Our Take On Fake Cake
When I started Honey Crumb Cake Studio back in 2010, I knew that my business needed to be responsive to the individual needs of clients, while also taking into account the bigger picture, i.e. global trends. As a graduate of the environmental policy school at St. Andrews University (in Scotland) — before I went into the pastry arts as a career — I’ve spent my adult life learning everything I can about how humans are impacting our natural environment. Eco-consciousness is one thing that’ll always guide us at Honey Crumb, from how we choose our ingredients, to what packaging we choose for our baked goods, to how we handle food waste from our daily production.
Over the past few years, wedding cakes have been getting bigger and bigger, but it's not always cake inside. One of our cake artists (Becca) used to work at a prominent Los Angeles custom cake bakery, and she can attest to the fact that most of the “celebrity” cakes were partially — or even completely — made of decorated Styrofoam. Similarly, when you’re browsing Pinterest looking for wedding cake inspiration, many of the dream cakes you’ll pin are nothing more than a tower of faux tiers, with an edible exterior. Styrofoam “dummy” tiers are cheap, lightweight, and convenient — but what happens to the fake cake when the party is over? Polystyrene isn't biodegradable, and is rarely recycled (particularly when covered in fondant or Royal Icing), so it either sits in a landfill for hundreds of years, gets broken up and eaten by small animals, or pollutes the ocean. I don’t know about you, but the thought of that just makes my heart sink.
The climate emergency means that sustainability is fast becoming a much bigger part of all of our lives — including our weddings and other celebrations. And that, my friends, is why every single wedding cake and every single special occasion cake that we make at Honey Crumb is made of food, not plastic. Our cakes are all real, freshly baked and decorated just for you, with no smoke or mirrors. When the party is over, and the cake has been eaten, there’s nothing left to throw into the trash.
We’ve noticed that our clients are quickly becoming more sensitive to the impact their wedding might have on the environment, and there are some obvious and easy things that couples themselves can do. We as wedding vendors also acknowledge the need to take responsibility. It is undoubtedly wasteful to have a polystyrene ornament decorating your wedding when the planet is overburdened by all our garbage, and the trickery of fake tiers is antithetical to what a wedding cake is for, anyway. A wedding cake is a symbol of genuine love, to be shared with your friends and family to show how much you cherish them, and to say thank you to them for showing up to celebrate your special day. We encourage clients and fellow industry vendors alike to turn away from the fake cake, and celebrate with REAL cake instead. Even if this means you might only have three tiers instead of seven, you’ll have made a choice that celebrates good design, ethical craftsmanship, and good stewardship of our Earth.
Exquisite single-tiered cake for a micro wedding, adorned with handmade sugar flowers, by Honey Crumb Cake Studio. Image courtesy of Lanting Photo.
