I have been asked to do a simple yet elegant bridal cake. The lady giving the shower only wants, a one layer cake torted (I was thinking a 3 inch cake before torting), with buttercream, simple dot or swiss dot decor with a fondant ribbon trim and a single fondant bow (the flat kind?) in front. She wants it square. She sent out invites to 80 people so taking into account how many people will show, should I go with a 12"? And if so how much should I charge? Any advice would be great.

Firefighterwife

Well a 12" will serve approx 56 people. Did she req RSVP? They could not be enough and off by a lot! How much do you charge a slice? Let's say you charge a 1.50 a slice then you are looking at $84.00. What does your area support. Being a single layer I would probably keep it at $1.00 to $1.25 a slice but that is my area.

HTH

bj

All my cakes start at $2.50 per slice, plain without anything special......but do you live in a rural or economically declined area? If so, the charge less. Call some bakeries in your are, but remember you do custom cake and you can be spendier then the bakery. Lots of people go with adding up the cost of the ingredients and X3. But I say, look at how much work you are willing to do and how much you want to get paid and what your talent is worth and go from there.........

I don't think it boils down to just rural or economically declined area.............

firefighterwife, there are a lot of threads on here regarding how much to charge for a cake and how so many of us undercharge for cakes as this is a hobby or we do not have store fronts to support or we are just starting out or we are afraid to charge to much........ you get the pic. Go with what you feel comfortable with and make sure you cover your cost and your time.

bj

Not to be disagreeable but this is my point, on another thread this evening someone mentioned that they try to charge a fair market value for their cake and their clients have problems with it because they can go down the street and get a 6 tiered - 8 turret pink scroll - fondant cover - raspberry filled - castle cake sitting on a pillow with a RI crown for 20 bucks because people give away their talent! I mean give it away.....now after this thread you are going to start seeing how many people give away their talent. It breaks my heart! And shame on us for doing so or promoting it, we just make it tougher on the next CC member who wants to charge fair market value for the custom cake. I for one am not going to be a starving artist! I make one of a kind, custom sculptures and people will have to pay me what I think I am worth and I will not "chase the ambulance like a new lawyer" just to make a $19.99 for a 3 tiered - 57 gumpaste roses - fountain wedding cake that serves 500 people!

Yes, I am being a smaty pants again.....but I can't help it on this topic. We should not undercharge.

wow tiptop.... I do not find your posts disagreeable but I do find them hurtful. I am going to assume that the tone of your posts was not negative but just trying to express your passion on undercharging/prices.

No one suggested that you create a three tiered cake with 57 gumpaste roses for $19.99; however, receiving $100 for a single layer cake in my opinion is acceptable and is only $40 off from your 2.50 a slice. So I am not sure how this is "promoting" undercharging.

In addition, a single layer cake cannot be compared to the hand sculpted creations that you do (beautiful work). We are talking about two different catagories here. Her time; however, is as valuable as yours and that is why I said to make sure she charges enough to cover her time.

Tiptop, I agree that many people on here undercharge for their talent and time and I was one of them at one time. I looked to members at CC to encourage me and as my confidence and abilities grew, I began to charge more. Now I am very comfortble / confident with my prices.

My apologies to firefighterwife. I hope that you gets some additional posts with additional opinions that can be helpful with answering your question.

I will no longer reply to this particular post.

bj

first off, i would ask her how many people she expects to show up. really its up to the customer to tell you how many servings they want from a cake, and then if you have a suggestion based on experience you can offer it. but its her party, her friends, she will know better how many she needs to serve. if you need more than the 50 servings from a 12 inch, i would suggest to her doing small tiers, like a 10 and a 6 or a 12 and an 8. it will look more elegant that a huge slab of cake (like a 16 inch square or a sheet cake) IMHO. i also would not charge less than 2$ per serving. the way i do it, is i add up my ingredients and the pay myself X dollars an hour for the work. i feel like i then get paid fairly and the customer gets a good price. don't sell yourself short!

Thanks so much for the advice. And I did ask her what type of cake and she specifically said a square 1 layer cake. In my opinion I would go with something a little more elegant but she said since it's "only a bridal shower" her words not mine she didn't want anything elegant, The picture of the cake she wants me to make is a three tier with flowers and dots, the works and is very elegant but she seems to think it's not, go figure. But she is paying and keeps insisting on square so I'm going with this size. I'm getting ready to email her back just to be on the safe side. Thanks again.

Firefighterwife

My apologies to Firefighterwife and especially to Bjfranco for getting on a soap box....I didn't mean to hijack the thread or hurt feelings or sound disagreeable.

In reality I was only trying to agree with what Bjfranco had said.......many people undervalue their talent.

Good luck Firefighterwife and remember to post a pix.