A 4" with a cupcake on top.
You could absolutely do a teeny 2 tiered cake like that, problem is I bet she's only looking to pay like $15 not realizing that although it's a small number of servings it's going to be a lot of work still
Lol! I get such a kick out of some customers! jentreu is right...five people will get honkin' big servings!
I just tell them that my smallest tiered cake I offer is a 9"/6" which serves 30, and I quote the per/serving price for the design they wanted, and then I let them decide if that's what they want, or not.
That makes sense. They would just have leftovers.
I just tell them that my smallest tiered cake I offer is a 9"/6" which serves 30, and I quote the per/serving price for the design they wanted, and then I let them decide if that's what they want, or not.
That makes sense. They would just have leftovers.
Yeah...that or they realize they were asking a bit too much, and they may ask to downsize, or whatever...although I also have a $150 minimum in most cases (sometimes will go under that for a "regular customer" on occasion) so really I don't much do the "small cake" thing too much.
I'm curious to know what you told her and what her reaction was. hehe Seriously, people wanting cake in this area are clueless (regardless of how many times they tell me that they are a big fan of Cake Boss). I just want to tell them THEN YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER!
I just did a small two tier wedding cake for a couple who got married in Hawaii and never had a cake. The husband wanted something for just the two of them for their anniversary so I did a 3 and 5 inch cake (2 layers each) covered with fondant and sugar flowers and some piping and charged $75.00. You need to make it worth your time and materials! It is funny how people have no idea how long it takes to make even a small cake! 
Kitagrl- I couldn;t agree more. I just had this happen. A customer attached a photo of a cake I have on my site which was an 8" on a 10" and said she needs that cake for a party of 12-15. Huh? So I politely said I can adapt the design to my smallest tiered cake which is a 6" on top of an 8" which feeds 23 and the per serving fee of $3.25 would be for the 23 servings. She loved the design so she went with it.
For those that have posted about the price changing based on the party size changing I'm not understanding. I charge for the # of servings I know the tier willserve NOT how many they intend to serve with it.
Smaller cakes are not fair to use in some way. We still have to do all of the work (like preparing a large cake). I would do a 4 inch cake and a 2 inch. I brought the smaller pans on ebay. I still would charge her a healthy price to make sure that you are making profit from this cake.
Smaller cakes are not fair to use in some way. We still have to do all of the work (like preparing a large cake). I would do a 4 inch cake and a 2 inch. I brought the smaller pans on ebay. I still would charge her a healthy price to make sure that you are making profit from this cake.
Meant us-hope this makes since
I've found time & time again these silly types of request are simply made because the customers do not know what is entailed as well as cake portions all the cake stuff that seems so obvious to us. I have a $50. minimum on all requests (No point doing anything under that) once I explain and make suggestions of ideas that would work they can then make a decision that works for them.
I have a wedding cake for next week. It's just the couple of their immediate family (They are getting married at a justice of teh peace I was told). They want something that looks like a wedding cake, so they want two tiers. I don't like doign really small cakes, so I told him the smallest I could do is an 8/6. Gave my wedding cake price and was told "okay" so tehy'll have the top tier for their anniversary and wedding cake for a couple of days I guess. But hey, it's what they wanted, so I'm okay with it all.
I recently had a bride request a 3 or 4 tier cake (she provided some photos) but then went on to say that she only needed he cake to serve her bridal party because dessert was included with the meal. My suggestion was 2 "dummy" tiers and a real cake for the top tier. She was happy that she got the look she wanted but wasn't wasting a whole bunch of cake. I don't know what most of you would charge for such a thing but I know I seriously undercharged 
I thought of doing a 2nd tier as a cupcake, since cupcakes are the theme of the party. However, she wanted a 3rd tier as a cupcake come to find out!
So, I talked her into a 8in and a 6in tier @ $1.25/srv for buttercreme, no fondant. I quoted her at 40srv even though its really like 36. So, $50 for the cake, I can deal with that
She wasnt happy when I said that a cake that small wasnt possible
I thought of doing a 2nd tier as a cupcake, since cupcakes are the theme of the party. However, she wanted a 3rd tier as a cupcake come to find out!
So, I talked her into a 8in and a 6in tier @ $1.25/srv for buttercreme, no fondant. I quoted her at 40srv even though its really like 36. So, $50 for the cake, I can deal with that
She wasnt happy when I said that a cake that small wasnt possible
What did you charge her for it? Was it fondant, BC? Pictures?!
I had someone call a while back who wanted an elaborate castle wedding cake for 2 people. After speaking with her for a while she said it would be ok if there were 4 servings, as they could freeze the other 2 for their anniversary. She wanted to pay $20 for this! She mentioned buying grocery store cake for all the other guests... ewww! Some people have no idea!
Hmm, lets see.
Stuff for cake mix: Guess $10
Buttercreme: say, $10 more...even though thats on the high side, since I have alot of stuff on hand.
Maybe $5 in extras
So, I may pay $25 max....then profit 25 on top of it...not a bad day.
Not to be snarky, but $25.00 for a whole day's work is not a profit. You forgot to pay yourself (charge for your time!) Even if it only took you 4 hours to do this, bake, ice, gather supplies, decorate, etc, you're already in the hole (even if you only charged $4.00/hour for labor) Don't forget about the utilities, paper products, gas to get supplies, the time you've already spent working with this person, etc.
For a 6-8, I'd charge $160.00! I can't even get my supplies for $1.25/serving. (worked itall out on a spreadsheet and my cheapest cake, just to make is $1.65/serving)
I have to say I love, and sometimes prefer, making the smaller intimate cakes. Not minis (HATE them), but 6-4s, 7-5's etc. You can also bake a single layer tall and make them 3" tall cakes. Still look like miniature versions of 'real' cakes, lol. You just need to make sure that you're charging enough to cover everything.
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