I am just wondering what some of you all would charge for a cake like this. I am thinking a 14" 10" and 6" (I'm open to suggestions for sizes). It needs to feed 100 or slightly less.
Just plain old chocolate, vanilla, with buttercream and Fondant covered. The sea shells will be gumpaste or chocolate (any thoughts on which is better??) and they will be hand painted with luster dust.

My idea is about 2-2.50 per serving. I am just starting out, and I don't want to scare away any business. Or maybe thats even too high?? I have no clue.... can you help me out a bit here??

Thanks everyone.

I charge $3/serving for BC only. That went up from $2.50/serving on 9-1-07 due to the price of EVERYTHING going up 20% or more.

I agree with indydebi. Fondant (homemade or purchased) is costly and takes some time if you arent familiar with it. I would add at least $1 to your base price for fondant (the price per serving of course depends on where you live... for me that would be $3.50/ser. minimum). As far as the seashells go, I would lean towards chocolate. That way the quests can eat them instead of them being thrown away (which is what will more than likely happen with gumpaste). I used chocolate for the shells on my beach wedding cake- white chocolate that was colored with luster dusts after they were dry. HTH!

Although I'm just starting out, I would say don't cut yourself short, that will be one beautiful cake.

As for the shells, I would vote for chocolate as previous poster. I've made a cake with choc sea shells and guests went crazy over them.

Delia

It doesn't matter if you are new or not. If you can produce a cake like the one in your sketch, then you need to charge more than you mentioned. I would recommend no less than $3.50/serving for a fondant covered cake. I have only worked with buttercream, and my base price for tiered cakes is $2.50/serving (and I'm in rural Kentucky). I would easily charge $3.50/serving if I was working with fondant.

Here is a cake I made for a beach wedding. the seashell are Plymouth Pantry almond bark, molded and then painted with luster dust. The cake is iced with buttercream.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1065623.html
I charge $2.00 a serving for wedding cakes

Jibbies

Im in Louisville, Ky and I charge $3.00 per serving for Fondant. I also would take a look at how long you think it will take to make the sea shells(I would do chocolate). Sometimes the cake is a breeze but its the decorations that are where your labor ends up being. Remember it takes a while to paint all those with luster dust. For me this cake would range from $380.00-$450.00. I know it seems like a lot but I have been doing this for over 15 years and my time is very important to me.

At least $4.00 a serving here! With all the gumpaste flowers maybe even $4.50. I go up to $4.50 when I do sculpted cakes.

$2.50 for BC.