I have a customer who picked out a cake from a Wilton book. The cake serves 249, it is iced in buttercream, the tiers are 18" round, 15" hexagon, 12" hexagon, and 7" round. The cake has a lot of intricate piping. I live in Arizona and the market is typically starting at $3.00 a slice for buttercream and then goes up from there depending on the design. I usually start my wedding cakes at $2.00 per slice for buttercream and then goes up from there depending on design. I need some advice on what to charge for this cake. I will try to attach the picture. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Thena

Sorry I could not get the picture to upload. It is in the A Treasury of Wilton Wedding Cakes, page 12, called Quaintly. The cake has a lot of ruffle garland and lattice work.
Thanks,
Thena

I did this cake for my first wedding cake, except we left out the smaller hexagon and replaced it with pillars. Of course I didn't charge anywhere near enough for it. I think I would go with at least $600-700, like you said it is a lot of detail work on there. I know the market here is on the lower end of the spectrum. It really depends on your comfort level with the lattice work, the borders were fairly simple. Just a shell motion with a leaf tip. I hope someone else can be more help to you.

Thank you for the information. My only concern with this cake is the lattice work. Was it really hard to to the lattice. I haven't done that type of piping before. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks Thena

It was my first time doing anything on the side of a cake, so I did fight with it a bit if I remember correctly. You might want to use a practice board and try it out to see how it will work for you. I'm thinking that I did it from bottom to top so that my string of icing wouldn't droop as I did the lattice (I hope that made sense).

Thank you for the advice! I think I will practice on a board before I do the cake.
Thanks so much!
Thena