Please Help With Pricing A German Chocolate Sheetcake...

Business By Abbeydab Updated 15 Oct 2008 , 10:11pm by Sweet_Guys

Abbeydab Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Abbeydab Posted 11 Oct 2008 , 7:10pm
post #1 of 4

Hi,
Everyone here so generously shares their pricing information. I have read many of your threads on pricing. Unless I missed it, I haven't seen anything on prices for German Chocolate or Carrot Cakes.
(I'm almost afraid to go to the store and price the pecans.)
I am about to make a full sheet (2 - 12"x18" put together) German Chocolate cake. I will split them and fill with the Coconut-pecan filling. It will also be on the entire top of the cake. The sides will probably be a chocolate Pastry Pride. Not sure of the decoration yet.
Also, for future reference, I would really be interested in your suggestions for pricing carrot cake sheets. All feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much in advance.

3 replies
cupcake Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
cupcake Posted 12 Oct 2008 , 6:50pm
post #2 of 4

Hi- Are you making your coconut pecan icing from scratch? I use the recipe on the back of the german chocolate baking chocolate, one recipe will ice a quarter sheet, not enough to split and fill. If you fill your full sheet plus ice the top you will need close to eight recipes. Pecans will run from 5.50 to 7.50 per pound, each recipe takes one cup of chopped pecans, which equates to approximately 4 pounds of pecans. How many people are you trying to serve? Not knowing your area, I would say not less then $2. 00 per serving, you may even go at 2.25-2.50. This cake will take some time, so you want to be sure to make enough. Hope this helps a little. J

Abbeydab Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Abbeydab Posted 13 Oct 2008 , 6:32pm
post #3 of 4

Thank you, cupcake!
Yes, I am making the cake and filling from scratch. I'm not sure how many they expect to serve. They just ordered a full sheet.
In the past, I have only made 9" round German chocolate cakes and I believe the one batch of icing/filling was enough. This time, I was planning on making the cake and filling four times. I wasn't even thinking about the sheet requiring more filling due to the difference in surface area. Thank you for pointing that out before I made a big mistake!
I just roughly priced out the cake X4 and filling X8 and oh my...I'm already at $64. That doesn't include anything else!
So now, I don't know what to charge...
Thanks for your very helpful input!

Sweet_Guys Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Sweet_Guys Posted 15 Oct 2008 , 10:11pm
post #4 of 4

Abbeydab---

We decided to use the Wilton yearbook as our guide. Our base price is $2.50 per slice which is just buttercream. We add $1 per slice for fondant, we add $.50 for fillings above buttercream, and we have separate prices for chocolate, fondant, or gumpaste add-ons.

In your case, due to the cost of the nuts, I would figure out what you think your area can support for a per slice cost and add on at least $1 for the filling.

So, using our example, we'd charge $252 (one 12X18 serves 36 X 2 X $3.50).

HTH

Paul & Peter

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%