Gayle.. I start mini cakes at $10 each and this is a single 3" round that is 2" high frosted with a border. Mini cakes are SUCH a pain in the arse. For what you are describing.. $15 easy. You have to think that you are going to have to decorate each little cake one at a time.. it is a ton of work. They are too cute though.

For centerpiece cakes it all depends on what they order. They are priced per serving just like any other cake.. 6" cakes are 10 servings and 8" cakes are 20. So they choose. It is a lot more expensive to do it this way though.

I love the idea of moving the centerpiece cakes to a cutting table though.. that is genius. Then everyone can sample what they want and no one feels awkward cutting their own cakes.

There's basically no difference in the time it takes to do an 8" cake or a 3x3 inch cake especially considering the box. It should be an artsy fartsy price for the artsy fartsy factor.

I mean a 3x3 is a glorified torted cup cake without a wrapper.

Charge for the inconvenience factor that you could be making five times more money making decent sized cakes in the same amount of time.

Really charge ridiculously for this. How much is your 8" cake? That sounds good. I mean it's the exact same prep, a tiny bit less ingredients. You gonna wash all those little freaking pans? Cut them out of frozen cake? kaching kaching kaching

It's like for example diet margarine has a higher water content but it costs more. Similar principle, it's a smaller product but the pia factor is huge and no sense in loosing money just 'cause someone wants really small cakes. Charge for your time.

A problem I've run into w/ decorating a smaller cake is it moving around on the board while I'm icing & i applied buttercream to the board before placing the cake on it & even pressed it down. Anyone have a suggestion on how to keep this from happening---mine was a 4" x 4" round. And I hated icing that sucker more than any cake I've ever iced.

(thought the info might be useful)

Stick a skewer through the cake and into the board. I always ice them on a carboard round so I can secure it to the board. It also helps to have it on a round that is the size of your turntable so you can hold the round so it won't slide around on you. Freeze the mini cakes as well before you ice them. I ice the top and then the side and then touch up the little hole the skewer leaves. Chill the frosted cake right on the board and then it is easier to manuver..

Just thinking (dangerous!!). I also have problems with small cakes moving while frosting them. I seal them to their board with icing, but then it moves around on my turntable. What if we put a piece of the rubberized shelving paper between the cakeboard and the turntable?! I'm going to try that real soon and I'll let you know if it works, or if my mind is out of whack again!!

I am in the middle of making 100 mini cakes myself...NEVER again! I have a good rythm going and they are going pretty quickly, but still never again. Even for a million dollars each.

They are being put into boxes and put as centerpieces.

The reason I would never order these guys as a bride is because they take so long to make, your cake is 2-3 days old already!! Unless you have a staff of 3-4 people making them, there is no way you can do these things with fresh cake.
hahaha!

I normally charge £35 for a plain iced 6 inch vanila sponge cake. Wow it's a good job their not paying say they have tables of 10 and 130 guests thats £455 plus the main cake at £80. Total £535.

I would charge the same as what i normally do same work same time. if not more. And no way would I even consider offering more than 3 different fillings on that amount of cakes. Choc, Plain and lemon. How much more work would that be.

I think some people take the micky when the cakes are free. Keep it simple at the end of the day your not getting paid.

I would be interested to see how you make 15 cakes min in a week all for the same day.

Good luck.

I did 160 mini cakes + a 3 tiered cake for the same wedding... and I almost die. If it wasn't for DH to come to my rescue... it would have been a disaster. I took this order to challange myself and try something new... and boy!!! did I got a challenge!!!!

In 3 days I only sleeped 7 hrs. I worked around the clock taking hardly any breaks. I charged $1 per mini cakes.... I know, I know... way, way, way to low for the amount of work... I didn't know then, but I know now. Never again will I do this.

If anyone is contemplating the idea on doing this... you need help. This is no job for one person to handle. And charge no minimum of $5 per mini cakes.

Great tips loriemoms... and for those centerpieces cakes... charge per what each cake will serve and not for how many people will be seating on each table.

Consider this.... how are you going to transport them? Will it all fit in the car? How many trips do I have to make in order to deliver the cakes?

I didn't consider that and ended up making two trips to the reception hall. Thank God it only was about 10 min. away.

Best of luck!!!

Wow hands down to you julissamycakes.

Do you have pictures.

Kicky

For icing smaller cakes--you can flip your turntable over too if it's a footed one and use the smaller end on top.

The waffle weave shelf paper works good cause you can just wash it. And you don't have to glue it, it will stay put.

I also put a 3" square piece of rubber shelf lining under all of my cakes when I have them on my turntable. It helps a TON for all cakes.

Oooh.. that's a good idea k8.. I use the waffle weave kind too.. it just goes in the dishwasher when I'm done.

My turntable is the crappy plastic Wilton one. I know, I know! So, would you put a 4" on another board? Since mine was for a stacked cake I had the board cut to size, actually just a little bigger so I didn't have to worry as much w/ straight sides-just held my spatula on the edge of that cardboard. But b/c my cake kept moving I ended up w/ a freakin tilted cake anyway. Thankfully other people are oblivious.

I understand sticking the skewer in, but I've heard nightmares about people's icing sliding off a frozen cake--am I misunderstanding?

You all are just great. I've really enjoyed all the responses and appreciate the advise. I am please to say that I heard from my customer this morning and she decided to go with a regular cake. WOOOOHOOOO!! LOL She didn't want to spend $400 for 100 mini cakes. I can't even begin to imagine her reaction if I had quoted her more than that.

Thanks again to everyone!!

Gayle

The thing that makes it difficult is when it came time to take off the excess/smooth the icing w/ my bench scraper. B/c the board was cut to size I had nothing to hold onto when scraping off the excess. Do you cut the board to size after icing. It's just the cake didn't weigh enough to keep it from moving. I tried putting the non-slip underneath it but it didn't help it from "wobbling"

The thing with the teeny mini tiered cakes is that you don't need boards under each tier. I ice all mini tiers on a large board. I have the crappy wilton plastic turntable too.. .. it's what 10" round. So I use a 10" board so I can hold onto it or better yet.. use a big binder clip to fasten it to the turntable. You can chill the tier and after it sets you lift it off with a spatula. Run it around the edge and pop it off and transfer it to a parchment covered cooie sheet and re-use the board. After you assemble your cakes you can place them on a board and add your bottom border and call it a day.

Jkalman, I comprehend that. Do you use a board if a 3 or 4" cake is going to be the top of a tiered cake or is the cake not heavy enough to sink into the tier below it? I hope I'm making sense