I've had a lot of customers come to be with big dreams only to downsize their cakes to something "more affordable" and I thought it would be funny to show examples of what they initially ordered and then what they finally settled on because of their budgets.


I'll go first.

I had a lady call and tell me, I'll take 1 of your treasure chest cakes and 1 of your pirate ship cakes for my son's birthday, let me know how much and I'll get a check to you tomorrow am!


I told her they're both carved, fondant covered cakes I charge $3.50/serv. (she said great!) I emailed her the quote of $157.50 for the 2 cakes (cheap in my book) and she freaked..........said she had a $40.00 budget.

So she wound up with a sheet cake for $30.00 w/ a chocolate treasure chest! lol

I think she got a bargin on that sheet cake too! Great work!

The two carved cakes were a bargain for $157.50. That fantastic sheetcake was a steal!!! for $30.00!!! She does not know how much of a deal she got.

I love this post. Can't wait to see other examples.

BTW: both of the carved cakes are amazing and that sheet cake is great. wow the detail on the map!!

Beautiful work! He was a lucky birthday boy no matter which of your cakes he got!

That cracks me up!! I made a pirate ship for my son's b-day last month and I think the ingredients cost more than $40!! LOL!!!
Cake muggles....

I can't believe that you only charged $30 for that cake, it's awesome. All three are.

well, I charged her $30 for the cake $5 for the treasure chest and $5 for deliver.....so she spent her whole BUDGET!!! lol

but thanks, the kid was really psyched when he saw the cake.

She was so bumbed out she said "just do whatever you want on the sheetcake!" and then under her breath (should've just got one at walmart but they don't deliver!)

She was very happy with the sheetcake and is a repeat customer of mine!

Oh I just remembered I had another one!!!!


You'll love this!!!

$20 budget!!

LOL. Love that turkey cake and the sheet cake's not bad, but to think she wanted the other one for $20. BUahahaha

All of your cakes are AMAZING! I would have expected to pay more than $30 for the sheet cake, and I definitely would have!

Sometimes I wonder at the logic of folks. A plain, ordinary sheet cake at the grocery is about twenty bucks, but for some reason people get in their heads that they can request an intricate, carved, fondant-covered, looks-like-no-other-cake-in-the-world and "oh! that should cost the same!"

I just saw a pic of the b'day cake a woman I know ordered for her son's 1st b'day. She called me SIX MONTHS AGO, telling me she wanted this, she wanted that, go all out, I want a gumpaste crown, gumpaste details, stacked cake, need to feed at least 50...after all this IS my son's FIRST b'day!!!!

So she and I have touched base a few times over the last few months about this cake. She told me she wanted the same size/shape and level of detail as I did in a monkey themed b'day cake I did a while back. Pic is attached.

When I gave her the quote, she was absolutely SILENT. She said she'd talk to her husband and call me back. I didn't expect to hear from her again, lol!

She called the next day, asking what a different shaped cake would cost...same detail, same number of servings. I told her it would cost exactly the same...shape doesn't matter. Number of servings and detail level determine the price. Once again, she said she'd get back to me.

She actually did call me back. To tell me that they couldn't budget for that much on the cake. I was SHOCKED...SHOCKED, I tell you lol!

I can't post a pic of the cake because I didn't do it. Basically, it's a sheet cake, iced in white, with a crown and the number "1" piped onto it, with some colorful swirls as accent. I know where she got it, so I know how much she spent...$50. So for FIFTY BUCKS, she wanted a cake similar to the monkey cake...not gonna happen.

I have just expereienced this for the first time. Most of my orders are sheet cakes. Where I live (SD), people aren't familiar with fondant, but since it is all over tv these days, people are starting to ask for it. A lady emailed pictures of cakes she wanted for her mother's surprise 50th bday. I said great, I will incorporate some of the ideas from her pictures into a sketch and get that to her with a price. So it came to over $300 for the 3 tiered cake done in fondant. She was "silent". She said well, that is just too expensive, and I said well, I could do it in buttercream with fondant accents, for about half the price. Still too expensive. I said, well that is what the price is. If you want me to do it, you need to send a deposit, etc etc. She emailed me back, and said she found someone else to do it. No one I know that does cakes is going to be open to doing that cake 3 weeks from now, I am sure she is settling on a walmart bakery sheet cake for the price she wanted to spend. It is very frustrating, but people just don't understand the costs and time involved. Everyone should read Debi's article in the magazine. Very good Debi!

KHalstead, if your price for that sheet cake is $30 and BOTH of those carved cakes is $157.50, I'm going to start ordering all my cakes from you and re-selling them for twice the price! Beautiful work, btw!

KHalstead your cakes are great and $30 for the sheet cake, what a bargain she got. We are holidaying in Florida (read stranded till Sat due to that stupid Volcano) and I have looked in some of the supermarkets at the cakes. We dont get them the same in the UK the ones in the supermarkets here are all mass produced and not baked on site. And they were charging $29 for a sheet cake with a few coloured swirly bits on and Happy Birthday.
Some people do not realise the bargain they are getting

jayne - I was at the grocery store today and checked out the bakery, too. What they *called* a 1/2 sheet cake (it was smaller) was $28 for a yellow cake with semi-smooth white frosting, white shell border, and about 15 confetti sprinkles tossed on the top. No flowers, no writing, nothing special at all....It looked pretty sad, even for a grocery store cake. They had another one...very basic but with plastic men stuck on top for around $35.

my god that is an amazing sheet cake. I love the carved ones but honestly I am blown away by the sheet cake- for 40 bucks she got an amazing deal... and that is from me who practically pays people to take my cakes off my hands at this point in my learning....

And maybe because I have seen so many cool carved cakes but sheet cakes being done really well and not the boring costco/walmart type cake is really an awesome talent ... I really like the treasure map and chest on that cake.... cool

Yeah I thought the sheet cake was amazing too! Just try getting one anywhere in the same league as that from Wal-Mart. At any grocery store bakery in my area, if it doesn't have the shell border, confetti, possibly even some curly ribbon or come out of the Deco-pac book you ain't getting it. So sad.

This is the problem with all the cake shows out there. They show these fantastical cakes, that OBVIOUSLY take a hundred man hours to make, but they never give any inkling to what it cost. Sure that gal picking up the cake might look like an everyday Josephine- but I can assure you- her bank account doesn't. The general public is being duped into thinking that ANYBODY can afford a custom cake.
It is actually the reason I became a decorator- so I could give my kids the cakes I could not afford to buy!

I know I know my cakes are CHEAP!!! I don't get to do 3-D cakes very often even with MY prices!

Tiered cakes start at $1.50/serv. here..........I charge $2.25 and am going to $2.50 soon

There are no carved cakes.......but I charge $3.00/serv. for bc and $3.50/serv. for fondant w/ a minimum of 15 servings.

I am going to raise my prices soon and the tiered will be $2.50/bc and $3.00/fondant
carved will be $3.50 bc. and $4.00 fondant

I just felt the need to hone my skills to warrant being so much MORE than the other bakeries!

People are really cheap sometimes... but at the same time we have got to make a living for what we do. My cakes start at $50 and go up from there if their budget is $30 (which is laughable.. then they can go to Walmart, Giants or Sams Club and get one of their frozen cakes lol). I won't do it! I really only had one potential customer who told me the price I quoted was too high. I normally get the opposite that my prices are so reasonable compared to the other bakeries in Lancaster or Harrisburg.
Hakima

That is a beautiful cake for 30.00. She got herself a good bargain. You do beautiful cakes

I have to say the same thing..That sheet cake is awesome (I actually saved it to my favs!) ...and for $30.00...My minimum is $40.00 and a sheet cake like that would be well over $110.00..You up your prices girl!!!

I'd say you honed your craft...

http://noexcusesfilms.com/forums/images/smilies/pirate.gif

I'm pretty sure you and I share the same clientele!
On Easter, this guy came in one time and asked how much the checkerboard cake in my display case was, and it was marked for $14 (it served 6-8 people) and when I told him the price he said, "That's way overpriced. I can get a cheaper one at Big Y but they're closed." (The grocery store like a mile down the road) And he was upset because I wouldn't lower my price!

Also for easter, we had a 8 inch chocolate cake with almond chocolate mousse filling covered in whipped ganache in the case for $24 and one guy comes in and says "Twenty four dollars! It's a cake! I can get one at big y for ten!" and so my dad was walking by and says to him, "There you go! That's your kind!"

People are cheapskates and they're nuts.

I don't have pictures because I didn't end up doing the cake but I had a bride come to me, told me I was really inexpensive and they were excited about booking with me. Well, she said she wanted 250 servings, covered in fondant, with fondant draping on each tier and a large gp flower cascade. I said 'sure, I'd be happy to do that.' I sent her a couple of options and price quotes, both of which were around $500 (I know, I'm suuuper cheap. I'm just starting so I'm ok with that). I never heard back from her. The cake she wanted would have cost AT LEAST $750 at any other bakery in town.