How do I charge for flowers? do i just charge a large fee for gum paste flowers? do i charge per flower? should butter cream flowers be added in on the price of the cake? any advice would be awesome.

great question that i would like to know myself as i just got my first order for a cake with cascading sugar roses down the cake. i wonder how everybody prices this out. i kinda went by how much they cost to order them online to give the bride/groom a ballpark. hopefully some cc'ers will help us out!

Wait. you can order gum paste flowers online?

yes, c a k e s b y s a m . c o m (remove spaces) has some but I'm sure there's others too.

wholesale sugar flowers . com too

WOW I did not know you could purchase flowers online. I know that I am a teen from this generation but it still amazes me that you can buy literally everything online! I wonder if there is a site where i can sell my siblings?

let me know if you find that site!!!!
i have a few siblings i'd sale
cheap too i'd even pay for shipping!!!!

You're too funny! You can buy gumpaste flowers online and they're pretty cheap, much cheaper than making them and the average lay person won't know the difference. For roses, they look pretty good and even though I make all my own flowers, if the bride doesn't want to pay my price, this is a good option. Of course your handmade flowers are so much prettier than these, but unless they are sitting side by side no one will know.

I charge by the flower and I don't mix buttercream with gumpaste, just because the buttercream will just not look as good as the gumpaste flowers. I think Cal Java also sells flowers pretty cheaply.

cool thanks sweetflower i am still in shock that people get buy basically reselling cakes. they have molds for everything I just want to be a traditional cake decorator you know the ones who actually make and decorate their cakes, not buy everything online. I wasn't kidding do you wanna buy a little sister from me? she cleans

i'm still wondering what everybody charges to do gumpaste flowers? is $10 per dozen say roses about right?

I think it depends on the flower. Like a stephontis is a lot easier to make and takes less time then lets say an orchid or a peony. I would use the wholesale flower.com price as a jumping off point. You have to consider your time so I would calculate what time it took to make it into the mix. I do include some basic gumpaste flowers in my price but if a bride wants something that looked like a Sylvia Whinestock cake, then I would price accordingly. Also, anytime you do something out of the oridinary for a cake (like a royal icing Eiffel tower), charge for your time. Because their not going to be able to go to their local bakery or grocery store and be able to order something like that.

Seriously, folks, inquiring minds want to know. Would somebody who has actually put their own hand-made flowers on a cake mind telling us how much you charged and/or on what basis? I know I can't charge by the hour yet because I'm slow as Christmas -- and I'm not charging yet, anyway, because I'm still learning -- but if someone held a gun to my head and said, "Make me a cake with a ton of flowers on it and tell me right this minute how much you want for it," -- implausible as this may seem -- what should I tell them?

Edited for multiple typos. It's been a long day, y'all.

Sorry, weirkd, your reply came in while I was writing. This is helpful information. Thanx.

No problem! When I do a basic wedding cake, with lets say about three full blown roses on it with maybe a few leaves and maybe some small filler flowers, I dont charge them extra. But if they want flowers to fill the entire top tier along with the middle layer then I would charge them $50 extra. And what a good friend told me to tell them when they make a face at the price, tell them that a florist will charge $25 for the topper, $55 for a middle tier filled and the flowers will last you about a week if your lucky. Mine will last forever ! If I remember correctly, I think she had told me that she charged like $3 for a tulip and $5 a piece for a full blown rose. But her bottom line $ amount was about a $1 a slice lower than mine. But like I said, she charges extra for her flowers so she probably ends up around the same bottom line that I do.
And one other thing about ordering from places like Cava Java and wholesale flowers, you really dont have any control over the product. Its ok for someone I guess that is way too busy to do their own or doesnt care to learn or something but for ME, and I stress the ME part because I dont want to offend anyone who does use them, I like to be able to tell the person that the entire creation was made by me. With my two hands. I can take credit for all the Ooohs and Ahhs and "thats amazing" comments that the finished product gets. And in my life, I dont get any other type of encoragement or prace (wasnt blessed in the looks or body department) so for me, this is my thing. And it makes me feel good when someone goes up to my flowers and cant believe their not real. But like I said, this is ME.

so maybe i should check around where i live and see how much a florist would charge for the arrangement and see how much in gumpaste they are online and be somewhere in the middle?

gosh, people actually charge $5 per rose? the cake i need to do will probably have at least 15-20 large and about 10 med and that many small/bud size and the leaves, so about $150 for the flowers? the cake itself is only $250!

sorry op for hijacking your thread!

I just checked out the wholesale sugar flower site. They are a good resource place. Even though I prefer to make my own. Thanks littlecake for the info.

Thanks for the additional info, weirkd. I have no way of judging what you're saying about yourself, but I can tell you you've been blessed with a beautiful soul.

I did this one recently with gum paste gardinias. I charged 55.00 for the set of flowers. I should have charged about 75.00 for the flowers. Live and learn.

I have a problem of pricing my flowers a bit too low when I want the order.

That is a truly beautiful cake, korkyo!

wow, your flowers are gorgeous korkyo! may i ask how you attached them to the cake?

Yep. I ofcourse dont feel right charging that but Im sure of the CC'ers on here do and can. I guess when I hit "the big time" I will be able to do that. But I have to work very hard getting customers because of my location and because of the amount of decorators on the other side of the bridge. One including Duff!!!

Duff's MINIMUM per cake is $1K. I know he would not be appealing to the same customers that I do.

when i took a class for sugar paste roses a few years back, the instructor said she charges the same as a florist for her flowers. then again, her work is top of the line...

Thanks for the compliments!!!

Each flower was a cluster with the bud and leaves and such. The wires were wrapped well and stuck into the cake.
I know, I know, some people don't like that but there was not much space betweenthe layers I don't think I could have done it any other way.

I start toppers at $100.00 for a large bloom, some filler flowers and leaves. It takes skill and time to make flowers out of sugar and if they don't want to pay for it... that's not my problem. A full side cascade I wouldn't touch for less than $250.00. It's a lot of work. If they want cheap flowers... sugar flowers aren't the way to go. Buttercream flowers (I don't do them if I can help it) I would just do as part of the cake unless there were a ton of them. They aren't super hard to do. I charge $5/serving for cakes so some buttercream work I just throw in.

I wrap the wires and dip them in white chocolate before sticking them in the cake.

I once kept track of how long it took to make the flowers for one cake, and including everything it was 20 hours (that was some cake...). I can make a lot of quick roses in an hour, but for the really detailed ones it takes a lot longer. Then if you have to color them or anything afterward that takes time, too. You can bet that if they want a cascade of gumpaste the price is going up! One or two flowers isn't a big deal, but I raise my price per serving if they want a lot of them.

thanks everybody this has been great info. i guess i will just chalk this time up to life lessons. the next time i will charge more like what fresh flowers go for or more as i don't want people thinking that hand made sugar flowers are the inexpensive route. they can go to a craft store and pick up some silk flowers for that.

I like your idea of dipping the wires in chocolate. I bet it looks better than the straws. Sometimes you just cant hide them no matter what you do!
I know that Duff's customers and mine are not one in the same but people around here want cakes like his but dont want to wait on a two year waiting list for Duff to do it and dont want to pay his prices either! I also have heard that they dont taste very well. I cant say that is true or not because Ive never had them personally. I love the show and would probably watch it even if I wasnt in the same business. Their just really entertaining!