I'm new to this so this is just an idea:

I charge for the full number of servings it takes me to use for a carved cake. I really don't like to waste cake, there is no body but my partner and me to eat it, so as a bonus I offer the client the option of packing up the extra unfinished full servings. I'm thinking the client will end up maybe thinking i gave them bonus or they will want a smaller cake. As a lot of these parties are for small guest counts I cant carve a cake but so small and still get the number of servings. I gotta start bigger.

For example (for those of you who have read, this cake was in another thread. My partner was out of town and helped me over the phone): I have a cake that is supposed to be a woman laying on her side. The client wanted to feed 50 guest. In order to get her to fit in my fridge and not make her too big (or too small) where she atomically wouldn't look right for the number of servings needed, we are starting from a block of cake that is 10"x18"x5". We got 90 servings from the block with about 50-54 servings after the carving. Based on my carving price of $5 per serving the cake came out to $450. I don't think I can carve her any smaller than 50 servings as it was hard already to get her to look right.

Do yo think it is fair to give them the extra cake that makes up an actual serving? We have no one else to give the cake to and we wont eat it.

I know what I want my base price to be ($5 per serving), but I got to thinking a little too much about what I want to do. Now i'm thinking maybe just charge for the actual servings. I dunno. What do you think?

I'm thinking you really have me intrigued about this cake!
You better upload photos! Maybe take photos of the process?

Personally, I would only give the customer the actual cake, not scraps. I think by giving the customer the scraps it kind of cheapens the work you did on the cake. But that's just me.
A carved cake is a premium custom designed cake.
If I ordered a pimped out, custom designed SUV, I wouldn't want the scraps of it, either.
(My dream car, it'll never happen!)

Unless of course you wanted to make cake truffles with the scraps to ride along side the cake, but that adds cost both in ingredients and labor.

"scrap" is a legitimate cost expense (I worked in a power cord mfg company and I'd have to figure scrap when pricing stuff out).

As a customer, I would not (!) want to be given a pile of "cake crumbs" as part of my purchase. What heck would *I* do with those? Not to mention that personally, I'd feel insulted that a business would think I 'd want to cart home a pile of chopped up cake pieces.

I understand that you hate to see anything wasted, but this is a business ingredient ...... you trash lots of leftover ingredients from a cake: batter scraped from the bowls, egg shells left from the eggs, icing and melted chocolate left in the piping bags. These cake scraps are no different.

Trash 'em.

I agree with the above statement.. just doesn't sit right with me thinking about handing over a bag of unsightly scraps along with a beautiful piece of edible art.. kind of like taking a photo of your finished work with all of your tools, ingredients wrappers and sticky benchtops in the background... it really detracts from the beauty of your work. The thought is definitely a nice gesture, but as tokazodo suggests, you may want to consider adapting them into a more appetising form such as truffles/cake balls.. you could add this as an optional extra for customers when ordering sculpted cakes.

Ok I totally agree with you guys now. I realize that does come off as a bit tacky. I have not done this, it was just something I was thinking about. So not a good idea.

I wouldn't pack it up and give it to the customer, but i have had to explain why a carved cake is more expensive, it's not only the labor, but also the fact, that i have to start out with a larger cake. I did have a customer ask, why, they did not understand the explanation. Some are very suspicious so once, I did show the leftovers and offered to pack it up for her. She declined, but finally understood. She is now on my black list though, i did not appreciate being questioned that often and feel that I was under suspicion of being, don't even know what to say here, unethical?. I did want to make the cake though, but that experience was enough

I agree it would come across as tacky.

Just wanted to say, I checked out your website Dreme, and you are AMAZING!! You need to raise your prices!

The carved away cake pieces are great for mixing with extra frosting and making cake balls/pops.

I just usually take the extra carved stuff and throw it in a freezer bag and freeze it. It's amazing how often I get a sudden urge for cake or have nieces or nephews over that would love a bit of something sweet, and then I don't have to make anything. =)

My son and his friends like to take my scraps and put them in a bowl with a few squirts of buttercream and cake sprinkles. Almost like ice cream to them. LOL! I mostly make cake balls with mine and take them to work.

Cake scraps are also good with fresh cut up strawberries, bananas and fresh whip cream or with canned sliced peaches and whip cream!

I'd eat them, trash them, or make cake pops for a charity with them. But I wouldn't offer them to the client. I'm interested in seeing the finished cake!

I worked in a bakery a few years ago. The customer wanted a carved cake. When it was explained to her how the cake was priced she did not like the idea of paying for cake that was going to be tossed in the garbage. She then asked to have the scraps. So I boxed them up and she took them home with her when she picked up the cake. Personally, I thought it looked rather gross.

After having three kids I had gained quite a bit of weight, a trainer asked me about my eating habits. I admitted I had a hard time throwing out my kids uneaten or half eaten food. Her response was "so you view yourself lower than a garbage can, you would rather eat something than throw it away" After that comment I changed my eating habits and lost 50 pounds. Throw the scraps away and chalk it up as a business expense.

I say make cake balls or pops and donate them to a local police precinct or firestation. They'd be appreciated!

**and wow! your work is impeccable and gorgeous**

I like the idea of using them to make something to donate to the local firestation, but I'm lazy, so I'd make trifle. lol

mmm... trifle