Turning Down Large Cakes?

Business By kcampeau Updated 26 Oct 2016 , 7:45am by julia1812

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kcampeau Posted 25 Oct 2016 , 8:39pm
post #1 of 6

I am slowly starting my cake business journey and most of what I have done is smaller tiered cakes like 6-8-10 or 2 tier cakes and cupcake towers. I really push the cupcake tower aspect with mini wedding cakes as my business or wedding cakes 100 servings or less. For me there are logistical issues but also the larger cakes I get extremely stressed over with the supports and transporting.

Would I be shooting myself in the foot if I made my market the cupcake end of it and tiered cakes of 100 servings or less as these tend to be 2 tiers or 3 smaller tiers? Or as a professional caker I need to "do it all" and offer the larger cakes as well?

I just feel weird to people saying "well I can do a cake for 100 but not 150" but it is so much more than that when adding those additional tiers.

Any advice?

5 replies
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MilkNHoney84 Posted 25 Oct 2016 , 11:13pm
post #2 of 6

I am not sure, but I would like to know the answer as well. I don't have the space to roll fondant for cakes over 12 inches at the moment......unless I roll on my dining room table (which might collapse if enough weight is applied, lol) But I guess not offering cakes over a certain size is not much different than not being able to accommodate gluten free or nut free cakes.  We all have our limitations

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remnant3333 Posted 26 Oct 2016 , 12:31am
post #3 of 6

 Many do extra sheet cakes for the venue to cut in the back for the people. This way there is more than enough cake to go around.  As for the cupcakes, everyone loves those.  You could do cupcakes in shape of wedding dress with the rosettes which is very pretty as extra cake when the tiered cakes are not big enough. There are so many different things you could add when you do smaller tiered cakes.

Others here will probably have a lot better suggestions than I do. I am only a hobby baker. 

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Tillsy Posted 26 Oct 2016 , 12:42am
post #4 of 6

I agree with remnant3333.  Stick to what you are comfortable with and offer the sheet cakes or cupcakes as a supplement. If you get a number of people that don't want those options, then you will know that you are limiting yourself and have to decide what is going to work best for you.  I agree that large cakes are much more stressful.  Good luck!

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Naivohw Posted 26 Oct 2016 , 3:43am
post #5 of 6

Obviously every market is different and wedding trends may change, but this year I saw very few huge tiered cakes. Almost everyone wanted a 1 or 2 tier cake with a bunch of cupcakes. I'm hoping that stays the trend for next year! So if that's what you are comfortable doing stick to that. If you've got brides on the fence about cupcakes, I always tell them how much easier they are to serve (no fuss with needing to cut and plate a huge cake) and they can have a lot more flavors, assuming you offer multiple flavors.

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julia1812 Posted 26 Oct 2016 , 7:45am
post #6 of 6

Well, I can just speak for myself but I don't find there is a big difference between a small tiered cake and a big one (besides logistics). I have a big chest freezer so I can bake and prep ahead of time and I've got a big cake fridge to fit up to 14" cakes. 

Recently I've done my first BIG cake, a 3 tier but extended, so 6 tiers actually) for 300 people. And although I was worried it turned out fine from my side  (there were lots of other issues but they would have stressed me even with a small cake).

The only 2 things which are different really were 1) it wouldn't have fit in my car fully assembled (but I assemble on site anyway) and 2) I couldn't move it once assembled (but I knew that beforehand and did arrange for strong catering guys to bring it out when I took the order).

I find a wedding cake is always stressful but I wouldn't turn one down because of size.

And yes you can do sheet cakes. I've also done that. But I find a) it's more hassle as you are dealing with an additional cake and b) it brings less money so why would I offer it? Unless the bride specially points out that she needs more servings for a small budget I wouldn't mention that option.

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