Ok so I don't do much with carved cakes, but I have an order and it made me question the way I have always charged. So I'm looking for a little input from you guys. When you make a cake and have to cut pieces off...how do you charge? Do you charge for the original number of servings or do you charge for the end number...or do you do flat charging? It seems to me (and maybe I'm wrong) that the cake you cut still costs something so it should be charged. However if you charge for the cake you cut off...do you give it to them (stupid question but still).

I have a flat fee to start with for 3-D cakes, and that will be at least 25 servings. If I have to bake a little more to get the shape I want it's not a big deal, the cost of the cake isn't the major factor in the cost of these cakes, it's the time spent on them. If the servings go up from there, I'll increase the price, but not by $6 a serving (Like the first 25 servings.) I just base that on the difficulty of the cake, so if it's something easy it might be $4 a serving something more difficult will be more.

I would be curious too, how do you all figure up how many serving 3D cakes will feed? I struggle with that.

I also would charge minimum $100 for a 3D cake, and go up from there. The few I've done fed right at 25 people, so they weren't too big. (Mine were donation and gift, so I didn't actually charge).

What size cakes do you start with to make it? You have to use that as a general guide, and just estimate how much you carved off to get the shape. 3-D cakes aren't exact on the servings counts, you just have to estimate as best you can if they're a weird shape.