Cake w/out fondant

ldawngirl

Does anyone have good photos of cake designs that didn't use fondant? I wanted to avoid fondant if possible, but I'd still like a good looking cake. I just can't seem to find any wedding cake images that didn't use it.

ETA: I would like to avoid using real flowers on the cake to keep costs low.

Thea519

As a baker, I can tell you that any decent cake artist can accomplish the same look of fondant using buttercream instead. In fact, some of the cakes you've seen have probably been buttercream and you thought it was fondant because, when done well, it looks almost exactly the same! Here are some examples...

LauraT25

My cake was buttercream.  I'm too lazy to pull up better pictures than these, but I think they give you the idea:





Edit: click to enlarge

lbow1984

I'm planning on going w/out Fondant too.

As far as the real flowers thing goes I've actually heard it's cheaper to go that route as the labor that goes into creating fake/sugar flowers as cake decoration is extensive and therefore costs more.  At least this is what I've heard.  I'm no cake expert though. 

FaithCaitlin

I'm using buttercream too. I'm not a fan of fondant and believe that a good baker can make a cake look beautiful without fondant!

Just a tip: use real flowers instead of sugar. Sugar flowers will probably be more expensive.

Wiscisbliss

We got our cake from Carl's Cakes - he does all buttercream.  Here is a link to the facebook gallery, it might help to give you some more ideas of what is possible:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carls-Cakes/147658812645#!/media/set/fbx/?set=a.147659977645.143394.147658812645  Hopefully that link works. 

We did not have any cake flowers or a topper... so that definitely helped to keep the cost down

marinabreeze

FWIW, I'm going without fondant also.  I don't care for the taste of it nor do I want to deal with the hassle of pulling it off the cake.  Besides, great bakers can give buttercream cakes the refined look of fondant. 

bridalgal50

Go to CakeCentral.com and you will find all the buttercream designs you can imagine!!  And don't worry- your bakery of choice is more than likely very qualified to do "old school" buttercream cakes!