Let lay the foundation.....I'm a beginner. I have only made cakes for family, all birthday's. Lots of Grandmas, you know, they will love you no matter what you make!

I get an email at my "day job" out of the blue. Someone wants a wedding cake in 3 weeks. They send me a picture, see below. Ok, for a b'day caker, OH MY GOSH!!!! How can I....What will I...??????

I am in Rural Western Oklahoma, I layed out a charged of $300. Didn't hear anything for 1 week, to their defense their was a child death in the extended family. Got an email yesterday that they want me to do the cake! Again, OH MY GOSH!!!!!

First wedding cake, first non-family member, first paying job!! I'm freaking! Did I charge too little, too much? Am I stressing over nothing? When is a good time to start? The wedding is June 14th.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! You all have wonderful ideas and are great with helping other people. I would love to hear others opinions!

First of all congrats!!!!

I think what you need to do is figure out how many people this needs to feed... fondant? or BC ? That is a major factor just in that area...

THEN you need to remember if your not used to working with a design that doesn't have a border around the edge then you have to practice up on the smoothing and leveling skill around the edges.. so it looks nice and clean... I am still scared of those.. I have realized the most simple looking cakes.. (little decorations) are the hardest!!! There isn't anything to hide the flaws

Good luck hun and keep us posted!

We're looking at 200 people, white fondant. I have worked on my clean lines! Still working, actually! I know what you mean, no way to hide anything!

Oops I forgot to add.. depending on your area is how much you charge..

I charge 3.50 for fondant
2.50 for BC


HTH's

Lovely cake.

That's $1.50 per slice. Can you even cover your costs charging so little?

I don't know if I do or not. I do know that where I live there is no way I, as a beginner, could charge what Kim Payne does. She is awesome!

I have never made an attempt to make a wedding cake. I've never attempted anything past 3 small layers. I know, why did I take this? I don't know......MIL put word out and her close friend called. All this without my knowledge. I think I'm over my head!

I know, S* or get off the pot, right? Okay, I'm done whining. Gosh, I'm stupid for taking this!

You just have to look at this a four small cakes. Chalk up the under charge to experience, we've all done it. And make sure to get pictures.

Where in western ok are you? Im in the panhandle of texas. If you need to keep cost down, make MMF, I would say you could use box mixes, walmart in this area is about .88 a box (I use pilsbury). I bake ahead and freeze my cakes, that way you have more time to decorate that week. I take out of freezer on Thursday, crumb coat then put in fridge till friday. Take out a frost and decorate on Friday. Make your MMF a few days ahead too. This works for me anyway.

Well, Well.....Live and Learn, right????

They changed the servings to 100. They changed flavors, I should have known..... I had already quoted $1.50 a serving, total $150 now.

Even making the MMF and taking the Wilton Fondant back to the store, I put $50 into the cake.

So disappointed in myself, thinking of swearing off cakes for money and just do it for family, for fun only!

Pictures to come later.....sob...sob!

My first Wedding cake actually cost me more to make than I made, But I got experience, and that is priceless. We all have to start somewhere. This is just where you are starting.

What ever you do, DON"T use Wilton fondant!!! Home made MMF is soooo much better!

Good luck! We're here for you!

Don't swear off cakes.. just work smarter. You were not prepared to quote for a cake.. that's where this bit you in the arse. For a fondant cake I'd charge no less than $3/serving. I charge $5.50/serving actually. It's a lot of work and time and you are getting a layer of BC and a layer of fondant.

Sit down and figure out what it costs you to make your recipes.. think about the time and gas to get to the store to shop for ingredients, the time to prepare the cake batter and fillings and frosting, the time to bake, the time to level and torte and fill, the time to decorate, and the time to clean it all up. Make sure you are being comensated for your time.

We have all done a cake for next to nothing at one point.. but learn from it and don't do it again.. and you'll be on your way.

oooh.. also remember t always charge for the # of servings your cake is designed to serve an not just the number of servings they want. Someone may want a HUGE cake that serves 250 but only be looking to serve 100.. they pay for the 250 servings.

for 100 servings I'd make a 8-10-12 round.. for 105 servings by my chart, which is a tinge smaller than wilton's wedding chart.

also.. if changing flavors will cost you more to make.. tellt hem that their previous quote is no longer valid since they are now ordering a "premium" flavor or something.. anything to get a little more right now since you are doing this on the super cheap.

(sorry to be a post whore)

I started to reply but it disappeared before I finished!!!

I think you should look at this as a learning experience. Would you pay $50.00 to take a class in making this type of cake? Depending on how much you learned doing it, you probably came out way ahead, just not financially!