Pre-Sliced Cake?

Decorating By cakesksa Updated 27 May 2012 , 6:43pm by SoFloGuy

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cakesksa Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:10pm
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Hello!

I have a graduation cake order (for a school) for a large sheet cake, 16x24", with a grad cap made out of the 1/2 ball pan with a fondant covered cardboard mortar board. I am charging $140 for this cake. The woman who ordered it, on behalf of the school, has asked me to deliver it pre-sliced. This is the first time I've ever been asked to do that and I find it so odd. Why pay so much money for a decorated cake and then mess it up by slicing it before the guests see it? Has anyone else been asked to do this?

At least I don't have to get this one absolutely perfect-easy to hide any imperfections with the cut of a knife! LOL!

Julie icon_smile.gif

23 replies
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crgsnbrown Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:23pm
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Maybe they just want you to make the cuts but still leave it all together ? I have seen cakes like this,let me find a pic........

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crgsnbrown Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:25pm
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indydebi Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:26pm
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The ones I have seen: The cake is pre-cut and left intact, THEN it is iced and decorated. The customer then just has to use a cake serving knife to lift up each piece of cake.

My impression is that it's like a cupcake-cake wher the cupcakes are placed close together and then iced to look like an intact cake.

I personally would try to discourage it due to delivery and quality issues. I had a bride once who asked for a pre-cut wedding cake. After I quit laughing, I explained why this was never going to happen! It was another one of those "helpful hints" she had read about and thought it sounded cool .... without understanding what the heck it was she was asking!

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leily Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:29pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by indydebi

I had a bride once who asked for a pre-cut wedding cake.




OMG! I can't imagine trying to stack a cake like this or moving it and trying to get it to stay together for a wedding! And don't they want to make the first cut anyways? What about tradition!?!

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ccwkg Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:42pm
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I do a lot of cakes like this but mostly for baby showers. I think they order them more out of convenience, no one has to "man" the cake. When I cut the cake I use heavy duty, unflavored dental floss. That way there are no knife marks. When you are finished slicing you just pull it out on one side and it makes a neat line. Hope this helps!

Crystal

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thems_my_kids Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:45pm
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My first thought was the same as indydebi's. cut it, then ice adn decorate like you would a CCC. Good luck!!

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Momof4luvscakes Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 8:47pm
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I do those for showers instead of petit fours, we call them cake squares. I sure hate doing those though.

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destini377 Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 9:35pm
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http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_622953.html

Here's a link to one I just saw. It wouldn't look too bad if you sliced (love the floss idea) then did all your wording/designs and borders!

Good luck! icon_smile.gif

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KHalstead Posted 9 Jun 2007 , 10:07pm
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I just wanted to say that I did a 18x24 sheetcake with the grad cap and a diploma and gumpaste rose and I wish I could have charged 140!! I only charged 50!! Just thought that was awesome you're getting paid a good amount!

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cakesksa Posted 10 Jun 2007 , 9:55am
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Thanks for the great suggestions, ideas, and comments! I love the suggestion to slice with floss and then do the borders and writing. I think I'll probably have to slice it at the venue however because I'm afraid that pieces could pull away during transport. I may decorate then slice with floss after delivery and I'll plan on stacking the hat then as well.

KHalstead, I've just been selling my cakes for about a year and in fact I did 2 cakes this size for the same school last year, same design. I only charged $185 for both, plus she talked me into serving the cake for no extra charge (stupid me, I've learned to say NO now!). This year I wised up and quoted a more realistic price. The woman was shocked, but she did get back to me, scaled down the order to one cake, and ordered it despite the new price. Believe it or not, my price is pretty cheap compared to the one other place that makes American style cakes here (I'm in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). They charge about 50% more than what I'm charging (and my cake/icing tastes alot better!).

Julie icon_smile.gif

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mydelights Posted 11 Jun 2007 , 6:07am
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This is really great info. Thank you all for sharing.

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KHalstead Posted 12 Jun 2007 , 7:18pm
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wow!!! Well kudos to you for being able to tell people a price YOU can live with too and for standing up to em' when they try to weasil free service outta you!! ( I have GOT to learn to do that lol)

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nelja5 Posted 12 Jun 2007 , 7:25pm
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Ok I was in one of my husband's activities form work, and they had a cake that was precut. Whereever they got it from, they cut it first and then iced. My husbadn was laughing because I was like an inspector checking out how it was done jjijij

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cakesksa Posted 12 Jun 2007 , 7:51pm
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Well, I delivered this cake today. Ultimately I decided to just talk to the gal again when I got there as I was delivering the cake at 9 am and the ceremony was at 10:30, hoping I could talk her out of cutting it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn't going to work to precut it, using any method. First, because the woman scaled back on the order from what I recommended, to get the number of servings she needed she wanted me to cut 1"x2" pieces-this is a regular old single layer sheet cake. With that puny of a piece I was sure they'd start falling over on the sides of the cake while being transported. Second, I was really worried about the stability of the cap stacked on top if the cake was cut underneath it.

So I got there and the woman rushed over to make sure it was pre-cut. I explained the dilemma and told her that I really think she'd be better off leaving the cake intact while the parents are arriving, then have someone cut it at the back of the room (it was in the school gym) during the ceremony. She then asked me to score the top at least. Well, I used a knife to carefully score the icing and she came over to check it out when I was half way through. Then she was concerned that it wasn't a clean cut, ie a bit of the icing pulled up and it looked a little choppy. I told her that that was what happens when you pull a knife through icing, which is why cakes are not normally pre-cut. I also had fondant lettering and flowers which I couldn't score through so I had to kind of score to the sides of the letters and flowers.

In the end a cake that was really pretty beautiful ended up looking like cr*p. I didn't even take a picture of it. Luckily, the two teachers whose classes the ceremony was for had seen me come in and took a look at the cake while it was still in the box before it got discombobulated. I went upto one of their classrooms before leaving and apologized and let him know that I tried to talk the women (school counselor) out of messing with it before serving and he said he understood, to quote "some people just won't listen!".

Oh, and the woman bought huge plates to serve those tiny pieces on! I think they were about 8" plates! Can you imagine what people thought being served 1x2" pieces of sheet cake on 8" plates?! LOL! I just hope people don't think it was on my recommendation if they find out the cake was from me!

Thanks Again!

Julie icon_smile.gif

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mydelights Posted 12 Jun 2007 , 10:33pm
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What a frustration to us cake decorators. Spending all the time and using our skill to make sure that cakes look gorgeous only to be messed up. I can imagine what you went through. Hope you don't get such request often icon_smile.gif

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SweetResults Posted 13 Jun 2007 , 4:10am
post #17 of 24

Um... yeah.

Pre-sliced cake = cupcakes!!

What a DOPE she was! Can't believe she'd pay all that money, make you do all that work, then not let anyone see it looking pretty. What is the point then? Why not just get a plain cake with nothing on it. What a waste of your time - at least you got a decent paycheck from it!

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lardbutt Posted 13 Jun 2007 , 11:12am
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I'm glad it worked out for you. You want to please your customer, but you can't compromise you product!

I never actually precut my cakes. I'm afraid it will dry them out. I just use the dental floss method, but only cut through the icing, not the cake. That way they know where to cut it. icon_lol.gif

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chemist_baker Posted 13 May 2012 , 10:28pm
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hi there!

i know this is a really old topic, but I'm also trying to figure out how to go about serving pre-sliced cake, more specifically, the type with the paper between the slices.
like this:
http://www.elitesweets.com/images/dec-10.JPG

does anyone know how to get the paper between the slices? do i have to remove the slices and rearrange them with the paper between?

any help would be greatly appreciated! icon_smile.gif

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indydebi Posted 13 May 2012 , 11:57pm
post #20 of 24

If you look closely you will see the paper is actually one piece that is 'folded' in half. I cut the cake first, then .... using a larger than needed piece of parchment, place the knife in the middle of the paper then push the knife (on top of the paper) thru the caek. The knife will push the paper in place.

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scp1127 Posted 14 May 2012 , 7:22am
post #21 of 24

Good idea debi. I have a restaurant that wants cheesecakes pre-sliced but intact.

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Baker_Rose Posted 14 May 2012 , 1:28pm
post #22 of 24

Also, to add to indydeb......

Make sure to use a cold cake, it will make your life much easier!

icon_smile.gif

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chemist_baker Posted 27 May 2012 , 6:18pm
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awesome! thanks a lot icon_smile.gificon_biggrin.gif

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SoFloGuy Posted 27 May 2012 , 6:43pm
post #24 of 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by indydebi

If you look closely you will see the paper is actually one piece that is 'folded' in half. I cut the cake first, then .... using a larger than needed piece of parchment, place the knife in the middle of the paper then push the knife (on top of the paper) thru the caek. The knife will push the paper in place.




that's a great trick. Looks impossible, but easy once you know the trick, ,like magic.

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