Hi everyone,

So, I have a bride that wants a miniature wedding cake (2 tier) as her gift for her guests. I have never done mini cakes, so I have absolutely no idea how much work is involved and how to price them. She is looking for 125-150 mini cakes, 2 tier with a small fondant/gumpaste flower on each, plus wrapping and tagging (she is supplying the tags and ribbon).

Have any of you done this and how do you charge for these? I would imagine that it would be very time consuming and I don't want to shortchange myself.

Any response would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Run away!!!

No, just kidding. Do know in advance though that these are tiny and cute, but an enormous amount of work!! DO NOT UNDERCHARGE or you'll be sitting in the kitchen at 4am crying and cursing this order.

I've commonly seen these priced at $12-$15 in the Toronto area and I think THAT'S cheap for the work involved. (i.e. baking endless sheet cakes, cutting out all the rounds with cutters, torting (??? that's nuts, I wouldn't bother!!), icing (fondant is WAY faster than trying to ice a teeny tiny round smoothly when you can't even hold it down securely), assembling, detailing, packaging, storage??)

I've done orders like this only a few times and swore never, ever to accept them again. The last one was 140 mini 2-tiered cakes and the total time spent was about 75 hours. I was crying by the end of it and even though I thought I had charged well per cake I hardly broke even after all the packaging/ingredients/labour involved. If you have an army of helpers, it would be much easier. If you are solo in this....just don't!

You'll find a lot of useful pics in the "Mini Cakes" gallery here on CC if you do decide to take a shot at the order.

IMHO though, I'd get the bride to consider individual cupcakes or even the stacked cookie wedding cakes (like Martha did) as favours instead.

If a bride wants these, she needs to pay dearly for the labor and attention to detail required. Pink Cake Box (where I used to intern) charges $30 each for them... I know I wouldn't do them for less than $20, and that would be if I was buying the flowers, and no other piping or decorations on them.

I've steered clear of doing mini's cause everyone I have talked to say they are extremely labor intensive, just as much work as a full size cake, and that people don't appreciate that fact and aren't willing to pay for the work involved.

I second the RUN AWAY sentiment! I'd charge $30 each for those in the hopes that the bride would change her mind. They take forever, and then you have to think about how you're going to package and transport so many tiny cakes. Does she expect you to box them all up for her guests? If not, how are you going to get them to the reception? Are you supposed to unpack and arrange them all when you get there? It's not only the making of them that increases your time and effort with these little monsters. It all ends up costing more and taking ten times as long.

Just to add to all this wise input...the woman who made my wedding cake just completed 100 mini cakes for her son and his new wife. She is calmest, most easy-going person I know. She is also a very experienced and talented decorator, yet she nearly had a breakdown. Remember, doing something smaller is often as difficult (and sometimes more difficult) than going big.

Maybe you could do something like this?

http://www.mysweetandsaucy.com/2008/02/21/mini-brownie-wedding-cakes/

I have also seen it done with cookies, and a sugared flower on top.

No way.... 2-tier at that!! At LEAST @35 a pop.

Thanks everyone! I double posted this topic, so I didn't realize that there was a second thread running as well. Seems like everyone has had the same experience with these! I sent back pricing to the MOB....and haven't heard anything back. I'm guessing they didn't think it would be so costly Thanks for all of you help!!