I do alot of custom cakes and I'm having a problem with portion sizes. I normally start with sheet cakes but after carving you lose portions. I want to make sure I'm not under charging for the amount of work I do.
If you have any suggestions on how to determine portions pleas help.


Ex. I make 3d Nike shoe and the customer wants 25-30 servings.
how large should the shoe be?

Thanks,
Donyell

I've made quite a few 3D cakes too. I always have to just guess how many they will serve. I usually end up with more cake than I need instead of not enough. I know what kind of work is involved in a 3D cake. I'm guessing you could charge more than you do now. Hopefully there is a veteran out there that can give us both some good advice. BUMP

For 25-30 servings of a shoe cake, I would stack three 1/2 sheet cakes and carve out the shoe from there. Not saying it's an exact science when it comes to a 3D cake, but if you end up with extra, all the better. You have to expect material loss when you're carving and make up for it by making the cake bigger than what you think you need.

That's what I do.

I START 3d cakes at $50. It goes up from there depending on the detail in the cake.

For my size 11 nike shoe I made a template from my husbands shoe, the baked it out of a half sheet. The stuff that I cut off I used to build up the shoe part. It was the perfect amount. I only had a small amount left over.

I charge $2 a serving, so for a half sheet it would be about 20 servings...$40 BUT it is a carved 3d, minimal work, so it is only $50.

I also generally make more servings than necessary, only because I do not want them to run out of cake, and I want them to think they are getting a good deal. I am really expensive for my area, but it is like someone on here said, it is easier to give a discount than raise prices.