I have a tasting with a bride tomorrow and she wants a tilted cake(you know...the topsy turvy kind

I've never priced one of these out before...in fact, I've never even made one!

I have a general idea of how to construct the cake, the link on here by BKeith was super helpful but I could use some help and wisdom all around from someone who has made and priced these before.

~Would 5 tiers be too unstable or should I talk her down to 4?
~I would still price out per serving but what would a typical decorating or sculpting charge be?
~I typically see them covered in fondant but do they need to be? Are there any frostings that wont work out well with this kind of cake ie...italian buttercream or cream cheese frosting?

Basically any advice will help...God I don't know what I would do without this forum!!!!!!!haha!

Five tiers is certainly possible.

I'd up the per serving charge--like to at least $6 per. Watch your fillings. since this is your first you might wanna lead her to ganache type fillings or just buttercream with a special flavoring--nothing slippery.

I use swiss meringue buttercream for mine.

They are fun--it's a real thrill to see it all transpire before your very eyes.

If you use Keith's method--be sure that the hole you hollow out is a bit too big --err on the side of having a teeny bit of room in there that you can cover with the border. Don't force that area to fit. Just pay attention to that join and you'll be fine.

Chill this cake before delivery. I've only delivered stacked because they are a little messy to stack up.

One other idea--stick a dowel down into your tier (so it's sticking straight up) in order to have a 'grip' on that tier so you can stack it without dropping it and without smearing the icing to smithereens. Then once you have it stacked on there --you can remove the 'handle'.

Servings are determined by footprint--topsy turvy cakes have less footprint (they are bigger at the top of the tier than the bottom) so advise her of wonky sized servings. You will have to plan on making more cake than an ordinary cake.

I might fill with cream cheese icing but I would not cover it with cream cheese icing.

And on the pricing--some of us can get real nervous about high prices. I would no hesitate to go up to $7.50 or $8.00 per serving or more. This is a designer cake with lots of expertise involved. You are gonna want to do a trial run I'm sure. Be sure you don't get sticker shock by a low ball (dumb) price.

If she can't afford it there's other cakes out there.
You will hate yourself for underpricing this thing.

Major best cake juju to you!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by drewitz

I have a tasting with a bride tomorrow and she wants a tilted cake(you know...the topsy turvy kind

I've never priced one of these out before...in fact, I've never even made one!

I have a general idea of how to construct the cake, the link on here by BKeith was super helpful but I could use some help and wisdom all around from someone who has made and priced these before.

~Would 5 tiers be too unstable or should I talk her down to 4?
~I would still price out per serving but what would a typical decorating or sculpting charge be?
~I typically see them covered in fondant but do they need to be? Are there any frostings that wont work out well with this kind of cake ie...italian buttercream or cream cheese frosting?

Basically any advice will help...God I don't know what I would do without this forum!!!!!!!haha!

i would start at $6 per serving. These cakes are not something that everyone does and they do take a certain amount of skill.

I only do them covered in fondant. And i wouldn't go over 4 tiers high. 3 tiers is much easier for me to handle. Remember this kind of cake will have to be put together before transporting. So you really don't want it so big that you can't handle it. I do suppose if you had to you could do two sections, but the work to finish up on site would be more then i would want to deal with.

I add .50 per serving to my base price ($7.25) for carving.

okay, I will definately make sure not to be afraid of pricing high...I always hate that part! Thanks for the advice...I will make sure to use a sturdier filling and I really don't want to attempt 5 tiers on my first go.

thanks so much!

I just made my first one today ~ I followed BKeith's article to do it. I also did mine in all buttercream, not sure if that made it harder or easier. I did a 3 tiered one (10-9-8, 8-7-6, 6-5-4) I had to cut that top tier down, it wanted to lean waaay too much for my comfort level. the most important thing is cutting that hole big enough for the next tier to set in. One of mine wasn't cut quite big enough, and I had to redo that part. Other than that it turned out great - the customer was thrilled with it. Charge out the wazoo for it - they are not easy to do!

I use Keith's method too. When I trim the edges so they are smoother (since they are all a different size) I leave some of the baked edge of the cake intact. That carmelized edge is just that little bit stronger to help hold things together. I only trim off half that edge. If that translates to yah.

Leaving that baked edge is a great idea! I am not sure why the top tier wanted to lean so much - it never "fell" over, I was just not comfortable with the way it was looking before I stacked it. I am also not sure if it was because the base of that tier was sooo small (4") I don't think it would have been an issue if that base had been larger. (don't mean to high jack the thread, sorry)