Hi all! A coworker of my husband's wants me to make a cake shaped like a Lincoln Navigator truck and also one shaped like a black Lincoln Continental Towncar. I've never done a sculpted or shaped cake before. How difficult are these to do? I hate to turn down business but I don't want to commit to something and then not be skilled enough to do it. Also, what would you charge for these? These would be for two separate occasions, not both for one party. Thanks for all your help!

Tracy

I did my first sculpted car cake last night. I charge $105 for it; and it was my very first attempt; I didn't even do a practice cake. It was 2 1/4 sheet cakes and covered in MMF and luster dust. I charged for my supplies plus about $12/hr. Charge what you think you are worth per hour based on your skill level. I just let people know upfront that sculpted cakes are expensive and if it has fondant or luster that it is extra also. So I gave the lady 15% off; b/c she lets me put up business cards at her gym; so the total was $89.25

Don't undersell yourself! You are better to have them change to a sheet cake than to spend 7 hours of baking; mixing, sculpting, and decorating for nothing.

Thanks for your reply! I think I'm going to tell her I just can't do it. The weekend she wants the first cake is my son's birthday, and I know I'll be busy with his party stuff. Oh, and she since told me she also wants four "mini-car" sculpted cakes to go along with one of the big ones, with one of the mini cakes being sculpted like a motorcycle! How in the world would one sculpt a motorcycle out of cake??? I know, also, that this woman is kind of hard to please and she won't want to pay more than like $30 or $40 for these, and there's NO WAY I'd even consider doing them for less than $75 for the full-size one. So, I'm going to tell her I'll just draw the cars onto sheet cakes if she wants that; otherwise, she'll have to go elsewhere! Thanks for your help! BTW, your Jag looks awesome!!!

Thanks so much; I was happy with it; but wasn't also. But I guess for a first try it is okay.

When you do attempt a car cake, it was nice for me to have a picture of the car scaled up to the size that I wanted the cake to be. I cut out the picture and used it to get the basic shape and then sculpt from there. But yes, you should charge a good deal more because of all the detail work that goes into it!