What's an approximate cost for this cake? https://goo.gl/photos/4maf4oxsafEnSZxy8

8" all buttercream - no fondant. I don't do many cakes, especially custom cakes like this one. A basic 8", with no extra piping would start at $40. This would clearly take more time than a simple one. Please and thank you!

 The cake might be buttercream but all the cutouts are Fondant with probably some gumpaste especially for the ones that are straight up.   Also I am not sure how you will recreate the playing card unless you find one already made that looks the same or you are a heck of an artist.  The cost is always relative to how long it will take you to do the additional decorations since you already know that your basic 8" plain starts at $40.

Thanks for the response! The client wants no fondant/gumpaste, only buttercream. She won't get the same affect as the picture, since it does require fondant/gumpaste. The client has a topper for the cake, because there just isn't a way I can recreate that card! Also, I think there are legal issues with recreating copyrighted images. Since I haven't done something like this before, I wasn't sure if there was a ballpark figure to go by.

You need to be VERY clear with her that an all-buttercream cake won't look anything like that. I've found that people say they don't want fondant, but they still expect it to look like fondant. Let her know up front that it won't look that precise because you'll hear about it later.

You can't copyright a simple shape, so as long as you do your own jester drawing on the top there's no copyright issue here.

Thanks! I did respond saying that the cake won't look the same without the use of fondant. I was thinking around $80 for the cake. She has the topper, but piping each individual shape, filling them and of course smoothing will take time. I appreciate the response!