Hi, all.

I'm in Western Canada and received an email from a "friend of a friend" regarding her wedding. This is what she's looking for:

"What I am looking for is about 120 mini two tiered wedding cakes. Design must be simple but elegant. Probably standing at about 3 inches tall and three inches wide for the bottom tier. Colors I am looking at white, gold and maybe some black and burgundy incorporated. Um, I think I want fondant covered. I am only just looking for quotes and other information right now as the wedding is not for about another year and a half. I have had to book most things already and am just looking into what is left."

I know pricing questions can be a sore subject on here. It's not that I don't know my own pricing, I've just never quoted on this type of order.

My normal pricing is $3.00 per serving for fondant (and that's the going rate in my area). I've done mini cakes before (such as treasure boxes and smash cakes) and charged anywhere from $5.00 to $8.00 each. Considering the work that would be involved making and packaging these, what would you charge? I know the profit margin I'd like to make. I'm also wondering about short cuts for baking/decorating these? Any suggestions from people who have done this is greatly appreciated. I know I have the time and ability to do them, I just want to make sure my pricing is in the right ballpark.

Thanks in advance!

I hope she has a huge budget, cause what she is talking about is not a 6" small cake, but actual minicakes. And minicakes ain't cheap. They usually start at $10 and I have seen as high as $40, all depending on design. SO let's just say "simple" and "elegant" is about $15 x 120 = $1800. Minicakes are time consuming. You charge $6 a piece for them, you will want to shoot yourself when yoour done.

And just so know, pricing questions are not sore subjects. It's just when you hear someone say they have a consultation or actually booked an order and THEN ask for pricing, that people start to shake their heads.

Previous mini-cakes thread:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-611300-.html

HTH

Pricing... just ask cupcake envy on mini cakes as hers are around $25 each. I would think you should charge a little more then double your portion price based on the sheer labor involved. Shoot cupcake weddings are easier as you can pop cupcakes in a fancy liner and roll out fondant with an impression roller and cut out all you circles and lay them onto a bit of piped BC. But hand covering that many two tiered minis is going to be a real pain!

Yup, somewheres around 25 each is what I'm thinkin'! Sooooo, $3000 for the entire order.

Anyone wanna bet this girly is thinking that she'd be SAVING money by getting 120 mini cakes instead of one 120 serving cake?

*shakes head in agreement with all other posts*

I reckon mini cakes would be a major PITA - so you should charge a LOT because it will take more time than you could possibly imagine.
JMHO

Duplicate post, please also see:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6679717.html#6679717

HTH

The Boxes alone are expensive. Ten dollars is just not enough for that amount of work that has to be put into it.

I just realized this is a duplicate thread so here's my answer from the other.

Do NOT do these for any less then $20 a piece.

I did something similar for my Goddaughter and I swore that I would NEVER tackle something so tedious again.....EVEN for my own kids.

They are SO much work.....it's VERY difficult to cover something that small in fondant without damaging the cake....it's next to impossible to get your fondant smooth enough where you're satisfied with it.

First of all I wouldn't quote her anything this early....how do we know what we'll be paying for sugar, butter etc 18 months from now? It's way too early for a quote for fall 2011.

Second.....make a few of these as a trial before you agree to do them.

Also, I didn't bake individual cakes I baked sheets and cut them out with round cutters..

stands with everyone else.

$8029485930123 each.

Even $20 each is low. I say $25-30 each if they are individuallyboxed $30-35. Do you have room to keep them all while they wait for delivery? And do you have room in your vehicle for 120 mini cakes? They will take up a lot of room. Just things to think about before saying yes...

I recommend cutting them from sheets too. It will b a TON of work... you will swear (even if it's not in your nature)... but they look oh-so cute all lined up...

Ha! I have no clue what you would price these but I had to reply because I just decided today, after seeing all of these oh-so-cute mini cakes, that I would try them. This is probably only news to me, but baking them in mini pans really sucks! I tried and it just didn't work very well. Baking it in a larger pan and cutting them with cookie cutters worked so much better. I haven't iced them yet though... I have a feeling they will end up in the trash!

Icing them is a bitch... they scoot all over the place. Patience... patience is key.

I appologize for the double post - I was in the Business Forum when I posted this earlier and it got lost in cyber space. I searched everywhere for it and then re-posted a few hours later - didn't realize it had posted in a completely different forum!