PREFACE: Yep, it's my first wedding cake. Nope, I'm not a licensed/inspected business. Nope, I'm not charging for this cake. Yep, it has been verified that the venue will allow a "homemade" wedding cake made by a family member. And nope, there are no copyrighted images involved. (Does this adequately nip all controversy in the bud? )

SO... I have this great opportunity to make my cousin's wedding cake at the end of August. I have pricing questions even though I'm not charging anything, though - because if I can pull off this 5-tier monster, it's DEFINITELY going in my cake portfolio for my future business (which, I will add, will not include Yoda, Transformers, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.). Anyway, I'd like to have an intelligent answer if price questions come up.

I'm not asking for price per serving, really. But comparisons would probably help. Basically, I'm wondering where you draw the lines between "basic ribbons" and "that's a lot of work!" ...as well as how you price it when dummies are included for design.

Here's what I'm doing: 5 buttercream tiers, 6, 8, 10, 12, and a 14 dummy. The 14 (dummy) and 8: Iced smooth with a dangling lace border (using a small mold, probably white chocolate, airbrushed pearl). The 12 and 6: Swiss dots plus fabric ribbon (bride's choice) and fondant pearl border. The 10: Covered in fondant lace appliques (airbrushed pearl), fondant pearl border.

There will also be a cake pedestal in the middle of it all, as well as a level of gumpaste flowers separating two of the other tiers. Gumpaste rose and peony topper.

SO... How DO you price something like this? Much of it is simple, but I'm at a loss about the dummy, the volume of gumpaste flowers (seems like a lot to this gumpaste flower noob), and the construction (would you even consider that?) Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

basically just take the cost of your materials, plus ALL of the hours it took you to make everything including the flowers. you can either include the price of the dummy in the cost of the cake or you could make it a rental item and they get the money back when you get the dummy back.

Even though your dummy is not cake it still is going to have to be decorated as though it was but since it is the largest tier, there is a bit of a price break on cost. So, for me to do a cake like that with all that you describe my quote would be in the range of $550.00. If the 14" was cake I would charge $600.00. HTH

We price a dummy tier the same as a regular tier. There's no baking time or edible ingredients involved with the dummy tier, but once you factor in the cost of the dummy itself and the decorating time it works out to be about the same.