A sculpted cake can be anything, a purse, a car, or even Yoda, but it is always three dimensional. If the cake is not in 3-D, it is considered to be in a 2-D form which is a cake cut into a flat shape and tends to be considerably less expensive. A 3-D cake requires you to hand carve the cake into the desired shape before it is decorated. Shaping cakes in this manner is more involved & often the reason why 3-D cakes cost more.