Well...he should go somewhere else...If he thinks he is goin to get the same quality...and taste..They are wrong!!!
Sorry, to hear that...keep us posted!
Oh ya...the only thing taken from the cake...Was the sliver that my Husband and I took out for our picture...Nice eh?
I consider myself "cheap" when comes to pricing my cakes, but Im working on it, everycake I made I try not to undercharge my work and my time... I charge 60% to 70% of the regular cake price for dummies... and I think Its not enough!, If realcake is $100, a dummie of the same size will be $70.
So, I f you are making (by my prices, 2.50 a serving) (I know not enough 
)
16" - 100 serv. - $250 cake - $175 dom.
14" - 76 serv. - $190 cake - $133 dom.
12" - 56 serv. _ $140 cake - $98 dom. total dumie price $406
4 cakes 8" - $250 (50 c/u)
6" cake $30
total $686
ahhhh the sheet cakes...
4 sheet cakes 60 servs c/u at 1.50 = 360
sooooo
$686 + 360 = $ 1046
I don't know what to do with this guy....he's a good friend of my hubby's (which is both good and bad) and I really don't think he's trying to take advantage of me. I have the opportunity to "go over" my numbers and figure out if I want to change my price at all. I know you all are saying NOT TO ... but here's where I get stuck. I've never had the opportunity to make a cake of this magnitude and it will be GREAT experience. I need experience! I'm not even 100% sure that this cake will turn out looking great because that's a LOT of basketweave and such. Plus, this is a birthday bash for a 15 year old girl.... I'd bet she has lots of friends that are turning 15 soon and I bet their parents will be in the market for cake for THEIR parties. Everyone knows how the grocery store cake tastes (and it actually is good cake...they made all my cakes before I learned to do them myself and they DO taste good) but maybe when they get a taste of what MY cakes taste like...they will then want MY cake instead!
Sooooo, I'm thinking about giving in to the local market price (aka what the grocery store charges lol) and doing this cake for under $400 on the basis that it's a learning experience for me AND a way to get more business possibly if I do well.
You can do what you want, but all of the parents of all of those other 15 year olds will expect the same deal. Be careful how you price this.
I would also be careful about lowering your price since you're not doing the dummies now. Your original price didn't appear to be charging for those anyway, so there's nothing there to subtract, right?
I've seen it suggested on here, and I think it's a great idea, that when you invoice this, you invoice the "correct" price and then show the amount of the discount you gave that person. Emphasize to the client that this is a discount 'just for you' (it makes them feel special!), but the "real" price is in black and white.
Some people, no matter what reasoning you give them, will think that even with the discount, you made a profit so whatever you charge THEM is automatically outrageous.
Oh, I guess I just assumed this was a wedding cake, from the enormous size of the order. It sounds to me like this guy is pushing your buttons. He doesn't want to pay your price so he'll get you to bring it down by threatening to go to the grocery store for his cakes. Personally I'd call that his final decision and forget it.
Also, if I was gonna do a bunch of dummy cakes with basketweave and flowers I'd sure be charging him. At least the price of real cake. I've never priced dummies but since it's something I could reuse I probably would charge for that # of servings. That ought to come out to more $ anyway.
On a similar topic - Just so you know depending on where you have the reception some halls or hotels will charge to cutting and plating and I have heard from my cousin and another friend that it's anywhere from $1 -$3 per serving - and that is over and above the cost of the cake. And some places will not allow you to bring a cake you have to order theirs!
I like the info from "indydebi" about invoicing and showing the reg. price and then showing that they got the very good friend and family discount. That really does make people feel good.
I dont know if you are invited but if you are, you can make part of the discount you gift too.
Good luck.
You've gotten a lot of great feedback here and I'm tossing my 2 cents in too. Don't put yourself on sale just to get a cake job. Do your research like you thought you should, and run the gamut from everything from WalMart to your fanciest bakery within 50 miles (that's just about the farthest people will go for a cake most of the time). Once you know what the range is, put that against this cake order you have and figure out what your time is worth and the materials too. Come up with a price per slice (and I agree, the dummy cakes should be counted as real cakes would) then add 10% for your quote. The 10% margin gives you a little wiggle room in case the customer balks a little. But don't go below your original base price.
I don't understand what goes through people's minds sometimes in this, I swear. A few months ago I did a wedding cake for this high class affair for 120 people, in a fancy hotel where the room rates began at $349 a night (and the entire wedding party plus some of the guests were staying there). It was about 70 miles from here, for a friend of my brother's, with only 2 and a half weeks notice. I quoted my basic $2.25 per serving plus 10 cents extra per serving for the raspberry BC filling she wanted, and a $50 delivery charge (discounted). The bride's mother who I was dealing with told me they only had $300 in the budget for the cake. 
You gotta be kidding me! So I allowed myself to be put on sale and charged her $300. I still regret doing it. I told myself I was doing a favor for my brother's friend, they were in a pinch (which should have been my queue to charge MORE) and I really wanted the job. Boy I sure wished I'd stuck to my guns though, when on the way to deliver the cake I had to stop at the bride's mother's 5BR 3.5 BA suburban house to pick up the Lenox cake topper!
So the moral to my long-winded story is, don't undersell yourself. If someone wants a WalMart cake, let them have it. They're not the client for you!
GO GIRL!!!!
.....The bride's mother who I was dealing with told me they only had $300 in the budget for the cake.....
So Buffy, Muffy and Todd were sitting around drinking tea one day after tennis and just "decided" that $300 would be enough for a wedding cake, huh? No research, no reasoning....they just "decided".
These people kill me.
Trust me, America's love affair with sugar will keep you in job security! I had to raise my rates to keep from becoming a 24 hour 1 man bakery!! Whenever anyone gets into this kind of business, they always want experience. Beginners have not done every kind of cake out there. But in my own experience I've learned by talking to other cake designers locally and online and learning (sometimes the hard way) to trust their judgment. For example, I have a wedding cake coming up with at least 1 dummy layer in it. The original order had several dummies in it. After quoting the woman and getting flack and grief about "not wanting to pay for a cake that's not a cake...", I spoke with a designer who does nothing but wedding cakes. Her price for dummies? 25 cents less per serving, period. It costs the designer just as much in time and energy to decorate styrofoam as it does decorating a cake.
I won't tell you what to do, pro or con. I won't suggest what I would do. What I will do is offer my experience and how I learned. Either way this is a learning experience for you, whether you get this job or not. And remember, EVERYBODY is looking for a deal out there! Some will try to wear you down, some will just go elsewhere. How you choose to deal with them will help define your reputation out there. I've found personally that whether I'm confident or not I give a flat price and tell them that's it. If they argue about grocery store prices, I show them my gold monograms or lustre dusted roses and ask them if they've ever even seen anything like that at the grocery store, pointing out that aside from fresh-baked, they also get a higher quality of decoration. MOST of them do come to their senses. For those who simply cannot afford it, them I give a deal to. Oh and by the way, you'd be AMAZED at how many of them shop my "higher" prices around town, asking, expecting and even demanding some of the techniques I use from bakeries and grocery stores and come back with the line "do you still want to do this cake?" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! 
Good luck my dear and let us know what you decide! 
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