I had a consulatation with a bride and groom today, who have requested mini wedding cakes for their reception. They want 140 individual cakes...only one layer each (3" in diameter) with a chocolate brown monogram on the top of each cake. I have never done these, so I have a few questions...

(1) Are they covered with poured fondant? It seems awfully time-consuming to cover tiny little cakes in butter cream. Then again, I'm asking, because I've never done these.

(2) How much do I charge for these? I have found pricing for 2-3 tiered mini cakes, but nothing with just a single tier. Any thoughts or suggestions? I was thinking that I'd charge the same that I would for wedding cupcakes ($2 each). Too little? Too much?

Thanks to everyone in advance for your help and assistance!!! I want to have everything down and ready to go when I contact the bride with her quote.

charge more than $2 each, these are horribly time consuming.

they are VERY time consuming, I've checked out several sites and they are usually at least $4-5 apiece.

You couldn't pay me enough to take this order. (Well, you could but it would be hard to find a bride willing to fork over 50 bucks each for these!). Just because they're smaller, doesn't mean they should be automatically cheaper.

Let me play pretend with some numbers......

If I can get two 6" rounds from one cake mix, can I assume four, maybe five 3" rounds from one cake mix? Let's be generous and say five per mix .... for 140 cakes, you will need the equivalent of 28 cake mixes? I use 7 mixes for a cake for 100 .... so with 28 cake mixes, I could make cake for 400, whic would pay me $1000 at my a la carte price of $2.50/serving.

And you're planning on getting $2 each for a grand total of $280 for this? Even at $5 for each cake, that's only $600.

Can you buy 3" cardboard circles? (I've never seen them, that's why I ask). Or are you going to have to cut 140 circles down to size by hand? Mass boxed or individually boxed? Cost for those?

You couldn't pay me enough to deal with an order like this.

You couldn't pay me enough to deal with an order like this.


I'm with ya' indydebi!! NO WAY!!!

Well, I found 3 1/2" round cakeboards:

http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?T=15&ProductId=626142

and liitle 4" square cake boxes:

http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?T=15&ProductId=621708

However, I agree with what's been said about these novelties being very time consuming.

If the bride really wants these, of course she should have them; but at a price that reflects the true cost of the labor involved (extensive and expensive) and not just the price of the ingredients.

If the cost of the mini's is more than the bride's cake budget she can then prioritize her wants vs. needs. (And if budget constraints win out she'll opt for the traditional wedding cake - it's the most cost effective.)

If she still wants the mini's don't feel bad about charging what your time and effort are worth.

HTH

Jan, good research. I had no idea rounds that small existed.

Amy, be sure to check out these boxes that Jan found. They are over 50 cents each. If you were planning on boxing these individually, that's 51 cents out of your $2.00 each just for the box.....over 25% of the price just for boxes. You're down to less than $1.50 each .... before the cost of your ingredients.

If you were to cover these with Ganache, remember that the cost of 1 lb of good chocolate is about $6.00, plus the cream and you can possibly cover 8-10 little round cakes like those. If you strech it, I think. The monograms, depending on design and what no you might be able to get them done with about 2-3 lbs, but you will have to make at least twice the amount so that you make sure you have enough for assembly. They break easy.

So just there you have about $.86 for each cake just to get covered and you have not added a border to the bottom to make them look nice.

Good Luck.

For some reason brides always think going with a bunch of mini cakes will be cheaper than a "traditional" wedding cake. I agree with the others, for the time it would take, it wouldn't really be worth it to me. But if you are determined to do it, I would say charge at min $7.50 for each of these boogers, $10 each would be even better. Otherwise, you'll end up losing money!

Check out brpboxshop.com for the boxes. They have some 4x4x4 that might work and the price is much better!!

If you charge 2-3 dollars for these, you are going to shoot yourself after!! I've seen them anywhere from 6-10 dollars per mini cake around here. Mini cakes are a nightmare in large quantities!! Because of the size, you end up spending way more time on them than you would on a tiered cake. I bow down to you if you decide to do them!!! Let us know what you decide!!

PS: theres a great new pan out there in the cake decorating stores if you are interested in mini wedding cakes. Its one solid piece of cake but makes it look like a 2 tiered cake. Way easier than constructing it on your own. I'm dying for a reason to buy them and just make 5. LOL

Thanks to everyone for you input, advice and thoughts on the mini cakes. Like I said, I have never done these before...never had anyone to ask. The bride is wanting something simple and elegant. She doesn't want the cake serving line...would like the individual cakes already set at each place setting when her guests come in. I have found the boards and boxes at CK, as well as, the requested 3" pans for her single-tiered mini cakes. I had NO idea how involved and how much of a pain they'd be...well, I figured they'd be time/labor intensive...but such a resounding disdain for them...LOL. With them being single layers, I was thinking that I'd cover them in poured fondant (the bride is agreeable to whatever is needed to achieve the mini cakes...has no specific icing requests, other than it be other than rolled fondant. I'm going to look into something like a fancy cupcake liner than will accommodate a 3" cake, as well as, the gold and silver 3-1/2" boards offered by CK. She plans on placing these cakes on china, so I have no idea what option she'd prefer, but I would assume the boards.

Anyway, thanks so much again! One last question, I think that $5 each is a fair price, after reading all of the comments. My only qualm would be the price...$700 for 140 minis? It would be so much cheaper to do a wedding cake! They don't want that option, though.

More research before I settle on the $5 each pricing quote....

You could also bake a sheet cake and use a cutter to cut these out. Decorate them with poured fondant or a cut round fondant. It would still take forever to make but the sheet cake might make it a little bit easier.

Debbie

Here is what I found. pastrychef.com has some great stuff.

http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/biscuit_cutter_2159235.htm -this is a 3in round biscut cutter 21/2in tall for your cutouts

and

http://pastrychef.com/Catalog/mini_cake_cardboard_5039651.htm -they also have round 31/4in round 25/$3.89. That is only 16 cents each(rounded up)

Hope this helps a bit.

I suggested the cupcake wedding cake option, and neither the groom or the bride liked that idea. They had looked into that option, and simply didn't like it. Price doesn't seem to a problem, either, they just want a ballpark figure of how much they'd be. They have booked their date. Now, just to decide what they'll serve as far as cake, mini cakes, etc. Thanks for the continuing advice and expertise. Anything else? Send it my way. I want to be fully understanding of the whole mini cake process before I go gung-ho into this.

I suggested the cupcake wedding cake option, and neither the groom or the bride liked that idea. They had looked into that option, and simply didn't like it. Price doesn't seem to a problem, either, they just want a ballpark figure of how much they'd be. They have booked their date. Now, just to decide what they'll serve as far as cake, mini cakes, etc. Thanks for the continuing advice and expertise. Anything else? Send it my way. I want to be fully understanding of the whole mini cake process before I go gung-ho into this.

Following in the sheet cake idea.

Before you deside to take on this challenge, I suggest you make 1- 1/4 sheet cake, cut, decorate and see how you like it. It's a goog test, run, you wont have too much to content with and you can make an informed decision. If you get about 10 to 14 servings depending on leveling and shaping and what not. This will give you a more accurate cost on materials and time. Then you just have to multiply by 10 or 12.

Good Luck.

It seems to me that you're now making giant petit-fours (since you think you'll be using the poured fondant).

If you read the petit-four threads, most CC'ers also charge $$$ for these since they're also extremely labor intensive.

By way of example, it will only take 50-55 minutes to bake a 14" round cake that will serve 78 guests (using Wilton chart).

Let's say you can cut 20-25 rounds out of an 12x18x2 sheet, which bakes for 40-45 minutes. You still have to make four of these sheet cakes to equal one 14" round.

So that's 55 minutes for 78 servings vs. 3 hrs. for 80 servings and you're only half way done with the baking....and you still have to do all that cutting.

Frosting will take even longer since you have to frost the sides of 140 cakes instead of 3 or 4 tiers.

And don't forget the 140 monogram toppers.....

By all means, go for it - but just make sure you're factoring in enough hours of labor to make it worthwhile. After all, you'll be saving the bride money because she doesn't need to hire additional wait staff to slice and hand deliver individual portions of cake (so there isn't a cake line).

And packaging/transporting 140 individual cakes is going to take more time and space than transporting a 140 serving wedding cake.

You don't want 140 of the little buggers bumping into each other on the ride over, so boxing them might still be an idea to consider. That way the bride can have them placed on the dining tables (like favors) and no one need wait in line for cake.

We're not trying to dissuade you from doing this, we just don't want you to work for less than minimum wage (when all is said and done).

And I think you deserve WAY more than minimum wage for this job.

This is great information on Mini Weddicng Cakes.
cakesbyamym, good luck to you if you do these mini wedding cakes and with pleasing your couple.

Another option might be table/centerpiece cakes which can be placed on each of the dining tables prior to dinner.

This way the cake would be on the table (no waiting in line) and would stay fresh since it's not pre-sliced.

Seven 8" round cakes would serve 140 (party size slices) and each cake only takes 30-35 minutes to bake. (Assuming you can bake at least 2 layers at the same time.)

Just another option.

I was thinking 7 long rectangular banquet tables, (even if they were abutted) not rounds.

And passing/serving the cakes would be difficult for the guests, but it would be easier for Amy.

I did some research on mini-cakes a while back as I had an enquiry and I came up with the same problems - there was no way I was going to undersell my time and effort and the bride wasn't happy with the quote and decided to go for a 'normal' cake.

I did find a cute alternative which was mini stacked biscuits done to look like a wedding cake - i.e. three larger biscuits stacked on top of each other, three medium biscuits stacked on top of that and then three little biscuits on top of them. The whole lot of fixed with royal icing and had royal icing piped decorations and flowers on it. They really looked good - I'm only sorry that I haven't got a photo to share. I do have a picture on a word document, if you PM your email address I can send it.

I think this is what you mean. http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.0e0eb51a2e6b5ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=b7dfce908332f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=8b99cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=photogallery_weddings&lastnavigatedchannel=8b99cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD

Those cookies make interesting favors.