I'm wondering if you guys price tiered cakes differently. I know I would price wedding cakes more & would assume I would a tiered one also. I'm trying to get my ducks in a row & pricing is my biggest stump. $2/slice is pretty norm here (for basic), but how do you go from there?

I'll post a pic of the cake I have in mind when I get the chance (not at my computer). But it was an 8, 6 & 4" w/ buttercream & chocolate dots around each tier. It seemed like it took forever to make (I mean everything from mixing the icing until the finished product & clean up took about 12 hrs). I know I'll get quicker, but when my dh took it to church today he said people were inquiring. I want to be ready when the time comes. (yes I know of the laws...) That's why I'm asking in advance.

I just need some advice.

Is the 2 per slice for a wedding cake or sculpted? If it's for wedding cakes then you can use that for your starting point. For Me cake is cake no matter how it's done and I use one price for both. U should also think of using cake boss or some other pricing method so that you know what u should be charging for your time as well as your cakes.

HTH

Is the 2 per slice for a wedding cake or sculpted? If it's for wedding cakes then you can use that for your starting point. For Me cake is cake no matter how it's done and I use one price for both. U should also think of using cake boss or some other pricing method so that you know what u should be charging for your time as well as your cakes.

HTH

I classify my cakes two ways ... sheet and non-sheet. A non-sheet is anything NOT rectangle and one layer.

I will not set up pricing that is $50 for a 10" round birthday cake and $75 for a 10" round wedding cake. I just don't have time or the desire to explain to two women who live next to each other and talk over the fence about buying cakes why one of them got "gipped" for $25.

Wedding, birthday, anniversary, hail-to-the-potato-celebration ... call it whatever you want, it's the same work for me.

Understand that the pricing diff for wedding and non-wedding cakes started a LONG time ago when wedding were big, tall and ornately decorated .... and birthday cakes were flat, single layer and said Happy Birthday Johnnie. Period.

But today, with the food channel, the internet, wedding magz, Duff's influence, etc., non-wedding cakes are becoming even MORE ornate than some wedding cakes ever thought about being.

So why you would charge less for it is completely beyond me.

The $2/serving here that is the "norm" is for a plain iced, border, filled (buttercream) 2 layer w/ writing on it. I just get confused when it comes to "additions" whether big or small & how to go about pricing them. Here's my cake. The dots weren't hard to do, but melting chocolate, coloring it, piping them out, letting them cool, & putting them on the cake was on the side of time consuming.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1225329

ETA:

The reason I've been "told" to charge more for wedding/tiered cakes is b/c of the stacking involved, where as a 10" round doesn't require the trouble of stacking

I add up all my cost (cake, frosting, boards, box, and anything else that I had to get) then I add $10 - $12 per hour for my time.

I charge the same per slice - (birthday - wedding etc) I have a per slice charge for BC and and a per slice charge for Fondant (if they want extra fondant accents or 3d figures I do charge a little extra for that. I explain the extra charge to the customer when I give a price quote.

If a customer wants a 3d sculpted cake that the price is determined by the amount of work/style/design because there is NO way I would do a scuplted cake for what I would do a square or round cake.

All my tier cakes have the same kind of price. They are higher because I have to deliver and set up, usually make a sample and have a consoltation with them (~1 hr), and the top cake on weddings don't count in the servings. You don't have all that involved with a cake that will be in a box and not delivered.

I'm with Debi 100%. In all honesty.. stacking cakes is not a ton of extra work. You insert dowels and put the cake on top.. that's it. If you use wooden cake dowels and cardboard cake rounds the extra cost is minimal to say the least. Even using the SPS for your support add little to the cost. I price my cakes the same no matter what shape they are. Th eonly thing that gets a discount is kitchen cakes that are not decorated, and you have to order 100 servings before you have that as an option.

Cale is cake no matter the shape.