I was looking at a post on here yesterday and wanted to ask this question but my boss had other ideas for my time so I thought I would post it this morning.

Why is it that a cake for a birthday party is $2 per slice but the same cake if used for a wedding would be $3.50 per slice?

Please forgive the question but Im confused since the pan and all of the ingredients would be the same just different words.

Other people have questioned this too, because there is really no quantifiable reason for it. Many have talked about equalizing the prices, because they do take as much work. The reason that I can think of is that you charge what people will pay. And people will pay more for wedding cakes. I guess a wedding cake is a bit more stress as well, I mean what happens if you mess up? But a birthday cake? Less of a big deal, I mean, you have a birthday every year, but a wedding hopefully only once.

There shouldn't be a difference in price.

If there is a difference, it should be per "number of tiers". A one-tiered cake could be $2/serving, a 2-tiered cake could be $2.50/serving, and 3 or more could be $3 or more. "Wedding cakes" usually cost more because there is a significant amount of knowledge and architecture that has to go into a multli-tiered cake. But if someone orders a 3-tiered birthday party cake, it should cost exactly the same as a 3-tiered wedding cake.

I didn't read the original post, but it could be that more embellishment is built into the cost of a wedding cake, but not into the birthday cake - you'd have to pay extra for the more expensive decorations on a wedding cake. Probably should ask the person who posted the prices.

I'm an EXTREMELY ethical person, so even the IDEA of charging more for the same cake because it has wedding attached to it is WRONGO to me. If I charge 100 for a two tier cake with special filling and delivery for birthday cake, that's what I would charge for a wedding. I would ONLY charge for more cake or more detail on the cake.

It's the mentality of "charge more for wedding in front of the name" that is giving cake decorators and every other business associated with weddings that mark up prices for no reason a BAD name, the reason why the doubt EVERYONE'S prices (assuming everyone inflates)... and honestly, a birthday cake for a kid is just as important to that child as a wedding cake is to the bride!

Melissa

I thought the difference was in the decorations, architecture(stacking, pillars, both...)....the majority of wedding cakes are considerably more elaborate that celebration/birthday cakes...

I would still price it for the amount of work it takes, no matter what the occasion.

My bad. I missed that part.

This is why you should ask the person who posted the prices - the wedding may well include more stuff than the bday, or may assume delivery, etc., that you'd have to pay extra for on the bday cake.

I think that it depends on the baker and whomever is setting the price. I, for one, am fed up with people saying wedding cakes are, after all, "only" flour, butter and eggs. NO-NO-NO they are NOT!!! This thought process goes along with people who think that it's cheaper to have a dummy wedding cake, then serve sheet cakes from the kitchen to their guests. Well, if I have to take the time to design, build, cover and decorate dummies, PLUS bake, ice and somehow make a sheet cake look remotely similar to what is being shown as the "wedding cake", it's going to cost just as much ... there was just as much effort (if not more) going into that setup as the order for a "real" wedding cake that will be served.

There are many decorators who can certainly provide a successful and lovely birthday cake without breaking a sweat, but a wedding cake is EXPECTED (by the Bride, Groom, their families and guests, etc., not to mention the decorator) to be PERFECT!

Also, many birthday cakes are NOT delivered, while most wedding cakes are. That service is not free, you know, especially in light of the rising costs of petroleum, so lots of us will build that cost into the price of a wedding cake.

And finally, as kelleym has pointed out:

"Wedding cakes" usually cost more because there is a significant amount of knowledge and architecture that has to go into a multli-tiered cake. [I couldn't have said this better myself...]

Those skills aren't easy to come by ... grown men have been known to cry or crumble into puddles at the thought of making a wedding cake. It's not for the faint of heart OR the unskilled.

IMHO, THAT is the difference in cost.

HTH,

Odessa

[edited to add: sorry if I sould bitter and witchy, but this question comes up a lot and it irritates me like a sesame seed under the dentures. I just read something yesterday that was a quote from some NYC wedding planner who essentially said that a wedding cake is an "unnecessary" and "foolish" tradition that no one cares for anyway. It's comments like that one that tend to push me over the edge. Sorry for coming off a bit nasty. I'll try to dust off my soapbox and put it into the closet for a while now ...]

I don't do a per serving price...

I've been agitated by the difference in servings you get out of the same size cake...
I know that wedding cake servings are cut smaller than celebration/birthday cakes(most times anyway)

not to pick on anyone's servings chart

but not only are you getting the same amount of cake but being charged a lower price for a larger serving:

10" round-
party servings-28 wedding servings-38

cost-
party-1.50x28 wedding- 38x3.50

I solved that problem...I just hiked up the prices for my party cakes and now everything is the same price.

hahahahahahahahaha@adven68!

I think I know the post that the original poster is talking about. Someone showed a picture of their cake and said "how much should I charge for this cake." Someone posted and said if it is for a birthday I would charge..."x amount per slice" if it was for a wedding I would charge "x amount more per slice" So it was EXACTLY the same cake that would have a different price attatched to it. Personally, I think that is wrong. But if people are willing to pay it...then that is the choice that they make.

Odessa - you crack me up! Sesame seed under the dentures... *wanders off chucking to self*

1. There are more components to use in a wedding cake. More dowels, circles, etc.
2. There is less room for error on a wedding cake. You can't just cover up or disguise an error on a wedding cake like you can on a bday cake.
3. Delivery/setup
4. Perfection is time consuming.
agian, disposable costs are a lot more.

I believe that the cake should be the same price wether its a wedding cake or a birthday cake. The same amount of work and ingredients go into it so because you call it a wedding cake it shouldn't be priced any different than if you call it a birthday cake.
My sheet cake prices start at $1.50 per serving and for all of my stacked cakes the price start at $2.50 per serving. Stacked cakes are priced higher because there are more things required to stabilize it (dowels, cake boards ect) I have all of my stacked cakes with the same serving size as well. I use the Wilton party serving sizes for all of my cakes instead of the wedding serving sizes.
Jacqui

I know I've seen more than one bakery's price list...for both occasion cakes and wedding cakes....the price per serving was higher for the wedding cake.

If I were wanting a cake from them for a wedding, I definitely wouldn't tell them it was for a wedding.

A cake, with NO decorations...say, to put real flowers on...would cost me more if I said "I'd like to order a wedding cake" as opposed to "I would like to order a birthday cake"

As a previous poster said. My wedding cakes will be more expensive only because I charge per slice and you get more slices per layer than party slices. But if they wanted bigger slices, I would charge my party slices anyway and they would pay more because of the need for more cake. Does that make any sense?

Stephanie

I never really thought about it ... except that for a birthday cake I have never had to:

1. Do taste testings
2. Have more than one "meeting" to discuss details
3. Been called multiple times from multiple relitives
4. Had to deliver and set up the cake
5. Cordinate with the reception area
6. Console the "picky" ones
7. Put up with mothers
8. Arrange details with the florist
9. Panic and stress that the cake would crack or fall
10. Been expected to have extra boxes, or extra credentials!

All of which are involved in weddings!

Now I have to admit, twice now I have been called a day or two before the wedding by a friend or repeat customer... the person being in a panic and not really carring what the cake looks or taste like -- JUST NEEDS CAKE and I did not charge wedding prices ... it reminds me of birthdays and at that point it becomes a ministry to keep the people from meltdown.

I look at birthday cakes as the "loss leader"... they are priced less but get people in your door and shopping with you. And the higher prices of wedding cakes helps offset the fact that you're only getting $50 for a birthday cake.

And then there's the whole "What the market will bear" argument. Budgets for weddings are much higher than for birthday parties.

Thank you Pidge! For real! I never thought about all that. and that puts a lot of things into perspective.

For the same reason a hall will charge more for a Friday reception than a Tuesday reception...because it's a wedding, and the wedding business is a big old racket.

Mickig

Hi,

Thanks for all of the comments. Yes Freddyfl I think you have the post I was talking about. It was for a sheet cake I believe thats why I couldn't understand why the price would be different. I understand if it was multi tiers but a sheet cake.


Thanks all I am years away from ever trying a wedding cake I was just wondering.


Sorry aobodessa

I just had this thought ... I have a friend who also does cakes and she started charging LESS for weddings ... becasue so many people were wanting to have plain cakes with real flowers (and her birthday cakes were very detailed in multiple buttercream colors). So weddings were taking her less time. Now then, I don't know if she was charging less per serving but still using smaller serving sizes ... it does get rather complicated when you think about it!!

the more time consuming a cake is the more it costs.
thats how I price my cakes