I was recently approached by my landscape designer to fill a last minute (she asked on Friday and wanted to pick up Sunday morning at 4:30 am) mini cupcake order. She and her daughter own a spa and had a booth at a large wedding show in Phoenix. She asked for 300 mini cupcakes..."something decadently chocolate in pink and brown". I initially declined since I am recuperating from wrist and hand surgery. She insisted, I relented and enlisted the help of a friend. We cranked out the cupcakes..315 from scratch... decadent chocolate cake from scratch with Valrhona chocolate/Kahlua ganache. She wanted half of them to have the initial "S" for the name of the spa and the other half flowers. We made half with royal icing "S's" and half with pink fondant flowers with chocolate fondant centers. I also loaned her four beautiful white ceramic pedestals and decorated each edge with coordinating polka dot and striped pink/green grograin ribbons. The display was charming and the cupcakes were adorable. We did not discuss price beforehand (my mistake).
I am not licensed but do work for family and friends out of my home. (although I do have a Cordon Bleu Baking and Patisserie Certificate from Scottsdale Culinary Institute).
The event started at 10:00 am and she called to let me know the cupcakes were wiped out within 1 1/2 hours and multiple people had asked for my card, including the manager of the event. I purposely did not add a card since I am not licensed.
She added that I should get a booth and participate in the upcoming October event. She said her spa booth was the busiest and credited her staff and my cupcakes for the brisk business.
The BIG QUESTION is...how much to charge? I have a bill written out for 300 cupcakes ( I threw in the extra fifteen), staging included, for $405.00 (that's 300 cupcakes @ $1.35 each, staging included). Is this too much to expect? I also think she might propose to barter for more landscaping services. (I do plan to use her services again in the future but would rather get paid directly for my work) instead of barter.
My girlfriend and I worked 12 hours on the cakes from start to finish. I also made a large replica out of cardstock of the flower to put on each of the 8 bakery boxes.
Thanks for the feedback!

You may be SOL with this.. you should NEVER make anything without first having a price nailed down in writing. You can give her the bill, and she may have no problems with it, though I am guessing she wouldn't be expecting the price to be so high. Not that I don't think your cuppies are worth it.. but I am betting she is expecting a much lower price. You may have to take a loss on this one.

I charge the same for two dozen minis as I do for one dozen standard cupcakes. (Mine are $30/ dozen, filled, with minimal decoration.) I charge $1/per standard or per two minis for custom decoration.

At my prices, the bill would be $375 for the cupcakes + $150 for the decoration (I might back down there a little) and $25 for the cake stand rental. So the total would be about $550.

Your bill sounds more than fair to me.

I think that her price is MORE than fair.. I just think that the woman who ordered them might be a bit shocked since the price wasn't worked out before hand.

I'm $1.50 each for minis, plus you did a fabulous job on super short notice. Send her the bill, and act like the cost is no big deal. If you let on that you think maybe its too much (or you think she'll think it) she just may!

I charge $30 per doz for reg size and 2 doz mini's for $30.same as Rhienn

I'm curious to find out the customer's reaction...

While I know that custom cakes are expensive, I think a lot of people don't realize how much they can cost...I suspect she might have had a little sticker shock