My First Cake Order! Help!!
Decorating By sugarbakerqueen Updated 27 May 2007 , 1:37am by sugarbakerqueen
I was asked to do a cake for a birthday next Friday. It is 2 flip flop sandals. Theay are covered in fondant with some cut-outs on the sides. Very cute! Do I have to bake everything from scratch? I baked a tester one last night and I used a french vanilla cake mix (2) and canned cream cheese frrosting and it is delicious. I doctored up the recipe a bit of course....I figure they are paying me for my decorating skills and not my baking skills....does it matter? Anyways I haven't quoted a price yet because I wanted to do a test one and see how much supplies I will need. So far:
4 cake mixes
4 large cans frosting
double recipe MMF
2 cake boards
The cakes are made from 11x15" pan. I cut in half and stacked then cut out design by hand.( I made a template) The finished result are 7"x4" and about 4" tall. They are going to be awesome!! How much should I charge? Keep in mind these are my first cake orders and I am looking for word of mouth referrals....
Why would you use canned frosting, just because they like it? We can help you out with a super easy cream cheese recipe that will be MUCH better.... As for your cake doctoring.. just fine, I do this with every cake! You are starting with a base cake mix which is just flour and stuff, so essentially you are cooking from scratch.... box mixes will probably hold up better for carving a flop too. Just one suggestion, you might want to freeze it once carved before you put your crumb coat on because once you carve, it will drag a good bit... just a tip 
Good luck!
Using doctored cake mixes is fine. Using canned frosting, is, IMHO, not!
I agree.. doctored mix is fine.. not my fav, but more than fine..canned frosting doesn't hold up well and doesn't have the best consistency. I'd definitely make the frosting. The rest of it sounds great though! 
Good luck!!
As for what to charge.. It depends. An 11 x 15 will serve about 35 2" x 2" pieces. Your cake will be smaller than that, but you still had to bake the whole thing. I'd say that your cake would make about 25 1" x 2" x 4" slices. I would charge at least $2.50 per serving.. so somehwere in the $60 - $70 range.
edited to adjust price..
I agree with these other posts, you should make the icing from scratch it doesn't cost very much but will end up being a little more expencive then the canned frosting.
Powdered sugar Up to $1.00 a box, you'll need 4
4 sticks of butter $1.00-$2.00
one can of crisco $2.00
clear vanilla $1.00-$3.00
cream cheese or other special ingrediants
I've never made it as my husband is highly/deathly allergic to cream cheese so it's not allowed in the house at all! But I would recommend making the icing from scratch.
Box mixes are fine I use them for everything and people LOVE my cakes.
Hubby made a cake the other night just for himself lol, it was a carrot cake and since we didn't have any BC on hand and he didn't feel like making any he didn't use anything. When I got up the next morning I found a can of (I think Dunkin Hines or Betty Crocker) Whipped ButterCream Icing (canned but was alright) I put it on there and he loved it. He could tell the difference but it was still good.
I feel canned frosting is ALRIGHT for home use ONLY. If you're making money off the cake, use home made icing. It costs you more to make it both time and money but that's when you up the price a little bit 
Thank you all SO much! Can you help me with a really tasty cream cheese recipe? I love buttercream dream icing. Is there any way I could make that with cream cheese?
You guys are big helps! I'm so glad I found this site... 
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