride (feeding each other) after cutting, then the rest is cut and served by staff. That said, the fondant and icing is pretty disgusting and the cake itself is usually just "okay", but cake is cake.

patates 8y ago

In my wedding in Istanbul, it was 39°C outside, and we had to choose between a fake cake or no cake ceremony because of health concerns. We chose the fake cake. Didn't know it was a thing before.

pwinnski 8y ago

US here, I'd never heard of a fake cake before this article. Reading other threads, however, it actually seems to be more common outside the US than inside, and the fact that I've never heard of them here seems to mean little, since many other people have.