Ok, I am a little nervous. I just received my first "real" big order besides small birthday cakes for friends and family. It is for a retirement party for a Army vet of 40 years, for 50 people. It will be a 8" double stacked sweet potato cake and I was thinking a 11" x 15" double stacked WASC sheet cake. 2 questions: will this be enough and would $120.00 be under cutting my self? It will be all butter cream and simple decorations ie boarder and a piping gel transfer on the sheet cake and I was thinking a fondant flag for the 8" round.

All opinions welcome. TIA

What do you mean by "double-stacked"? Is that four layers of cake, or two? That would be way too much if you do four layers.

A 2-layer 8" will serve between 20 and 24 or so, assuming 1" x2" pieces. An 11X15 two-layer cake will serve 75.

And yes, you're WAY underpricing yourself.

So should I only do one 11" x 15" torted once?

I was thinking $2.00 a serving and the extra $20 was for the specialty cake ie the sweet potato cake. Am I wrong?

If you do the 11x15 one layer then that's about 35 or so servings (depending on how they cut it) and the 8" two-layer would give you 22, say. That would be 57 servings, so if you're only charging $2 a serving (which is low, in my opinion) then that would be $114.

I'd increase it to $3 a serving because you're going to be doing some custom transfers, etc. That would be $171. Just do a flat per-serving price, then if they say that it's too much for their budget you can offer to reduce the 11x15 to a 9x13, which is 24 servings, and that would bring you to 46 servings at $3 each, which would still be $132. (Check my math, I'm doing this without a calculator and it's early!)

If you do a two-layer 11X15 you're going to be making a lot more cake than they need. Remember that the cost to you to make these isn't only the ingredients, it's the time shopping, electricity to run your oven, water, cost of your time to bake, decorate and clean, gas to go to the store and deliver the cakes, boards, etc.

Yes, a single-layer torted 11x15 plus the 8" cake will be plenty for 50 people (unless they eat like Jethro Bodine ) ). $2 a serving plus extra for the specialty cake flavor and the fondant flag may be a little low, but it depends on your area. You could easily go higher; it's not like Walmart or Costco does sweet potato cake or fondant flags last I checked.

OK, well I told her $145 and she said that was too high so we are going to cut the sweet potato cake all together. So I told her $75 for the 11x15 WASC cake, with the Army crest transfer.

Two questions:
-Will one cake torted be enough for 50?
-Did I undercut my self? (I did call around to a few bakeries and for a sheet cake filled with buttercream it was averaging 47-62)

One 2 layer 11X15 cake will serve 60-70. You'll have plenty of cake. I charge 1.25/serving for sheet cakes, but add extra for signature cake flavors, elaborate decorations, fondant accents, etc. depending on the cake and once again pricing depends totally on where you live!

OK I was thinking 1 layer 11x15 torted, so should I do 2 layers or do 2 layers of a 9x13??

There are a couple of articles here on CC that might really help you determine the cake sizes you need to make for however many servings you need. Hope these help!

Cake Baking, Cutting & Serving Guide - 3 in. Deep Pans
Cake Baking, Cutting & Serving Guide - 2 in. Deep Pans

If you do a 2-layer 9x13 it will serve 48.