I just spent about 1/2 hr doing searches for cake tasting threads (for potential wedding customers) because I have a lady that wants one and I need to know IF or HOW much to charge.
In my search I discovered that everyone does it differently and now I'm even more confused! Some are free and some charge $25! Some say they give a discount if a cake is ordered thus making the tasting free, and some say that they don't just give cake away! Some make 6" decorated cakes and some make cake in tuna cans and put frosting and fillings on the side!! aarrgg! What to do?? 
Also, I came across a thread that asked whether or not to "tell" if someone asks if your cakes are from mixes or from scratch. One person said,
"I use a commercial cake base and my own ingredients" I really like that one, sounds so much more professional.
I would like to say that...it sounds really cool, but I shop at my local Wal-Mart and it never fails; as soon as I put 30 cake mixes in my cart, someone that I've sold to walks by and sees them. Then I feel like a con artist and a fake!! EVEN THO they are paying for my time and expertise, to them it probably looks like "geez! she only pays .93 per box and charged me $25!!"
I would just decide to do the tasting however you feel is best and then that will be your trademarked way of doing it! I think I am only going to offer tastings for large cake orders (weddings or large occasions) and they will be free if they reserve their cake order at that time. Otherwise I will probably charge a fee.
I have heard you are supposed to say "pre measured ingredients" instead of cake mix. I personally am not good at beating around the bush so I just say "I use cake mix and add my own touches to it and everybody always tells me it tastes just like a scratch made cake." I just stress how moist and fresh my cakes always are and a tasting would just prove that. Some people might boast on a scratch cake and they might really be good, but I have had others that are dry and yucky.
Just do things the way you want to do them...be honest about it...and be proud and confident as well and the customer will never know the difference.
I would not feel like a fake, because for me that is what a cake mix is, a base. Look at it this way. The cakes mix is really just flour, sugar, baking powder,,ect. The dry stuff. About .93 is what it would cost for the dry ingredients to do a scratch cake. The real expense of a cake is the costs of the other ingredients that goes into it. I explain it like this to a customer if they ask. I use the mix as a base. It has been commecially tested to come out right every time and that is why I trust it to start with. I also tell them, that is as far as it goes. I do not follow the ingreidents and only use the freshest ingreident to finish it. I tell them box gurantees a mosit cake every time.
As far a tasting. The first one is free. I make a 6" or smaller. Anything else will charge for. I charge 12$ for each after that. If they order a cake from me I will apply 1/2 of what they paid towards thier cake. I keep some of it, to cover the costs of the cakes that I made for them.
My cake mixes I buy are even less expensive at 78 cents each, however, I doctor my cakes and the icing as well so it actually comes out a little bit more to make them from the cake mixes that it does from scratch. I have done both but find I have a better chance of the cake coming out the way I want it to using the cake mix as the base.
But to each his/her own.
I bake 6" cakes and charge $25.00 for it if they do not book me at that time. If however they do book me at a later date, I put that $25.00 toward the cake they order. It is just business. IMHO-There are not too many business that would stay in business giving cake away for free.
I have never tried the tuna can idea, but it would work, I do have left over batter sometimes and if wrapped properly, they would keep for awhile in the freezer. I just like to bake fresh cakes for my tasting appointments.
I have a couple of great books that are all about doctoring cake mixes to turn them into pretty much ANY flavor you'd want. No one has ever questioned where it started out! But I wouldn't be ashamed to tell them at all!
I would tell those that question your cakes vs. Walmarts that they buy their cakes and they come in frozen!
I offer free cake tastings. I only make a 6" cake with one flavor choice and one frosting choice.
as soon as I put 30 cake mixes in my cart, someone that I've sold to walks by and sees them
This is why I shop out of town for my bases. 
I agree with cakeconfections that the cost of the cake mix is about what the dry ingredients would cost in a scratch cake. It really is nothing more than the dry ingredients already put together for you.
As far as the tastings are concerned, I've never charged, but those brides have always went ahead and ordered the same day. I think the idea of the first tasting being free and then charging for any afterwards is a good idea and sounds fair. But, I can also see charging for the first tasting and applying that towards the cake cost if the bride orders from you. Like someone else said, just do what feels right. It may take a few times, but you'll figure out what your market area expects and will support.
Here is a link to another forum in the same general subject.
Antonia has a great response. Love the cupcake idea too!
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-14134-.html
Please don't be offended (there's NOTHING wrong with using mixes!) but I have to disagree. A mix is definately not just "the dry ingredients already put together for you" Mixes have several things in it that you wouldn't even have access to as a home baker. Stabilizers, preservatives, emulsifiers and other things go in there... that's what makes them so forgiving to use!
Most people don't ask; if they like your cake, they like it. If they do ask, then the "I use a commercial base" is a good answer if you don't want to actually say you use a mix. If someone specifically wants a scratch cake or a mix cake, they can probably taste the difference.
As for charging for tastings... I'd say yes, a small fee which could be credited towards an actual order. But definately make your samples they way you make your cakes (i.e. no freezing, etc) and I would provide a couple of flavours so they can get the confidence that whatever they order will be yummy! A good selection is a basic white or yellow cake, a chocolate, and one "specialty" flavour to really wow them!
Antonias' suggestions are all great... try to get a few tastings on the same day to make it efficient!
I have a question about this..... If you are a baker who frequently freezes your cakes that you do for wedddings, wouldn't you do that for the samples that you are offering?? That way they will be exactly the way they would be for the wedding.
If you should be honest about using a mix as a base.....should you not also be honest about whether your cakes are freshly baked or if they are being frozen before being decorated?
I am asking this because (I have said this before) I can taste if a cake has been frozen. If I was a bride who tasted a freshly baked sample and then got a cake that had been frozen at the wedding....that would be something I would be upset about.
Yes I think someone earlier mentioned to make the sample the exact same way you would make their cake...
I know some people are picky about having a frozen cake...I think some people have had a bad experience because I have had people mention to me before that they had "gotten a frozen cake" and it was "bad".
-the night before/morning of the consultations, I bake all my samples fresh and ice them only that day. I want the client to taste exactly how fresh their wedding cake will be, so I NEVER freeze samples
This is from Antonia's post.....that is my reasoning for making this point. I agree with her 100% - but I am also one who never freezes a cake.
I have seen many posts from those who bake from scratch then freeze them because they say it helps them get moister.......just wondering if that is done when they do a sampling too.
-the night before/morning of the consultations, I bake all my samples fresh and ice them only that day. I want the client to taste exactly how fresh their wedding cake will be, so I NEVER freeze samples
This is from Antonia's post.....that is my reasoning for making this point. I agree with her 100% - but I am also one who never freezes a cake.
I think that freezing cakes depends on what recipe you use and how long they are being frozen for. I freeze all my mudcakes, if i have time. Yes if i have time, i find that mudcakes become more moist whilst defrosting, and they become more firm. I find that when im really busy i have to bake the cake at the last minute, and then the cake wont be as nice, but if i have time to make it even a week before i will freeze it. I only do this with mudcakes, buttercakes i make fresh, it doesnt really have the same effect. I make ALL my cakes from scratch. I think there is a difference in mix and scratch cakes when frozen. The cake will only taste frozen if it's been frozen in a smelly freezer and not wrapped properly (im only referring to mudcakes here, i have no idea what the mixes you guys use in the USA are like and what they'd taste like after being frozen, im only speaking about the recipes that i use).
I have only ever gotten rave reviews on the tastes of my cakes.
Nati
I have always been able to taste a frozen cake....for as long as I can remember. I've never been wrong when tasting it either. It has not mattered where it came from - it just leaves a "taste".....I am not saying it is bad....I can just tell. I know for being able to do that for 25+ years not all of those freezers had to have been "smelly" ones!!
I have always been able to taste a frozen cake....for as long as I can remember. I've never been wrong when tasting it either. It has not mattered where it came from - it just leaves a "taste".....I am not saying it is bad....I can just tell. I know for being able to do that for 25+ years not all of those freezers had to have been "smelly" ones!!
I fully understand this, im just saying not all recipes work the same way.
Cheers
Nati
The only time I freeze cakes is if I have to do some sculpting
That makes sense....you have to have it very firm for something like that, and I would think the customer would understand that. For that kind of cake, that is one of the steps you have to use.
Not many wedding cakes are sculpted ones though - and many bakers still freeze them.
My point is that if you are one that does that (freezes the cakes) you should be honest about that too....and you should freeze the samples you are going to offer them...since that is what their cake is going to be.
[quote="Quadcrew"]
....My point is that if you are one that does that (freezes the cakes) you should be honest about that too....and you should freeze the samples you are going to offer them...since that is what their cake is going to be.
For sure, I usually give people samples from leftovers, I mean when i make too much batter, i make an extra small cake that i use for sampling. That will get frozen and thawed when required.
Nati
Lots of people do freeze but I prefer not to. I have baked a day or two ahead if I absolutely had to for a large project and I just cover the cakes so they don't dry out too badly and the icing replaces any moisture it may have lost. They are never dry even after being baked 48 hours ahead of the delivery date. Anyway I don't have a seperate freezer and would not have room to freeze an entire wedding cake. I just bake like mad a couple days before the wedding, and stay up until 4am decorating it the day before. 
I have frozen cake samples before with a watered down apricot glaze. I have found that people like the taste of the frozen cakes better. I only use doctored cake mixes and freeze most of my wedding cakes. I am doing a wedding cake this weekend for 400 people. Doing all the baking and decorating in one day is truly unrealistic for me! I will be baking and freezing Monday and Tuesday...decorating Thurs. and Friday. I guess it depends on how cakes are prepared before frozen...I have also tasted my frozen glazed cakes and have to say they just taste better!
I do not charge for my samples...I ask the customer what flavor she wants and make a small cake in that flavor. I think everyone does it differently! 
Maybe we are related?? I am the same way.....I do have a freezer, but I have never put a cake in one....not in 25+ years of baking. (I am sure it is because I can taste it I am paranoid about it) - I am a freak about baking things fresh....and have gone without sleep for a cake many times!!
Yeah...anyway my husband likes to put onions in the fridge and stuff like that and I am totally paranoid about food taking on the odor of the fridge. Plus I just am used to baking fresh and keep doing it that way. People tell me all the time I should freeze tons of cakes ahead but I just smile and say "yeah maybe I should" and I never do. 
Yeah...anyway my husband likes to put onions in the fridge and stuff like that and I am totally paranoid about food taking on the odor of the fridge. Plus I just am used to baking fresh and keep doing it that way. People tell me all the time I should freeze tons of cakes ahead but I just smile and say "yeah maybe I should" and I never do.
I know all about husbands putting onions and garlic in the fridge. My traditional Uruguayan cakes have fresh cream in them, and even though i bake them fresh and fill them the day before they will be eaten, because of the fresh cream they need to go in the fridge. One year, before i started doing this for other people, i had made a square cake for my nephew's birthday. He wanted spiderman so i made a plaque with a flooded spiderman on top, and the plaque coudlnt go in the fridge, so i put the cake in the fridge and left the plaque outside to go on it the next day. The next day when i got up to go to work, i open the fridge to get some milk out and i get this really strong wiff of garlic!!! I almost died, my husband had chopped up a whole head of garlic and put it in a container loosely covered with plastic wrapper and then proceeded to put it in the fridge. I took my cake out, and it smelt like it had been infused in garlic. I thought that maybe cutting the outside of it would do the trick, but i cut and cut and cut, and all the way to the center the garlic smell and TASTE was there. I left the house in a huff, almost in tears. My wonderful dad, with his poor english managed to buy me a freshly baked slab cake that i was able to fill and decorate in about half an hour when i got home from work (thank goodness the spiderman was still outside the fridge)
My dad saved the day, my husband is banned from using garlic in the house 3 days before i have to start on a cake, and when people are coming over for tastings. NO strong smelling foods are allowed in our fridge, only fresh fruit and veggies. Meat hardly ever gets in our fridge since im a vegetarian and hubby hardly ever cooks for himself.
sigh, garlic and onions can ruin the day!!!
Nati
Traci - your cakes are beautiful, and I am sure that the way you do it is fine. I don't bake a lot of big cakes, so I can do the marathon baking thing - it isn't every week that I have to do it. You obviously bake more cakes than I do in a weeks time!
Again, my point is.....if some bakers feel that you should be "honest" and tell the customer that the cake has a cake mix as a base.....shouldn't those who freeze their cakes be honest and tell them that they are going to freeze that cake before they get it too - that it is not being baked fresh? (and of course, if they serve samples.....they shoud be exactly as the cake that will be delivered.....whether it be one that has been frozen or one that is fresh)
And as I said before....if you are having a tasting with a customer do you tell them...... your cake will be frozen and then defrosted before it is decorated and delivered......(as some say shoud be done if you are using a mix as a base......) Honest is honest.
Well, after many great responses, I too have another question.
I do not charge for my samples...I ask the customer what flavor she wants and make a small cake in that flavor. I think everyone does it differently!
How can you make just a "small cake"?? I mean, yes, you can bake a cake in a 6" pan, or a tuna can, but ultimatley, you are making an entire batch of cake. So if I have one person coming for a tasting, and they want at least 2 flavors, then I'm making 2 entire cakes even if they only get a tuna size serving! 
I agree that I should do everything I can to get their business, but I also agree that I can't just give cakes away for free all of the time. hmmm
I'm not sure what to do, but I do like the suggestion of charging, but then crediting 1/2 of that to the order. That sounds fair. ....OR I can say that the first flavor is free, and every flavor extra after that is $5.
For those of you who offer tastings, what serving size do you give them? A tuna serving would be a one-shot deal. Do you give them the entire 6" cake to take home?
Sorry for so many questions! I've done several weddings, but never really had someone who wanted to taste. I know for a fact that this person has already eaten two of my flavors! Why does she want more?? That's what makes me question the whole thing.
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