I made this cake recently for a friend's daughter's 17th birthday. I am not charging for the cake as we are doing it in trade (she babysits my 5 children for me on occasion...but very infrequently).

Because I wasn't planning on putting a price value on this cake - I didn't track hours spent or dollars spent. (I know, bad business practice.) HOWEVER, I now have an order for a similar cake for a Halloween party in October...they just want to know pricing...


Any input?

I know I spent about 12 hours decorating, the pieces are made of chocolate (Wilton candymelt recipe) and the interior cake is chocolate and strawberry with strawberry buttercream.

sizes?

Gracious! That would help wouldn't it? That's what I get for writing a post and trying to keep my 11 year old and 8 year old from beating each other up....when does school start again?

The bottom layer is a 10" x 6" and the top is 6"x6".

I kinda thought it looked like a 6/10.

I don't get involved (in detail) in too many pricing threads, but I think this one is a little unique because of the design. I'll offer my thoughts on the thought processes *I* would go thru to get a price, but with any pricing, you'd have to know your costs, labor and expected rate of return for your area.

A 6" tall cake is 50% taller than a standard 4" tall cake, so right off the bat, my per-serving price is 50% higher. Being fondant-based cake, my fondant rate was $4.50/serving x 1.5 (to make it 50% higher to cover the 50% more cake per serving) = $6.75/serving.

A 6/10 square serves 18/50 = 68 servings x $6.75/serving = $459.

Before you gasp at $450 for a cake, remember ..... this cake is big enough to serve 68 people (that's a small reception!) with pieces of cake that are 50% BIGGER than what these 68 people would get at a reception.

On top of that, this cake might qualify for what I called my Design Fee. This fee was added on to any cake that had some minutely detailed work, such as the roof effects, etc. This could be anywhere from $75 to $300, depending on the size of the work, materials, etc.

Hope this gets your started out on the thinking process on setting pricing.

indydebi -
Thank you! I was thinking along the 450.00 lines as well, and you are right, I was thinking that was a lot - but not out of line...it did afterall take me approximately 12 hours and that was AFTER baking.

I've read several threads on here about pricing - and responses from folks. I think that's just gotten me a little shy about setting a realistic price. For instance, I quoted $75.00 for a Tortise cake (serves 40 ish) carved but a bit larger than a half sheet (and a lot taller considering the dimensions) and the customer almost choked. I just don't want to second guess myself - I think it makes me sound unsure of my abilities.

Thank you again! I appreciate your thoughts on the topic!

Tamara

I think I just need to have you stand behind me and force me to charge appropriately