I have a bride who wants this cake...has her heart set on it!
Can any of you help me figure this one out? It's gonna be a doozy!
All I can say is OMG! That is a job and a half! I see a lot of royal icing in your future! I'm not even sure where you would begin. The cake itself wouldn't be difficult, it's all the decorations! Sorry I can't be more help.
Heather
Good Luck! I would never in my dreams ask someone to try to recreate that behemoth!
You ARE quoting Hundreds and Hundreds and Hundreds of dollars, right?
Hundreds? I'd say thousands! That is a lot of work!
You ARE quoting Hundreds and Hundreds and Hundreds of dollars, right?
I haven't quoted anything yet...I'm still in shock!! lol
She needs it to feed about 200. I told her that cake is much bigger than that, but she isn't interested in scaling it back...said she'd rather have cake left over but would consider doing a dummy layer if need be to keep it the same size. At least that would give me one layer I could do in advance.
The fondant wouldn't be a problem, but wowzer on the royal icing this one is gonna require!
It looks to me like the vines and leaves are kind of sticking away from the cake, like they could be fondant/gumpaste just applied to the cake? That would be easier than royal icing, IMO, as you could make them ahead of time.
Could the columns just be plastic, like the Wilton ones?
And, is it just me, or does it look like there is an inverted plate beneath the 8 columns with the swag tops? It looks too perfectly smooth, even with that indentation there. Anyone see what I'm talking about? (Could be my eyes 
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Mirjana
My first question is ...do you think you can copy that cake and get the exact results as it look on the picture ? It sounds to me that that is what she expects of you.. If you are positive that you can, then charge her a LOT !!!! I would be so scared to say yes if i'm not positive.. 
How much time do you have? I'd start piping the royal icing mums now. Just do as many as you have spare time. Then work on designing the columns. Are they going to be made out of icing or will they actually be support for the tiers? is something you can decide early on. Visit your local Michaels or Home Depot or Lowes and see if you can find some small wooden columns that will match the picture. Personally, and I'm still very new at this, I would make the tiers and the column from wood and cover them. This will be a job. It's really a nice compliment, actually, that someone would have that much faith that you could do such a stunning and unusal cake. Rise to the occassion. Keep us posted.
YIKES!!!
That is one fancy cake!!! You are quite brave to be taking this one on. Are you going to be able to relplicate this cake exactly? If she is not willing to scale it back at all I would also imagine that she is expecting you to make this EXACT cake. I would try to manage the bride's expectations that yours will be like this cake however there may be some differences. After all, you are a different decorator with a different style than the original decorator.
Gotta charge big time for this one, it's gonna take weeks to get it done!
Good luck!
I pretty sure you have the skill, but you also have to keep in mind that this the bride's most important day of her life.. she complimented you by asking you to make this for her, but in return, you have to make sure you can do it, other wise her day is ruined, not that you won't do a good job, it's just that you sound somewhat unsure, otherwise you won't ask Heaven to help you !!! good luck !!!
It looks to me like the vines and leaves are kind of sticking away from the cake, like they could be fondant/gumpaste just applied to the cake? That would be easier than royal icing, IMO, as you could make them ahead of time.
Could the columns just be plastic, like the Wilton ones?
And, is it just me, or does it look like there is an inverted plate beneath the 8 columns with the swag tops? It looks too perfectly smooth, even with that indentation there. Anyone see what I'm talking about? (Could be my eyes
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Mirjana
I agree that a lot of it looks like it has been applied to the cake so I could do quite a bit of it in fondant....the mums I think I could do well in advance and let them dry. The columns and plates are plastic and I've warned her that finding the exact ones would be close to impossible but that we could try to match as closely as we could.
I've also warned her that even the person who did this cake could probably not duplicate it again, but that I can guarantee her that I could not make it look exactly like the picture - only that I'd get as close as I possibly could.
It is a beautiful cake - what I'm trying to decide is, after I look at it closer, it looks like the majority of the detail work could be done in advance and then assembled with the scroll work and vines once the fondant was applied.
Am I crazy? And if you were taking this one on, what would you quote per serving?
re: plate... may be real or may be royal icing spread inside a plate (as a mold) and allowed to harden and flipped.
i notice most of the tiers use a contour pan...do you have a set or are you going to have to buy them?
then there is that tiny tier...looks likes one of the thin pans found in a Lambeth pan set ...these are very rare.
then there are those shell medallions at the top...plastic? royal? and where's the mold for them and how much will it cost?
I point this out as everyone else has focused on time...but don't forget special molds, pans, etc. you may have to buy....which I would pass the FULL cost along to the bride. After all, just how often will you use them after this, or are they future eBay fodder?
as for the suggestion of $20/slice...that makes the cake $4,000. TOO low...I looked at this and right away pulled at least $5,000 for solid cake. Only if you get to bake only 200 servings and do the rest as dummies should you let it go for under $5K.
edited for: daniel webster's curse to us all -- spelling! (now who do I blame for grammar?)
Could you or did you ask her what it is about this particular cake that she likes most? And, what she likes least about it? Get inside her thoughts and see if you could make some suggestions for a similar cake.
That's one awesome cake and I'm with Doug, the expense of materials and supplies could be a big part of the cost. She may change her mind when she hears the price for such a masterpiece.
i wonder if she's impressed with the color combo... i know i have had brides ask for certain cakes and i present my interpritation... not the exact match but the colors and style match well and sometimes they dont notice.. those who have understand and realize theirs is a one of a kind..
i'm also wondering if there are any "spacers" on that cake.. dont know the correct term for it but it sits between a few layers and looks like an added tier.. its not a dummy cake but a round plastic piece with the decor on it...
as long as she knows you will give her that "style" with the same shapes and colors and most of the same decor you shouldnt have any problems...
when is the wedding? good luck!!
I doubt the bride realizes how expensive a cake like this really is. Did you talk ball park figures with her regarding any of your cakes? Maybe she thinks if you were discussing $3 a slice for a 'normal' wedding cake, this one might cost her $5 or $6 per slice. I think once you discuss minimum prices with her, she will 1) quickly change her mind or 2) tell you she is willing to pay what it takes to get the cake of her dreams.
I wouldn't waste my time doing all of the research, etc without first giving her a very ballpark figure and gaging her reaction. If you tell her there would be an absolute minimum price of $17 per serving, but you would need to research supplies, etc, etc, etc and there was a very high likelyhood that the price would easily increase to $20-$25 / serving...you could gage from her reaction what your next step would be.
HTH Good Luck with this!! Be sure to let us know if you are going to do it! 
BTW that cake is gorgeous! Where did she find it?
I just did a super zoom of the picture, and it looks to me like the contoured pans were used for levels 2 and 4. It does look like there is a spacer used for level 3. And with the close-up zoom it looks like the flowers and scroll are more fondant looking than RI looking. (On the (posted) picture I thought it was the embossing technique with piped flowers, but I#m not sure...with the super-zoom it looks a lot more like fondant.)
The more I look at this cake, the more I want it, too 
and the desrciption to the right of the cake does mention, "bands of rolled fondant line each tier".
HOLY COW!!! 
That is one amazing cake...would be fun and VERY time consuming to do though. can't wait to find out what you and her decide to do. good luck!!
I read all of the posts before my mouth closed
If you take it on, we'd all be bowing down at your throne.
oh,...and
YIKES!! I'm pretty confident on taking on a challenge but I don't know about that one. Good Luck I'd like to know what you will charge for that hopefully lots. 
It would be nice if she let you do the tip layers in dummies then you could do the most complicated ahead of time and take some of the stress off of you. I agree it will be a challenge to duplicate, but I'm sure it can be done. Good Luck, I cant wait to see your masterpiece!
I haven't talked to her at all about price yet. She just sent the pic to me yesterday and I told her I needed time to absorb it and come up with a price. I am going to tell her it will require special pans, that I can't guarantee her it will not be an exact duplicate for many reason (just a few of which are I'd never be able to find the exact molds, plates, etc) and that at least 2 of the layers would have to be dummies to allow time to do those in advance. I'm also going to ask more questions about her desires so I can see how realistic she's going to be. I don't know if I could quote $5k and keep a straight face! Egads...it would be awesome to get that much, and the cake sure is worth it, but jiminy cricket that's a lot of money! Anywhooooo...stay tuned and I'll let you know how it develops. In the meantime, I love your input and confidence in me - cause every time I look at this cake I go from thinking "who am I kidding, I can't do that" to thinking "sure its hard, but I can do that!!". I'm pobably gonna need therapy before this one is over!
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