I'm admittedly naive in the cake business! I undertook a pretty large order (well, to me anyways!) for a friend of my husbands. In a nutshell this is what it's going to be...
16 inch round dummy, 14 inch round dummy, 12 inch round dummy, fluted bowl seperator, 8 inch round real, 6 inch round real, and then four 8 inch real satellite cakes off to the side. Those are all 4 inch high cakes. The rounds will all also be on top of the Wilton fountain. Then there are four single layer 11x15 inch sheet cakes. They are looking to serve 200 people with "2 or 3 inch square" sized servings. All buttercream. The sides of all will be done in basketweave (can you say OWIE on the hands?!) and I will be doing (or attempting lol) buttercream bouquets for the rounds. The sheet cakes will have the little half rosebuds on each serving. That said....
Some on here told me that they wouldn't take less than $3 or $3.50 per serving .... and I can't even fathom that. I told him I thought it would be about $2.50 per serving. That's $487!! I don't know if I'll be able to sleep at night charging someone $487 for a cake (I know it's not "just cake" because well, it's gonna be my blood, sweat, and tears in it)
But....do people really pay that much for cakes? Really?? I'm at a crossroads, I guess.
This is what gets under my skin about cake. No it is not just a cake. It is time and time cost money.
1.Shopping time plus gas.
2.Baking time plus energy.
3.Decorating time
4.Tranporting time
All of it take time and cost money. I do not slap cakes together in a couple of hours. Some cakes start weeks in advance.
Oh I can feel the hair on my neck stand on end because this makes me so furious!
I quoted $100.00 for a 3d Stanley cup cake the other week. The client lost her breath. This is not some sort of sham we created to get money from people. This is what you are worth and what your time is worth.
Also remember some of us have higher food cost than others. This is why I do not use a matrix. I use all real butter that cost $3.29 a pound. It is all different!
It also depends on your market. Some people live in areas where people just won't pay that for a cake, but some places people will pay a lot more. Best bet is to check out what your local bakeries are charging.
NEVER feel guilty about what you charge for a cake. This is your craft, your art. If everyone could do it, they would do it themselves.
Would you feel guilty charging $700 or more for a wedding dress. If you made it of the best silk you could find, and had to add a lot of hand stitching? What if it was beaded?
People pay that and more. Way more. They pay what you are worth.
Don't shortchange yourself. You will regret it in the long run.
Don't get me wrong....they aren't complaining about the price. I just wonder if my product will be good enough to warrant that kind of money. I worry about the pressure of producing $500 worth of cake design. As I said, I know I'm naive about this as a business and it just sounds like a LOT. However, I'm sure as I'm breaking my back doing all that basketweave, I'll be glad to get that much lol
They pay that much if they want the cake. People pay that much for other parts of the wedding. Why not the cake? That is one huge cake you are making there. Why are you using cake dummies and then making sheet cakes on the side? Is that so they can have square pieces for people? Sounds like more work to me.
My cakes start at $2 a serving for wedding cakes and I had a lady scoff at the prospect of paying $500 for a 200 piece cake covered in fondant. It's like, hey, go to Wal-mart if you want something thrown together and made from a mix. If you want the real thing, you're going to have to pay for it. Incidently, I've discovered that Wal-mart's slices are only 1" x 1" (1/2 the size of a standard slice) so the price they quote you for their cakes are for half the cake of what I would quote you).
200 servings are alot of cake and alot of work. It takes me at least two full days to put together a nice cake like that, not to mention the ingredients that go into it and the price also includes delivery within a certain area.
My cake is actually pretty cheap compared to alot of decorators but I'm just starting out so am charging less to get my name out and will raise the price as business demands it.
If I were to charge $487 for a huge cake like the one you described, I would sleep like a baby.
Oops, I forgot to mention that this isn't a wedding but for all intents and purposes, it's just like a wedding cake. This is for a La Quinceanera.
I don't know his reasoning so much for the cake dummies and then the sheet cakes. He really insisted on that though, so I have to assume that it's because he wanted to serve square slices.
As far as I know, we don't have many "real" cake bakers in my area...or at least I've never seen or heard of them. Everyone I know goes to the grocery store. That's where my wedding cake came from lol
I think I'll call the couple grocery store bakeries tomorrow and describe my cake to them (as a "potential customer") and find out how much THEY would charge and go from there. I live in a smaller rural area so maybe that's why I'm having a hard time
Using your numbers, sounds like the cake is designed for 195 servings. Did you factor in the cost of 3 dummies? The icing for the dummies? The decorations and time to decorate the 3 dummies? The cost of storing and/or cleaning off the dummies after the wedding?
Oh wait.... I get it! They wanted sheet cakes because they thought it would be "less work"..... right? 
I tell brides "you are getting cake for 200 no matter what pan I bake it in so there is no 'sheet cake discount'."
My cost for D&R (drop-n-run) is $2.25 a slice and I'm thinking of raising it. This cost is cake, delivery and set-up. My full wedding cake package, which includes me cutting the cake is $5.50/person (or $1100 for cake for 200). Yes.....they pay it.
Remember this...
I am sure that your craft"woman"ship is great or they would not have asked you do the cake in the first place. So, ask yourself what you are worth. It is a lot harder to raise your prices later once you have been giving cake away. I agree that it depends where you live but, for what your are doing..they are get the deal of a century!
Oooh.. and for a quince? The parents have been planning her whole life for this occasion! They expect only the best for it andit is only right that they should pay for it. 
You're making, what, 13 cakes? Even though some are dummies you still have to decorate them like the real cakes. That's a heck of a lot of basketweave! I'm wondering too why the dummies then all those sheet cakes. They could have big servings of the tiered cakes. It sounds like they want to eat their big pieces of cake (and I have no problem with big pieces myself..Ü) and still have a big impressive tiered cake to decorate the redeption. Have you figured up how many real servings you'd get if ALL the cakes were real? I wonder. I haven't done dummy cakes yet so I don't know how people charge for them. I'd sure like to see you get your money's worth on this.
It sounds like they want to eat their big pieces of cake (and I have no problem with big pieces myself..Ü) and still have a big impressive tiered cake to decorate the redeption.
Have you figured up how many real servings you'd get if ALL the cakes were real? I wonder. I haven't done dummy cakes yet so I don't know how people charge for them. I'd sure like to see you get your money's worth on this.
I'm thinking the same thing.... they want big square pieces but need a "showpiece" for the reception.
I haven't figured out how many servings it would be if it were all real... I imagine a LOT. I couldn't find a serving chart for 14 and 16 inch rounds for 4 inches tall.
I've never done anything of this magnitude ....heck until tonight I was too scared to even upload any of my pictures here because they are inferior! But, I finally chose 3 to upload lol I just normally make baby shower stuff, my kids' birthdays (and with 5 kids, thats a lot of cake ), and stuff like that
.....I don't know his reasoning so much for the cake dummies and then the sheet cakes. He really insisted on that though, so I have to assume that it's because he wanted to serve square slices.
As opposed to what ... using a round cookie cutter to cut circle pieces? 
You can get square pieces from a round cake. One cutting method is shown in my pics (page 3, last 6 pics).
Seriously, when I get a request for whatever-cake "...and sheet cakes", I start asking "why? why? why?" I have found that people are uninformed about buying cake (which is normal ... how often do you buy cake for 200?) so when you start asking questions, you get to their true concerns to find out what they are really needing and looking for.
If they are buying sheet cakes "just in case they run out", I assure them that we will design the cake for their expected headcount. I sell my weddings in package form and one bride wanted to order the package for 100 and sheet cakes for 50. I asked her, "So you want 100 people to eat their cake with a fork from a plate, and the other 50, I'll just cut it and slap in on their bare hand????" Of course not .... she had just grown up with the advice of "order a sheet cake just in case wihtout really knowing what that meant or what it involved.
If they want square pieces, I explain that round cakes can be cut into squares. If they want the cake to sit out all night and be pretty, I point out that once the cake cutting picture is done, no one really pays any attention to the cake anyway except to get their own piece for eating.
[/u][/i]
Trina,
I understand how you feel. I'm just starting out too and my family tells me that I underprice my stuff way too much. I just nervous and think that if my prices are too high people won't want to order from me (although my cakes are delicious and customized made if I must say so myself 
and I won't get any orders.
I keep telling myself that I'm just starting, so maybe the 'guilt' of high (even though they are far from that) prices will go away.
Trina,
It sounds to me like they want to make sure the guests can get a BIG piece of cake. The round layer cake I made yesterday, I just got out of the frig to measure, is 4 1/2" tall. That's filled but not torted. A one inch slice of that is gonna be a BIG serving.
I'm doing 50th anniv cakes for my dd's in laws party next month and I'm sure she's going to be surprised at how big her cakes will be. She wants an additional 1/2 sheet cake to make sure there's plenty, so I expect there'll be some left to feed the out of town family the next day. And my dd said if there's too much left over WE'LL take it home! LOL She loves my cakes.
I have a question for indydebbie. With your cake cutting method do you still get the same amount of servings? Your method makes it so much easier to cut for the client!
I had this question on a PM today also, so I checked the Wilton charts. I'm one of those irritating people who have been at this so long that I've no idea how many pieces I get from each tier, but I DO know what size cakes/tiers I need to serve 100.
I use a 14/10/8 for a wedding for 100, and a 14/12/8 for a wedding for 100-125. Those sizes coincide with what the Wilton charts recommend and I always have cake left over. The key is making the strip no more than 2-2.5 inches wide and each piece 1" wide. I can eyeball the reception room to get an idea of how many people are actually there to determine if I can cut the pieces bigger or not.
so you are buying and decorating the dummies for free ???? it takes just as long to decorate the dummy as real cake and you need to figure in the cost of the dummy often they are more than the cake ingredients
The way I figure it by using dummies for a huge cake and doing sheet cakes you will actually be doing this cake for around 70 cents a serving.
If they want dummies they need to pay for them as if they were reall cake AND check first on the price of the dummy you may want to charge more than real cake.
And yes people will pay fair price for cakes but that is not a fair price for your time.
For just the cake (using indydebi's serving #) would be $682.50 for me. And I would charge for the dummies on top of that. $100 for the two dummies.
so that cake would be $782.50...
My BC cakes start at $3.00/serving, but basketweave is extra, because it is very hard on the hands, and very time consuming, so that cake would be $3.50/serving.
Urgh, he wants to cancel his order now because apparently he took the picture of the cake he wants to the grocery store bakery and they told him that they could do it for $300 for the main cake (all cake no dummies) and $30 per sheet cake.....
I freakin tried to get him to not do dummies in the first place...sheesh!!! I dunno what's gonna happen!
Urgh, he wants to cancel his order now because apparently he took the picture of the cake he wants to the grocery store bakery and they told him that they could do it for $300 for the main cake (all cake no dummies) and $30 per sheet cake.....
I freakin tried to get him to not do dummies in the first place...sheesh!!! I dunno what's gonna happen!
You know what? Good riddance. If he doesn't want your expertise, that's his problem. You know what you should do? Go ahead and make the cake as cake dummies, take pics and everything. Then when he gets the store cake and it's not good, you can show him the pics of the cake you did. Hey, I'm working on a cake dummy right now just for my portfolio. At least you have an idea to work on there
Oh, I'm so sorry that he cancelled, but look at it this way, at least you don't have to do all of the basketweave now!
That is ALOT of cake for that price...I do think your not charging enough.
Oh ya, People will pay..when I got married...We had 350 people at the wedding...Already had dessert at the table and a Sweet table...
My wedding cake...was so simple....And Not big at all...and it was $687 plus, it looked horrible...not like the picture I had choosen and the wrong favours...I was so mad. But then again, They (the club) forgot to serve it....
I have all 3 layers in my freezer....And I have been married for almost 6 years now..
So, Yes, people will pay that ...and at least they will eat it!!!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%