A man who has seen a few of my cakes called and asked for a graduation cake for his daughter... she is graduating from pharmacy school and he wants a 3d prescription bottle. White chocolate with fresh strawberry filling for 15 people. He said don't comprimise on size or design because it is a small number of people. So I thought I would do 3 8" layers stacked and 1 9" layer on top for the lid. All covered in homemade fondant. I was thinking $85. for it, but my hubby thinks I am crazy he thinks I should charge $100. Did i mention he wants it in 4days? HELP?!?!

That will be a little short I think. I would do four 8" layers (or two 8" tiers) stacked with a cake board between them and the 9" on top. That would be 50 servings (at least) and in fondant I personally would charge $5.00 per serving or $250.00.

You have to look at your servings. That sounds like it might feed up to 40 people and at $85 you would be charging a little over $2.00 a serving which, considering that it is 3-D and covered in fondant, sounds about right to me.

Personally I think three 6" rounds stacked w/a 7" on that would look really good. The 6"ers 6" tall plus another 2" on the 7" (can be a cut down 8 if you don't have a 7" pan) will give the illusion of a tall pill bottle.

Years ago a 'geritol' bottle was a great cake for 'older' folks b'days. It's 2-d but so easy to make. Just bake up a 9x13 (or what ever size pan closest to that you have); sculpt the top into a 'neck' and add extra icing w/that tip that is a flat ribbon that's serated on one side) to make it look like a cap.; round the bottom corners.

In Northern Virginia, we are probably on the low end, but we charge $4.50 per slice for any 3-D or carved cake. The cake should feed 20-25 people fairly large slices (since it's basically 2 8" cakes on top of each other) which would be $90-112.50. I think you also said that he wants a filling, we would add an additional $10 per two layers of an 8" cake so that's an additional $20. That would make the cake $110-132.5. So yes, I think $80 is undercutting yourself! One thing I've learned is that things always take longer then you think; you don't want to regret not charging more b/c it took so long to make. Also he's only giving you 4 days notice! I would add a rush fee onto the cake as well.

Just my 2 cents!

I like the idea of using six inch layers, with a 7 on top. I think the proportions would look better.

Wow Kortni.. your servings are REALLY large.. your thoughts on servings are 1/2 of what I would put it at. You are severely undercutting yourself if you are selling 2x2x4 pieces of cake at $4.50/serving..That would be the equivalent of me selling my cakes for 1/2 the price I do.. I wouldn't make much of a profit at all.

An 8" cake that is 4" tall serves 24 according to Wilton.. I say 20 since I like me some nice round numbers. Remember that you charge for the amount of servings you MAKE not the number of servings they ask for. I could tell you that I want a 12" cake to feed 20 people.. doesn't mean that I still don't pay for the 40 servings that 12" cake is designed to serve.

I think a 6" and 7" set up would work too. That would cut your servings down to 35 or so.. and the cost would be less for him and still have a very nice looking cake.

thanks so much everyone for the input! I also think that 3 6's stacked with a 7 on top would look better. I always want to go for thw wow ya know? i guess bigger isn't always better is it? anyway thanks again, i'll post pics when done