I don't have any of this information gathered yet, but can someone who is more experienced than I am PLEASE help me?

What would the ingredients run for a cake to serve 300? Box cake (doctored with pudding or just plain), MMF, and a cheap filling. Is there any way I could do it for $50-$75?

TIA!

you can take a paper and pencil and figure out the math like most or get THE CAKE BOSS and you have the software to help you.

I don't think you will be able to do it for that price. I say that b/c I am doing a cake at cost only for my SIL for her DD's graduation party and my "cost only" price is at roughly $125 and that is for a 4 tiered cake for 175 ppl.

Someone else may agree, but I do not.

i'm not certain, but i would figure 24 boxes of mix [if they serve around 12 each], 6 dozen eggs [3 for each mix], 12 cups oil, 24 packs of pudding...

so $24, $10, $5, $18

just an estimate, hope this helps!

NO WAY. not even cheap ingredients are that cheap.

first, see what sized pans you need, then make yourself an ingredient list and with the best of knowledge, estimate the costs. dont forget pans (its likely you'll need large ones), cardboard rounds, paper, plastic wrap, paper towels, piping bags, dowels etc.

gas in your car, electicity in your oven, water in your sink and dishwasher, soap etc.

it all adds up. really.

i bake from scratch, and the cheapest i can get is usually a dollar per person, most often more than that.

http://www.wilton.com/wedding/cakeinfo/cakedata.cfm you'll need to do at least a 6,8,10,12,14 and 16" cakes (double layer each tier)- (if doing rounds) to feed 300. dont forget the cost of pans you may not have.

you'll need upwards of 30-40 cups of frosting (this could fill the cake also) and around 20lbs of fondant.

from my experience, i would tell you to run from a wedding cake this large. it will drain you (especially if you are doing this from home) and take DAYS! if you do do it, make sure its for someone your REALLY LIKE or you'll regret it.

LOL.. yeah.. I'd say no way too.. unless you want the filling-less frosting-less kind.

I can't make a cake for 50 for under $50.. even with straight mixes.. you are looking at quite a bit more.. I'd say at least $150 filled with just buttercream.

I estimate my cost for buttercream filling cakes to be around 80 cents per serving. Other fillings the price goes up. Once you tally it all in, all the butter, shortening, powdered sugar, boards, probably some boxes, like Melysa said, paper towels, soap, saran wrap... ... I think your total cost (still not counting the electric for baking all of that cake) around $200.

oh yeah! perfect example...you will always forget SOMETHING!!! i forgot to mention cake boxes (thanks alison) !!!! there is no way you can carry or transport a 6 tier cake (it'll weigh 75 lbs easy) so you'll need to box them and assemble on sight. add another 20 bucks for boxes.

yikes! sorry if this is all so discouraging. it can happen, its just not cheap.

Ooooh.. I forgot about the fondant.. that'll add more.. I doubt you could do it for under $200. And Melysa brought up a great point about the cake pans you might not have.. another option would be making a smaller "wedding-y" cake and have a sheet cake or two out back and you wouldn't HAVE to put fondant on the sheet cakes.. so you might not need to buy pans if you do that. Still.. I doubt you could do it for under $150.. probably closer to $175.. and that's straight mixes.. no doctoring.

I was going to say that you are asking yourself to make a cake for less than $0.20/serving.. that's impossible.. and cake boxes.. how could I forget that!!

Grrr..... thanks for the reality check. I was thinking of doing an 8, 10, 12, and 14 tiered and then the rest sheet cakes. We have pans and all that stuff.

This is for a charity thing I'm part of, and when I was talking to my friend I said we could do it for just the cost of ingredients, and I don't really know about cost (obviously), so I said, "I don't know if it'd cost $50 or $100 or what, I'll talk to my husband, but if you guys paid for the ingredients we could just do it for free." Then she went to the committee and said we could do it for $50 from that coversation. I think I'll have my husband price it out, give her the actual price, and if they're not interested, no harm done.

The charity event will have about 300 (mostly wealthy ) women from the area I grew up, many of whom know me or my family but aren't aware that we're starting our business, so I was thinking that what I would get back in referrals would make up for the work we put in. Plus we need cool stuff for our portfolio anyway.

Good tip, thanks!

If they give you crap the next time you are in the store price out each item you would need and present it to them.. There's NO way to do it that cheap.. sorry. They are asking you to perform miracles. Tell them you are NOT a mythical baking goddess who can pull ingredients out out her *insert your favorite explative here*.. you can just make them RE-appear there after eating them

WARNING- If you are doing this for pr (advertising), there is no way you want to skimp on doctoring it up, and a good filling. Straight mixes would be a disappointment.... not the way you want "your business name" "out there", I would think... Just another expense- sorry!

Thaty's totally true.. so if you would normally bake from scratch.. don't go the mix route since it's nothing like what you would normally be putting out there.

don't get me wrong---- I swear by mixes. I would just not want , in the effort to cut costs, to cut quality and put something" out there" to represent me that was not my best work (both in cake quality and design). The "special touches" every baker adds, be it sour cream, mayo, extra flavorings, booze, etc... often is what sets our cakes apart. An effort to cut costs , can "bite" back. I think we all agree here... 300 servings for $50 is impossible, and cutting costs can backfire....

I think that this cake(s) will cost you at least $150 just on ingredients and other materials.