I need to do an average sized tiered wedding cake, maybe 12/10/6 or 10/8/6 - not sure yet, but I am going to make either all or most of it foam & have sheetcake to serve as it is a come and go 50th anniversary party and the cake would be all torn up as people are coming and going. I have no idea what to charge for a foam cake!

It is still labor and supplies, and you must buy the foam....charge full price as if it is real cake.

really? the foam won't cost me anymore than the cake supplies would, but I don't have to put the time or mess into baking it, although I really don't charge very much to begin with - usually $2 a serving (only made for friends in the past anyway - make very few cakes I get paid for!). I guess I'm just surprised!

I charge 80% of a real cake. Since I don't have to spend the hours baking I discount a bit. The real cost of your cake lies in the decorating and that doesn't change if it's on a fake cake.

[quote="FromScratch"The real cost of your cake lies in the decorating and that doesn't change if it's on a fake cake. [/quote]


Yeah, I just want to be fair - I don't want to overcharge for the foam, but I want to get paid fairly for the decorating too! Although we do want to keep it simple and uncomplicated so I can spend more time on the "groom's" cake! His will be the fun one! (Crush orange can & Cheetos!) They are willing to pay what I ask (within reason, of course), I just wasn't even sure what to ask!

For dummy cake I charge 80% of what it would be if it was real cake.

i say 80% too, you're only out the baking time, everything else is the same cost and time involved.

yeah, I think 80% sounds good - I actually gave her the price this afternoon! She thought is was great! I also gave her a price for a 3d, only $4 a serving and she was very happy with that price - I know $4 is low for 3d as I've seen on some posts, but I felt is was fair for our area, and this is the first 3d I've charged for. She is also buying 3 large sheetcakes to serve, so I'm going to pocked a decent amount of $! This is the biggest order I've had to date, so I'm pretty psyched! Thanks everyone for your help!

Charge just as much as you would as if it's real cake... Here's why... Your time... The dummies are still going to take about equal time to get purchased as it will to make the cakes (either running to the cake supply store or going online and getting from dallas foam plus the cost of shipping)... Normally you'd likely use the big mixer to mix/bake all of the cakes at once, if you're baking ANY cakes you still have time/mess invested but the oven is full (my sinks cost me the same to fill whether I'm washing 4 pans versus , so you are getting more savings by having that oven full... Dummy cakes take just as much time, ingredients, and mess to decorate and clean up as a normal cake would (could even argue the dummies take MORE time to decorate because they don't sit still). But it's just FOAM you say, that foam is covered with your hours of decorating time and talent along with the cost of ingredients you're going to put into it. THAT is why you need to be charging 100% equal to what that same decorated cake would cost you to do in real cake.

I charge less for dummies because they don't have to bake and I don't waste mounds of SMBC icing them. I just put fondant on them and it's the only way I'll do them. I don't have a big mixer (my biggest is my pro 5), so not having to bake the cake that the dummy is taking the place of is more time efficient for me. in all reality, a 20% discount isn't all that much. I won't do an entire dummy wedding cake. You have to order 100 servings of regular cake before I will entertain the idea of a dummy cake (or kitchen cakes for that matter). For me they are cheaper in time and money to produce so it works.

I charge the same for foam/fake layers as I do for real. Only one person has asked why and I explained that one of the the cheapest-thing I can do is bake a cake. The "expense" is in the time/decorating/delivery/setup/ect... The foam-tier still costs money, needs decorated (fondant/buttercream/decorations), delivered, and stacked. While I know the cost of the actual foam may be cheaper than making a cake, I still have to do almost the same amount of work... JMHO

TammyH

I think whether you do 100% or 80% is more about your own preferences maybe. It was MY suggestion to do dummies since it's a come and go reception and that way the cake wouldn't be all torn up and cut cake wouldn't be sitting out all over the place. I think if I charged 100% and then she still had to pay for 150 servings worth of sheetcake, she'd probably say nevermind, just do the the tiered cake in actual cake! I liked the idea of doing the dummy cakes and making them smaller (they need at least 150 servings) - it will be easier for me, and I only have one rack in my oven - sheetcakes are DEFINITELY more convenient for me!! - thanks for all the great advice!