I am doing the cake for my sister's BFF's wedding shower next weekend. It is a gift to her, as I have known her for over 15 years. I did want to get an idea of how much the cake would normally "go for" though, should anyone there ask. It will be 9" and 6" square stacked fondant-covered cakes with fondant decorations. I ran it through Alice's pricing spreadsheet and the calculations came out to about $220. This seemed high to me, but I admittedly know nothing about pricing cakes, except for buying our own wedding cake, which was buttercream and served about 215 for $900.

Sounds high to me too but I always price too cheap. I would figure based on if I had to buy the fondant or if I were making it myself. Then how complex the decorations are. You have to cover your time as well (that's what they tell me anyway!!!). I always price mine per serving using the chart here on cake central. I hear people charge $3.00 a slice for fondant..some more some less. I charge $1.75 a slice for buttercream.

I couldn't get that much here in Oregon. I get $2.00 a slice for buttercream, and $2.50 a slice for fondant. So it all depends on where you live, but that sounds pretty high, that is like 6 dollars a slice. I would charge like 90.00 to 100.00 for that size cake.

Yeah, I'm glad to hear that I wasn't off base thinking that sounded high! Could you point me to the pricing information you mentioned here?

Assuming these are 2-layer cakes. Assuming the wilton wedding serving chart, which is what I use.....

9", when cut in 9 rows and 4 columns = 36 servings.
6", when cut in 6 rows and 3 columns = 18 servings.
Total servings: 54

$220/54 servings = $4.07/serving.

I charge $3/serving for BC and if I did fondant, I'd charge at LEAST $1 or $1.50 more. So I don't think it's out of line.

What you also need to consider is that it is not uncommon for smaller cakes (or any product) to cost more than a larger product because you have to cover overhead. I explain overhead to brides this way: The tablecloth I rent costs me $25, no matter if there is food for 50 or food for 150 sitting on it. It costs the same amount of gas to run my van, no matter if there is food for 50 or food for 150 in the back of it.

It costs the same amount of electricity to run your oven, your mixer, your SELF ... no matter if you are making cake for 50 or cake for 100.

So if you think this sounds high .... well, it's because it's a SMALLER cake and you have to cover overhead.

I charge $3-$4 a serving for fondant cakes s]o your pricing sounds fine to me. Unfortunately your area is going to play a HUGE factor in how much that cake will cost.

As other people mentioned they charge much less per serving for fondant as that is all their market will bear. Your best bet is to find local bakeries and find out how much they charge per serving and then set your price to theirs or close too it. Since you just want to know for informational purposes and not for business reasons then that might be more trouble than you are willing to go thru. Its not always reliable either, when I searched here I found a bakery very near me that charges $5.75 and up for fondant and a hobbyist baker that is routinely told that her $1.50 per serving price is too high.

You could also do the "x3" method. At its most basic you take how much the ingrediants cost you and multiply that number by 3. It doesn't work realistically for most businesses, but it could at least give you a starting point.