Ok so I've never posted on here so bare with me 
This is one of my favorite site and I usually just look up pictures of cakes and get my ideas from there my only problem is THERE ARE NO PICTURES OF A SPADE CAKE!!! So, my mom boyfriend has a poker club and his emblem is a spade with flames coming from the top...he wants me to make a cake shaped like a spade big enough to feed 30 people and I have no idea where to start...please help 
Get some sheet cakes and cut it out. Cover in black fondant with some flames coming out the top to match his emblem.
Sounds good...thank you!!! I have another question though lol....I have tried sooo hard to make black fondant for some reason or another it comes out purple i have tried dying it brown first then black andit still doesnt work....does anyone have any tips to help me with this. I would normally use wiltons black fondant for decorations but since this is for the whole cake I would rather make my own mm fondant so that it tastes good you know....well thanks again! 
buy pre-made black from Satin Ice. Tastes great, and much less work for you!
Add some cocoa powder to your MMF to make it chocolately and brown. If you have it or can get it, Americolor black to color it. If not Wilton black is fine. Mix it in the choco MMF when the marshmellows are melted and before adding your PS. It'll still look dark grey, but if you put it in the fridge overnight (or longer) it'll set and darken up.
Yup. Make chocolate fondant and then color it black. It comes out a very nice black. You can color white fondant black, but it takes a lot of black.
Alright i'll give it another try...couple more questions sorry 
as far as pricing i plan on making a bunch of fondant poker chips and getting a cake board so i could put the flames in fondant as the background....I feel its a lot of work he told me he would like to keep it under 100 which I think is fair but how much such I charge? Also I know you guys told me to do sheet cakes should I put both layers together then carve the design? Can you tell this is my first carve out cake?! lol....again thank you soooo much!!!! 
You gotta figure out your own pricing. Don't knwo what ingredients, utilties, gas, you time is worth to you, all that good stuff. But I will say this. He would never get that cake from me for less then a $100 for 30 people. The cheapest he could get it would be a $120 and thats me not charging him an actual carved cake price, cause carve cakes start at $200.
I agree, figure your own pricing. And I totally agree with you LaBella, about how your cakes are worth what you charge... they are professional and gorgeous. I imagine you have had schooling and / or years of experience and that alone enables you to charge your worth. Now me, as a hobby caker, I've carved and caked... well, for free. My Jack cake was free... it was a church family at my church that was recently unemployed and had a son turning 18. So I helped them out. So situations differ, but I'm not telling you anything new. I think what I'm saying is, yes, Labella is correct... charge what you feel it requires. 
And yes, freeze your cakes (or leave them in the fridge overnight at least to get them harder for carving) then buttercream your first layer top, and then stack another layer on that. If you want, draw and cut a large spade template on a piece of paper, pin it down with toothpicks and carve the cake to that shape. Crumb coat the rest, and cover with fondant.
Uh, just for the record Darthburn, your Jack cake is one of my favorites, along with your screen name, and that cake would have been a easy $700. Your in California. You could have a got an easy 1K for that cake. And school is great, but not necessary.
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!!! 
I LOVE THIS SITE!
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