How Much?

Business By nglez09 Updated 26 Nov 2006 , 11:20pm by Derby

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nglez09 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:48am
post #1 of 14

I'm making a bridal shower cake and it's the one in Wilton's A Romantic Portfolio cover.

It's going to be covered in Satin Ice and the largest will be a chocolate cake w/ ganache, the middle will be a coffee cake, and the top tier will be a white cake with WC BC. All doctored cake mixes w/ homemade icings.

What would you charge in your area?

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13 replies
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patticakesnc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:51am
post #2 of 14

$4 per serving for this cake is what i would charge.

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nglez09 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:59am
post #3 of 14

$464?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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nglez09 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 6:11am
post #4 of 14

Need more opinions please. icon_biggrin.gif

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TPDC Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 6:23am
post #5 of 14

What are the sizes?

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nglez09 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 6:27am
post #6 of 14

It is 6, 10, 14.

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TPDC Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 6:35am
post #7 of 14

$464 is about what I would charge. I would charge $450, not including delivery.

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RisqueBusiness Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 6:58am
post #8 of 14

Our prices don't matter or can be relied on for you to work out a price.

You MUST do your homework, go out into your community and around your area and see what your competitor is charging.

You can charge as much as YOUR market can bear, and if you have a name or reputation in your area ...even a little more.

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patticakesnc Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 5:08pm
post #9 of 14

nglez09:

I know $4 a serving sounded really high for a shower cake, but you are making a wedding cake. You are doing fondant, fillings, cake, buttercream, gumpaste roses....that is a lot. If they pick a normal shower cake fine but they are picking a cakes the feeds 120 (roughly) people. If you do it for $100 then someone comes to you and wants that same cake for their wedding is it right to charge them $450?? Or is it right to only collect $100 on it for a wedding cake? Either way you look at it and no matter what they call it they are purchasing a wedding cake with lots of work to it, don't cheat yourself and remember if you were to make it again later for a wedding would you do it for the same price.

I gava $4 per serving simply because I have checked my area and that is a middle price of what cakes like this cost here. I have seen $3-$5 for fondant cakes here and that did not include the gumpaste roses.

Personally I paid $1 per serving for my wedding cake in 1999 and it was gorgeous and delicious but you just can't really do it for that anymore. I know I wouldn't do my 3 tier cake that I had for that now.

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nglez09 Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 8:44pm
post #10 of 14

Thank you.

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tbittner Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 8:53pm
post #11 of 14

I agree, this is a large cake with a lot of work involved as well as custom flavors. In my area in Ohio it would not cost as much as in Californina, you need to do some local price checking. It sounds delicious though!
Tracy

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littlecake Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 9:40pm
post #12 of 14

even if i did it (stripped down)straight white cake,buttercream icing, buttercream roses etc...it would still be over 300.

450 sounds like a good price to me for all the extras.

those gumpaste roses are gonna be labor intensive....you gotta charge for your time.

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indydebi Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 10:04pm
post #13 of 14

Everyone is right .... it's a wedding cake. Same ingredients, same set up, same work. For cake-only, I charge $2.25 so this cake would be just under $300 in my area (assuming 120 servings). And that's straight BC all the way. I don't do fondant and if I did, the price would be MUCH higher. So the prices mentioned above in the $400+ range do not seem unreasonable.

Just because they are calling it a shower cake, doesn't make it less labor intensive. It's not "a cake" ..... it's a wedding cake, no matter what they are using it for.

If you want a Cadillac, you're gonna pay more than for a Ford Escort, even though they are both " a car".

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Derby Posted 26 Nov 2006 , 11:20pm
post #14 of 14

don't undersell yourself!! That is most definitely a wedding cake regardless of what they are ordering it for. The ivory mini-wedding cake in my photos was $90.00 and it was only about 12" high. I did discount it down to $40.00 since it was for a close friend, but she was almost embarassed to pay that little for it. She said that she would have easily paid $130.00 for it. I live in Fayetteville, NC where the cost of living is pretty low, if that gives you any perspective.

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