The bride wants a smaller tiered cake just for them and the cake cutting. She wants a mini cake for each table. How do you charge, still by serving or by cake. If by cake, what would I charge...She's having approx 125-150 guests.......

I mean how big are the tables? How many people will sit at each table? It would be somewhere between 4 and 10.

Charge a lot. Seriously. Charge 20% more than your final answer.

Well, wait, define mini cake. I was thinking you meant a tier cake for each table?

each table will have a small mini cake...not tiered. The bride & groom with have their own small tiered cake to cut...the normal is approx 8-10 to a table...so I'm figuring 12 to 15 mini cakes.....YIKES!!!

I've read before that the price should reflect how many the cake can serve - not how many are seated at the table..... these can be 2 different things.

Good luck.

I'm just guessing here........let's say that the mini cake that the bride wants at each table is an 8 x 3 round cake. If it were me, I would charge $25.00 per 8 x 3 cake that is on each table. I guess you would have to take into consideration how much decorating each cake is going to get. Buttercream or Fondant???? If it is fondant, I would charge $35.00 a cake.

I did this for my daughters wedding, a 6 " cake on each table - each one a different flavor - all decorated with white buttercream and gumpaste calla lillies. Then made a tiered cake for the "main" wedding cake and photos. Then also the grooms cake.

Was a huge hit with all the flavors, people went from table to table tasting the different flavors. Was a great mixer to get people together.

The biggest issue I had with this - total of 15 cakes was the car space to get them there!!! Froze all the cakes in advance, frosted on Thursday, decorated on friday and wedding on Saturday.

Gosh, I hate events where the host(ess) tries to force me to "mingle" with people I don't want to mingle with! I also don't like playing "Helen Keller" and going around to eat off of other people's table!

Had a wedding this past weekend with centerpiece cakes (made by bride's sister). As my crew was clearing the last of my dinner plates, people were trying to get us to also take all the leftover cake that was on their table ... not the cake on the plates, but the half cake that was still in the center of the table! (We didn't take them .... leftover cake belongs to the bride.)

But it sure made me wonder what the bride was going to do with about 18 half-eaten cakes!

indydebi.... you always have a way to putting things in perspective while giving us a laugh.

Image: YOu standing there shaking your head and thinking H--lllll No!

Sounds like what you are describing are centerpiece cakes, sometimes called table cakes. Those are different from mini-cakes which usually refers to individual serving cakes. a 6" round is plenty of cake to serve a table of 10, but gets charged for the 14 servings it is.

Mini cakes are a tremendous pain inthe arse and you should charge $56860192747859203578 for each one.

Leahs, you are so right! The smaller the cake, the more PIA, and the more you charge. IMHO.

Thanks for this post. I'm doing this in October, but unfortunately won't be getting paid a dime. It's going to be for a guy at the bakery who is getting married and it's his gift. I'd like to take photos and let other people know what the price might have been, though.

I just did a wedding with centerpiece cakes on each table. There were 21 tables that seated 8-10 guests each. I made an 8 x 4 inch cake for each table. the cakes were all different flavors and fillings inside but as the bride wanted, all frosted in white buttercream. I decorated the cakes in her colors in various designs on the outside. The cakes stayed on the tables while the meal was served and then each cake was removed from the tables and placed on two large tables set up to be cake tables. It was annouced that the cakes will be moved, cut and served from the cake tables. The guests at this wedding loved having different flavors to choose from and at the end of the night there was very little cake left. I served so I got a lot of feed back on the cakes and many people said that they were glad that they did not have to go to other peoples tables to try the other flavors. The bride was very pleased and so were the guests. The charge was $25.00 per cake.

Good idea , Carols.
If I got this right, each cake was a rectangular shaped (8"x4") double layered?
TIA

Each cake was an 8" round by 4" high. I guess I didn't explain that very well, sorry!

Yes , double layered!

I really like the serving idea of taking them to one place to serve.

Carol you only got $1 per serving. I mean for sure 6" cakes look like so many toilet paper rolls but wow you took a big hit in the price. And even if they were more the right size, 6"ers are a bit harder to ice for some people unless you flip your turntable over and it's all the same labor. How are you feeling about the money to work ratio?

I doubt you even broke even, much less made a profit, charging only $25 per cake in that scenario.

I realize that I didn't charge enough. It was a great learning experience as I got a lot of feed back and also got a lot of potential customers since I was the one serving. This was for my nephew's wedding and my sister and I are very close so all in all I have no regrets.

Great win/win then huh. I'd do the same in a heartbeat for my nephew. It's different for family. So all things considered you did great even charging them that much!

I'm afraid to even ask this....LOL... is $4.00 each too little to charge for individual cakes about 3"x3"? They would be BC frosted with fondant ribbon and bow.

I'm very interested in getting opinions.

Thanks
Gayle

I definitely think that $4 is way too little for a small cake, they are a lot of time and trouble to decorate.

They should be AT LEAST $9 each, more if you can get it. I'd quote $12, but that's because I've had a couple of those orders and know what a TOTAL PITA they are.

I made and boxed 60 (I think? or 50) mini 4" individual cakes, simple with border and monogram. Charged $6 each...kicked myself.... at least $8 next time if not more. (In my photos)

Keep in mind you have to wrap all the boards (possibly cut them, I had to have my husband cut them with a large paper cutter to fit the little boxes I got), attach them all, fill them all, ice them all, and then box them all up. ALOT of time, ALOT of hassle. Alot of storage space. Alot more icing.

Charge...ALOT.