Hi, its me again the crazy person with the doilie cake coming up fast..

The mom of the bride is a cheapscate with only 9,000 in her checking..(saw it when she wrote my deposit check)... she is always trying to get something for nothing. Her sister in law (is my sister in law).. and she said don't worry about charging her so that I make a profit.

Well when this girl picked out this crazy cake I told her it would take some research and that It would also take lots of fondant to make the doilies and now that I am working on these I am also adding gumpaste which is not cheap either.

I am at a stand still because they won't have a head count for me until the 11th and they havein't decided if they want a smaller doilie cake and then regular layer cakes in the back kitchen.

I told her the fondant work would be more. But she never ask for any price except for me to come back and cut the cake at the hall which I am charging her 75.00. The hall was going to charge 1.50 a serving to cut it.. yeah i was shocked on that figure.

Now with so much fondant I am going to need plus the time involved in making each doilie and think at the least I am going to need about 65 doilies for the small cake. (including some for beakage). Would you charge just for the fondant used, or just charge her extra total per serving for the cake and explain that its basicly a fondant cake. I know that she is going to balk but I tried to tell her it is going to be much more .. with not getting through to them.

Have you already given her a price?

I recently did the Keystone light cake in my pictures. Because she wanted it in butter cream and I thought I could do it in butter cream, I quoted her that price. In the end I used fondant, after her okay, because of some issues and because I thought it would look better and be a lot easier for me with the design.

Since the fondant was not in the cost of the original cake, I ended up eating the cost of it. Because in my opinion, it wasn't fair to add on that cost to the original price, last minute when I could have redone the butter cream (and would have had to eat the cost of that) but had suggested the use of fondant.

My point in that story is, if the price has already been discussed and agreed on, then I feel like you need to honor that price. Even if you didn't set an exact size of a cake, but gave her a price per serving that you were going to use when they decided on the price I would stick to that.

If the price is still up in the air, and you are still due to go back to them with a price, then if you feel the need to I would up charge for the fondant. I wouldn't refer to it as a price per serving for fondant, because chances are they will tell you they aren't getting a fondant covered cake. But I would state it is a price per serving based on the detail work needed for the cake.

I would also delete the information about how much money is in her bank account. That really isn't something I would want people sharing about me (even if you didn't give a name) on a public message board and it really isn't important to the question at hand.

Your cost for a cake is based off of what you need to charge to cover your costs, labor and a profit. It does not have anything to do with what someone has in their bank account, or even what they are wanting to pay. You give them the price, if it is too much for them, they either need to change the design/size to lower the price if possible or they need to find another cake decorator.

Yes, I agree about the bank account thing, thank you for pointing that out.

I am just frustrated about the people who will spend to the end for everything wedding but want to pay as little as possible for the thing that is probabaly the most detailed the CAKE.

We discussed the cake cost per serving when we met but that was before the all fondant disc covered cake was picked out. I told them that I couldn't quote a final price until I knew what the size of the cake is going to be because I don't know how much in fondant that I am going to need for the discs. bigger cake more disc. more fondant. and the time invested in the disc.
They do know that it is going to cost more because of the fondant disc.

Just that I know that she isn't going to want to pay that much. She was talking to her daughter (the bride) about ordering less cake than needed.
She had read about it.

I know that they are calling every and emailing every guest for there rsvp this weekend So they are going to be very close numbers and shouldn't have a mass of leftover cake. they don't want any cake wrapped for take out.. (don't know why).. all of it served. If they run out its going to look like my fault since were going back to cut this cake. Might bring extra under table cake.. just in case... so I am not suprised by her guest list. (thats happened to me before by 40 people).

So do you still think fondant price or seperate cake plus fondant price?

Since she already knows your cost per serving, then I'd stick with that number and add on extra for "an intricate design" or how ever you want to word it.

I personally prefer a price per serving that includes everything. But since you've already discussed the price some, then add just add the decorations on top of everything.

I'd also would only do the cake for the amount she requests. Why bring extra cake? Then she would be getting free cake. If you are cutting the cake and you see there are more people than cake, then you can always adjust your cutting sizes down a little. Unless she just pics the prefect amount, chances are the cake you make will serve a few more than she needs so you should be okay with that.

Remember you charge for number of servings the cake makes, not the number she needs.

Yes I always love your answers.. I have always charged for the number of servings that they want.. never thought of charging for the number that the cake that they order serves. I try to get as close as possible.

I always worry about having less cake than needed never knowing how places cut the cake. I have had brides who order smaller amounts up to half and then when I mention it to the catering hall they don't understand what they are expected to do when they run out of cake.. not like its my fault.
but I wanted them to know what to expect. again it was for a bride to save money in both cases. 40 people were invited but not added to the cake numbers, and the other she wanted to put more money into the liquor instead of the cake so she only ordered enough for half because they were drinkers (thats wht I was told). turns out people were turned away and the people cut it told them it was ordered not my fault.. (i found out because I had to go back to the venu to get my equipment ..bride and family just left it there..


thank you again for the good ideas. i can see why to charge for the numbers on the cake. makes more sence. thank you

If the want two "servings" but order a 8in round, they are going to pay for the 24 servings the cake should give them. Even if they cut the slices a little large you still need to have a set serving size and a price that goes with it. Other wise you are giving them free cake.