Hi.... I have my own business baking delicious cupcakes and making adorable toppers... I have a very large corporate event  order coming up, for which I was asked to make some sample toppers so they could b approved.  Upon making the custom toppers and showing them to my brother , who is a chef, business owner, and caterer...he told me I didn't charge enough for the toppers., which are pretty detail oriented.  My per dozen price is already including custom toppers if the customer wants them, which I have already quoted to customer.  I also work a full time job in addition to my cupcake business...which I will probably have to take off from to complete the order.. My question is this... Do I/should I add additional pricing for such detailed toppers?, or take out an element of the design and keep the original quote?...  I want to actually make money for all the work I will have to do, but I also don't want it to be bad business to adjust the price... I was thinking of offering an option A for the price I quoted, and an option B for the more detailed toppers..  Regardless if I charge more or not,as an artist,  I am not really satisfied with delivering a /the less detailed option...any thoughts??? 

I think you've answered your own question: This is what I can make for the price quoted. If you would like these more detailed toppers, then I can make them for this price.

Did you show them the detailed topper and quote the price based on that? if you did, you're pretty much stuck with doing them for the price you quoted. If you just told them "a custom topper" you have some wiggle room to say "this is the style that's included for that price" if they opt for the toppers, but if they've seen the one you showed your brother and think that's what they're getting you can't scale down after you quoted the price.

no... they had sent me a few pix of what they wanted... i made my designs based on those pix...but i have not shown them what i have done yet.  So I do feel like a have a little wiggle room... 

good -- make it easy on yourself -- 

I've been searching and searching this forum for advice on what to charge for a custom cupcake/cake topper, in particular a sculpted "mermaid princess". In my opinion whether it's for a cupcake or a cake makes no difference because the amount of fondant being used is negligible, but it still costs me the same amount of time to sculpt either one. That being said, I still don't know what to charge for a custom fondant sculpture, and if anyone could chime in I'd appreciate it!

one way would be to determine your time involved and multiply by $50 an hour -- then depending on your market get it done in 10 minutes or take three hours --

since it's custom made art you are basically on your own -- if you have a style and a following you can go kaching kaching -- since you're asking this pricing question i assume you are just starting out -- 

i would make one as super fast as i could and err on the side of efficiency aka good enough and not err on the side of careful painstaking time consuming detail like so many home cakers get lost in --

cakin' to me is about creating an illusion and most clients are happily satisfied with that -- as in just a shade better than a rough draft -- for the clients who want more you charge more but probably not now and especially not on a cupcake --  pose & paint a basic stick figure that has long hair, two clams shells a belly button and a big fin with scales -- bam! well add a tiara if she's a princess --

best to you

As artists of our crafts, we all want to put out the best product possible...tho the term "starving artist " is certainly less than desirable and not anyone's goal... lol...Honestly... it depends .. I hand make all of my toppers and decorations...  I often use silicon molds or cookie cutters and then "dress them up"... I google what I am trying to make to gather ideas and I watch videos on youtube so I can see what other people have done and then make adjustments, taking my own creative liberties. Presuming u are making a 3-d sculpture, and you already know exactly how you are going to do it, you have to be realistic about what you charge.  I think there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.  How long will it take you to make it?  How big is it going to be? How many do you need to make? What is the budget for your client? How much are you expecting to make off of your sale? What else is entailed in you project?  What is the degree of difficulty in your sculpture...???  What is ur base cost? Is your base price per/dozen already including custom toppers?... Your rate is going to be based on these answers.  You cannot charge $75.00 for a topper alone that takes you only 10 minutes to make...(or shouldn't)...Unless the materials are are least 1/3 or more of your cost...The more intricate the design or customization required, u can usually charge $1.50-$3.00 more per topper..on top of your project itself...So hypothetically, if you charge $36.00 per dozen ($3.00 /cupcake), you can add legitimately add another $18-$30.00 to their cost.  I have seen websites that charge $60 plus just for customized 12 toppers alone...no cake or cupcakes...  Having done a lot of research on this exact subject myself, I have found that most bakeries include a simple custom topper in their base price/ per dozen cupcakes...or charge a flat rate to add them...Again, the more elaborate your design, and the longer it will take u to complete it,  the more you should charge...

my price per dozen for cupcakes does not include for a customized topper.

if the customer doesn't want any specialized topper then i'll dress the cupcake up with maybe color coordinated sprinkles or a ganache drizzle, or you know something like that depending on the flavor, but any customized toppers are additional and depending on the intricacy of design.