Am I Charging Too Little For This Wedding Cake?

Business By doctorwhobaker Updated 1 Sep 2016 , 8:04pm by Naivohw

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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 1:59am
post #1 of 20

This is my second wedding cake I have ever made and the first time I am actually charging for one of my creations.

The bride wants a naked cake (she is saving the top teir, serving the 8" and the 10" to the guests) so I don't want to charge too much for it because it doesn't have nearly as much frosting and also because its only my second wedding cake.  I am thinking about charging $2.00 a slice - bringing the total charge up to $140 . . . the numbers don't look right to me

Any thoughts?
Also, she wants a side sheet cake in the back to serve 58 and then a small grooms cake cheesecake. How much should I charge for the sheet cake? I still have to ask her about the dimensions of the cheesecake

19 replies
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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 2:02am
post #2 of 20

I will also be assembling the fresh flowers that she is providing for the cake and delivering

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-K8memphis Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 3:15am
post #3 of 20

yes you're charging way too low -- be sure you keep that cheesecake cold --

charge more for everything!

naked cakes have their own set of issues so charge like it's a normal wedding cake -- bare naked minimum i would charge is $3.50 to $4 per sreving

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julia1812 Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 6:36am
post #4 of 20

Yes definitely ^^^

I'd charge min 2$ for the sheet cake per serving cause that's easy and frosting doesn't need to be smoothed etc but the wedding cake for more. 


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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 11:57am
post #5 of 20

Yes, I am sort of nervous about that cheesecake!

Okay, so I am unwilling to charge $4 a slice (YET! Some day I will be up there with the big bucks) because this is a close family/friend and again, only my second wedding cake (Also, I'm only 15 years old so I only have about 7 years of expirience in this field) but I have done the math for all of the cakes. Tell me if the numbers look better :P :)
MAIN WEDDING CAKE - $3.50 per slice x 70 slices = $245                            SHEET CAKE - $2 per slice x 58 slices = $116   

TOTAL: $361            INGREDIENTS for both cakes: $89.50                 LABOR: $271.50 (Thats $13.57 per hour for 20 hours, 5 hours a day) ( I am thinking about uping the labor price by at least $27 because of the sheet cake)

I am thinking that the cheesecake will take 3-4 hours to make so that will be about $47 ish . . . bringing the total up to $408. If I decide to bring up the price by $27 it will be the grand total of (drum roll) $435

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640Cake Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 12:06pm
post #6 of 20

You're saving maybe what, $10 on frosting??  But adding more stress as naked cakes are not as easy as they seem.  You need to assemble close to delivery or wrap well in order to prevent them from drying out.  Add some creativity/thinking on how to hide the cake boards on each tier.  All the work, more stress, a bit less frosting.  No price discount for naked cakes from me. 

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640Cake Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 12:09pm
post #7 of 20

Don't forget about supplies - boards, supports, plastic wrap, etc...electricity, dish washer, refrigeration, etc for overhead.

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julia1812 Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 12:17pm
post #8 of 20

And the ingredients for the cheesecake are included in the total already?

Well, not bad for a 15 year old! I just hope you will feel satisfied with your pay because a wedding cake can be stressful. And also include shopping time, washing up, delivery etc in your price...


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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 12:39pm
post #9 of 20

Haha, thank you!

The first wedding cake I made was a naked cake for my brother's wedding.  I'll try and post a picture on this thread for y'all to see. Haha, I really wish I had documented the process more because it would have been very helpful to have all of the numbers right now grin.png 

That's part of it, I'm not feeling totally satisfied with the price. It seems very low :/ But the bride's budget is $500 and I don't want to go over that.  And no, I did not account for the cheesecake ingridients yet becasue I don't know how big she wants it.  I am sending her an email now.

Thanks so much for all of this feedback!!

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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 12:44pm
post #10 of 20

[postimage id="5019" thumb="900"]

Here is the my cake from his wedding! As you can see, there are some rookie mistakes (the cake boards are showing a little, lol a succulnet is upside down :P) (That succulnet still haunts me!! I never noticed it the day of the wedding but as I was showing pictures to people a few weeks later: BAM! There is was! Haha, I noticed it a few weeks too late)

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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 12:52pm
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Do y'all also think I should charge more because its taking time away from school work? Or is that a little much?

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-K8memphis Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 4:42pm
post #12 of 20

listen here if she's got five hundred bucks -- take it -- you'll earn every penny of it

your cake is most well done -- I can't find the errant succulent because I'm on my cell but I absolutely know the feeling --


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640Cake Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 4:42pm
post #13 of 20

Beautiful cake :)  You charge what your time is worth to YOU.  If $10 an hour cuts it, great.  If you have to have $15 an hour to make it worth your time, so be it.  You do not want to get burnt out and undercharging will do so quickly and you won't want to do any cakes, for any price.  There's a reason wedding items cost more - more pressure for everything to be perfect, which equates to more stress!

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-K8memphis Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 4:47pm
post #14 of 20

time management is crucial for this to work -- staying up all night in my experience is super wasted time -- I'm only speaking from too much (dumb) experience -- whatever you get accomplished overnight would typically take a fraction of regular hours to do the same and do it better --

so anyway -- what kinda cheesecake you making? size, shape, recipe, height?

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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 5:10pm
post #15 of 20

That makes so much sense! 

The bride hasn't responded yet but I am thinking she will want a 10" round vanilla cheesecake with a Graham cracker crust and the strawberry syrup stuff on top. Its just a nice, classic cheesecake and the groom isn't a big fan of chocolate. Probably three inches high. The recipe I use it just eggs, cream cheese, sugar and then your choice of flavoring (rum is simply amazing in cheesecake!). I have heard of some people using sour cream in their recipes 

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doctorwhobaker Posted 31 Aug 2016 , 5:13pm
post #16 of 20

And thank you!!

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-K8memphis Posted 1 Sep 2016 , 2:39am
post #17 of 20

and just for the record -- for going forward --  it's not the finest idea to serve sheet cake to some guests and layer cake to others -- often when 'kitchen cakes' are served they are set up like the tier cake -- for example if each tier has four layers so do the extras so no one can tell who got tier cake and who got served from the kitchen --

that's information you'll want to give your brides -- then they can decide what they want 

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doctorwhobaker Posted 1 Sep 2016 , 11:46am
post #18 of 20

So should I recommend not doing a sheet cake and just doing a four tie cake? Would that be easier on my part?

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dawncr Posted 1 Sep 2016 , 1:02pm
post #19 of 20

Or, still do a 'side' cake, but torte and fill it like you do the main, tiered cake.  I often do that with quarter sheet pans or even 13 x 9 pans.   Bake two layers, then torte, fill, and ice as you did the main cake.  It doesn't need to be iced in any fancy way.

It will be 4" (or so) high, and the servings are approximately 1 x 2 x 4, as they are from the main cake.

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Naivohw Posted 1 Sep 2016 , 8:04pm
post #20 of 20

Your naked cake looks really good! I did notice the succulent, but only after you pointed it out lol. Make sure you use some simple syrup on the naked cake, since they can dry our more quickly. And keep it well wrapped! I like to trim my cake boards down just a little (maybe 1/2" all the way around) to prevent the cake board from showing, but there is still enough of it to provide good support. Just thought it might help :) And I love your username, mine is "Whovian" spelled backwards ;)

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