I have a potential bride who was wanting her wedding cake covered in marzipan and then fondant.
I have never worked with marzipan and know it is expensive.
Could anyone who uses it please tell me what kind of an upcharge they have for it?
I stink at pricing. It is like I try to start to figure it out and my brain shuts down. So I usually just call the local bakeries and stay close to their per serving charge but nobody around here uses marzipan.
Help please!!! 
Thanks,
Amy
Amy, the easiest thing to do is to price the marzipan first. Find a source and work out how much you will need - you will need exactly the same weight of marzipan as you will fondant for each size cake. Then you will know your price for the marzipan itself. Then estimate how long it takes you to cover the cakes in fondant, because it will take you the same amount of time again to put the marzipan on the cakes.
For an example:
6,9,12in rounds would need 96oz of marzipan. So if marzipan is, $5 per lb, you would need to buy 2 tubs which would be $50 for 2 x 5lb pails:
http://marzipancandies.com/cgi-local/miva.cgi?/Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=MP
This was the only supplier I could find in the US!!!! Now unless you know you will use the remaining marzipan for another project, I'd charge the full price you paid, and offer the bride the excess marzipan! Then calculate your covering time - 1 hour, 2?
Hope that helps!
Sorry, I never said what I would charge per serving lol! For a fondant cake WITH marzipan, I wouldn't charge less than $4 - $4.50 per serving - and that would be with basic decoration. If she wants some thing fairly detailed, then you'd be looking at closer to $6 per serving!
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