I've been asked to do over 100 mini tiered cakes for Wedding Favours. Usually I would discount them if I were doing the Wedding Cake. This woman said that I would die if I knew how much this man was going to charge them for the mini's and that is why they've come to ask me for pricing. As far as I am aware.......they are looking for the 2-tier minis that are baked together.......filled then covered in fondant with a plain bead border and polka dot.
I do know that they are a lot of work to begin with but usually I disregard some of that when doing the "CAKE" as well.
Any advice would help....PLEASE!

Thanks

I got asked the same thing a few weeks back. It takes such a long time do mini cakes - not far off the time it takes to do a full size one I reckon. I said I'd charge £15 per two tiered mini cake (That's about $30) I never heard back from her.... I wouldn't consider doing them for less though, I'd just resent doing it.

When looknig for prices, I check local bakeries, maybe check online then go from there. You have to look at your immediate area to see what the market will bear. Emmascakes, $30 is incredibly high, except may in a major city. They are a lot of work, but instead of setting a abitrary high price, sit down and figure out the ingredient cost, and realistically how long each one would take. I would probably multiply the ingredient cost by 8-10 for the amount of labor. Also, if the cakes are simple, it won't take that much time.

For mini tiered cakes in fondant i think I would start my prices at $15.00 Is she wanting you to match the decorations on the main cake? Depending on what they are I would add more. Also don't forget to cover your cost in packaging all of them.

I know I'm pricey - but I'm also the best in my area, they're paying for my time, my skills and my art background. If I charged less I'd be cheating myself and I'm not about to do that.

Isn't this the same as table decorations? We are not just bakers here, we also decorate their tables. We feed their guest. If you start discounting your abilities you will never be paid what you are worth. I know it is easy to devalue your ability, but you should never do that. Your knowledge is worth alot as well as your training. My time is valuable as it has been sacrificed for schooling and training over the years. Until cake artist understand this, we will be all undercompensated. We are all in the same boat here until we stop this. I can not compete with Walmart prices nor do I want to. If you don't think you are good enough to compete with the prices, then they will take advantage of you.

Hi
People often think that the smaller the cake the cheaper the price. I explain to the customer that there is a point that it dosent matter how small the cake is the pirce dosent change. The next cake I am doing is for 25 people at a Wedding. She really thought it would be $100 but once i explained to her that the modelling work on the cake alone was worth $150-$200 alone she realised and came around. Some times epople just need it explained nicely to them. So i good way is to work put how many hours are in doing the cakes and explain that to her so she can appreciate that lots of smaller cakes will always cost more.

Min

Don't even consider doing them for less than $10 each, no matter where you live! People have no idea how long this takes and what the basic ingredients cost. I do mini cakes (3 tiered - 2,3 & 4in), that will serve 6-8 and charge 24 euros in buttercream and 30 euros in fondant (about $32 & $40). Those cakes are a major pain and labour intensive to do, and like Emma, there is no way I do them for any less! Mini cakes that serve 1-2, I would charge 10-15 euros ($13-$20) each, but for 100 I would probably round off the price a bit (but not much!). We have to stop working for nothing people!!!!!!

Thank you all very very much........I felt like a heal wanting to ask for $10.00 a piece. They are alot of work!!!

I always love to hear from you ladies.......you make me feel that I am not cheating the customer.

I am in it for the fun and creativity when I make my cakes......I know that I am not going to get rich .......but it is my job and how many people can say that they LOVE there job. I do this because I love it and I know that you can't please everyone......I just can't keep doing it for next to nothing!


Thanks a bunch,
Cakes

I've seen a few people on here say to give yourself an hourly wage when it comes to these things. You take the cost of your ingredients, add your hourly wage, and you've got the price of your cakes. I hope I get this right:
Let's say you've got $75 worth of ingredients in your 100 mini-cakes (completely arbitrary number, I have no idea how much that would actually cost). You've decided you want to make $10 an hour, and it takes 30 minutes for you to decorate each individual mini-cake (again, I have no idea how long it would actually take, trying to keep it simple for the sake of this example). You therefore have 50 hours invested in your cakes (1/2 hour each, times 100 cakes), at ten dollars per hour, plus your $75 in ingredients, for a grand total of $575.
Does that sound right?

I also think that $10 is a fair price. That is kind of like people using dummy cakes with the wedding cakes...the most costly is the decorating part. I have never been asked to do it but I can't imagine charging much less for a dummy. I had a lady the other day telling me that she had ordered a 4 tier cake for her daughter's wedding and that it was costing well over $1000..."I didn't realize that you did wedding cakes....but maybe you could do the groom's cake....nothing really elaborate" translates to we got rooked on the wedding cake can you give me a deal on the grooms cake? Sorry but the groom's cake comes with a deal if I do the wedding cake!! Sound familiar????