I had a 2-hour "consultation" with a lady for her 4 year old's bday. (I know, I know - I looked at it as a 2-hr lesson in Unrealistic Expectations 101)

Wants Miley Cyrus's Sweet 16 cake. That morphs into a 3-tier pink/gold/black topsy turvy, stripes on one tier, interlocking gold Chanel "C" logo on one tier, polka dots on one tier. She's very, very picky about the exact shade of hot pink. Oh, and she doesn't like the fondant stripes "sticking out away from the cake", she wants them all cut and tapered for a smooth look. I do a quick sketch and giver her a price. UUUMMMMM......."well I've spent $300 on the fabric to get her dress made, and I've spent $400 on food, and it's only 10 little girls that are going to be eating it......"

So, she asks about dummy tiers (yeah, cutting dummies into TT shapes is SO EASY), making the tiers smaller (don't think I can carve a 4" layerand keep it upright), and well, how about I just decorate half of it, since the cake table will back up against the wall? Then she gets annoyed that I hadn't planned on an additional "tasting" at a location convenient to her.

She called a couple of days later to say she's going to make the cake. I wish I had pics!!

good question! I'm not sure!

I just kept repeating "I'm sorry, but it's just not possible for me to do that"

I always wonder if any of these customers have ever ordered a dessert in a restaurant: One serving is at least $4.

Where I live I get requests from both high-end and low-end clients, and it can be very hard to tell them apart. I recently had a request for an "Alice in Wonderland" wedding cake and I wanted to do it so badly that I quoted them less than I typically would have (notmuch less, but still). In the same breath I said that I would meet any price comparison... they instantly replied that my price was FAR better than any other quotes they recieved.

Next time I want to do a cake badly enough I will quote high and THEN tell them I will meet any price they find better

I had a gal call me a few months ago and ask if I could do a birthday cake for her. Sure no prob, what do you want? She goes into great detail of what she wants. 4 tiered cake, carved, Topsy-turvy, covered with "fondu" (thought I was the only one who had heard someone call it that!) with silver and blue and black lace and on and on and on...... ok... when do you need the cake? This afternoon! Ummm Yeah, not going to happen! Then she gets mad at me because I can't do it. And I get the whole, its just cake how hard can it be? She cussed me up one side and down the other and hung up on me.

A lady at church asked me do a wedding cake to help out a couple she knew. The bride originally wanted a "simple 3 tier (6-8-10) white cake with red ribbon covered in Wilton" fondant (she would supply this nasty stuff). I priced it really cheap for $150.

She thought that was high. I told her that I still had to put buttercream icing on the cake to get the fondant to stay on the cake,also supplying the cake stand and delivering the cake. Fine she says (in a huffy way).

Then, she comes back to church that night with all kinds of changes (quilted cake with RI buttons I have to paint to match the ribbons and icing roses for the topper), all at no extra charge. I tell her that I changed my mind and because I was pregnant that I didn't think I was up to doing the cake. Can anyone say Bridezilla.

Oh yeah! cncgirl reminded me about the COST of fondant.

I make my own MMF so it's only about $5 for 4lbs, but one of my regulars had to stop ordering cakes from me because she had to cut back on things (I was making small $40 cakes for her): A week later she asked me where to buy fondant to make her own cakes, so I told her about the only place in town that sells Satin Ice (with a high mark-up).

She probably figured out really fast that even making your own fondant covered cake is not cheap. That, or use Wilton's plastic flavored fondant with a Michael's coupon.

"Plastic flavored fondant" - Bahahaha, so true! I really struggle around here because the bakeries and only other cake lady I know of are really cheap. I always get a "you've GOT to be kidding me" look if I quote anything above .75 cents a serving. My work is so much cleaner and my strawberry cake darn sure tastes better, but still people just don't comprehend how many hours you spend decorating, let alone baking and mixing icing! I've got to learn how to stand strong and get paid for my work.

I've sat here reading this whole post with my jaw...

Some people truly have no idea. It actually makes me nervous starting out in this industry because where I come from people aren't use to paying $$ for their cakes.

Very entertaining reading though - keep em' coming!

I have had people just adamant that they wanted a fondant cake because its the "latest" thing. But, then when I quote a price for fondant, they balk.

I have had one person ask that I crumb coat and then she will put the fondant on. I refused.

I have had another, who agreed to pay the fondant price, but then balked at the decorating part (in my defense she wanted like 15 tiny fondant teddy bears and a clothes line strung across with cut out baby clothes all over 3 tiers, I quoted an extra $100) So she requested a white fondant cake. She told me that she would take care of the rest. I wish I would have gotten a picture of what she did to the cake, cause I can only imagine what kind of plastic flotsam she put all over that thing....

I also had another who wanted a cake to feed her office of like 4 people, she starts spouting all of these decorations and things and stuff she wanted on the cake. After she was done I drew everything up and the cake was going to feed about 45 people. I told her a price of like $250, and I never will forget this, she said, "$250!! For just four servings??!?!" I explained to her yet again that the cake actually fed about 45 people. She then again told me that my prices were outrageous and she couldnt believe that I was charging her $250 for a cake that only fed 4 people. I tried explaining until I was blue in the face and ready to scream, but she just could not understand that the cake was going to serve 45 people.

I made a cake for my nephew, and my SIL's aunt was all impressed with the cake. Talked my ear off about me starting a business. Told her I didn't have a business bone in my body, plus I'm still learning. She told me "Oh it's simple! Just go to Walmart and charge what they charge and add a little extra for your time." I was laughing inside really I was and I'm not even a professional!

I let her know that cake decorators usually charge per serving and even gave her an example using one of the local cake decorators who charges $3 per serving for BC. Than I used my nephews Thomas cake as an example. It was a 11X15, 44 servings according to wiltons party chart = $132.

For a moment she was stunned and than proceeded to chat my ear off about it. While she rattled on all I could think about is how I wish someone else, anyone really at the party would distract the woman and I could RUN!

I can't stand when people think they can get a fabulous cake for the cost of a wal-mart cake just because they feed the same amount of people. It's like someone expecting to pay the same price for some shoes at the dollar store as they would for some Nikes just because they are both running shoes. PLEASE!

It sucks when there are actual business owners (cake decorators) who drastically under charge for their cakes. It doesn't help our cause! The lady that I initially trained with used to charge under a hundred $ for a fully decorated 3D cake... in fact most of her prices were WELL AND TRULY too cheap. She's had three businesses in fifteen years... I honestly don't know how she even made any money (I do know she was very stressed). She got a lot of customers though! But she finally went bust this year. Problem is, people in my area are used to her prices and I plan on charging nearly double... I doubt I'll get a bite for quite some time!

I was helping out one of the other mums from the playground with her daughters birthday cake, she wanted to borrow a tin as hers weren't big enough.... took me a long time to explain to her that you can get more than 9 pieces out of a 9" square and I think she still doesn't believe me!

I am a cake muggle! I would never pay my prices. That is why I make cakes now. I can't afford myself.
Before I started making cakes, (6 years ago) there was this lady who got a 8 inch cake covered in fondant with a pair of sugar shoes that was like 90 dollars. I almost crapped my pants. "No way would I pay $90 for that cake" was the only conversations that went on in the car ride home, (it was a really nice cake).
I know different now, but after shopping at the grocery stores for years the prices can be quite a shocker. And I'm not a cheapie either.

We had a lady who owns a very nice little boutique in town call us wanting to order a cake to put on display at a trunk show. The cake needed to feed about 40 people. She was having a trunk show for a line of jewelry / charms she is selling in her shop. She wanted the cake to be 2 tier with an open jewelry box on top and we would have to create gems and bracelets to look like the jewelry she was selling. I just gave her a price of 215.00. She was like, so you mean that's 5 - something a serving. There are only 2 other bakers in town that make cakes like we do and they start at 4.00 a serving for fondant cakes with VERY little detail and go up to 9.00 a serving for detailed cakes. I wanna tell her to call the others and get a price from them and then to call me back!

We had a lady who owns a very nice little boutique in town call us wanting to order a cake to put on display at a trunk show. The cake needed to feed about 40 people. She was having a trunk show for a line of jewelry / charms she is selling in her shop. She wanted the cake to be 2 tier with an open jewelry box on top and we would have to create gems and bracelets to look like the jewelry she was selling. I just gave her a price of 215.00. She was like, so you mean that's 5 - something a serving. There are only 2 other bakers in town that make cakes like we do and they start at 4.00 a serving for fondant cakes with VERY little detail and go up to 9.00 a serving for detailed cakes. I wanna tell her to call the others and get a price from them and then to call me back!

And the stories can go on & on...

I agree that the cake shows NEED to let people know how much these cakes really cost that they are creating, and let people know how long it really takes to do one of these creations. Some cakes have several people working on them and if it takes 3 people 10 hours to decorate a cake (not including bake time) then that is 30 man hours! One person alone would take 30 hours to complete a cake. Even at min wage that is $217 in labor alone, but most decorators make far more than that! People just don't think!

Photomommie :
Hand her an invoice when she gets the cake.

Show her what the cake would have cost if you had charged full price and then show her the amazing discount she got. That should shut her up.

And grow a backbone before all her friends come calling for cheap cakes

i think one of the lowest points in my cake past, was after having made Two cakes for my newphews ( there twins) I did it at cost, because she wanted a pirate ship, with pirates and masts and water, And a Car . . Not easy work! but as shes family and i was still learning, i did it at cost (even then, the price we agreed on just say covered it) each cake took me almost 12 hours to do, but i was so proud of them, even for me they were far better than i had imagined ever turning out as ...

Skip forward to the party, Where a lady tells me, The cakes are wonderful, And she would of payed at least £25 for one , how i managed to keep a straight face i dont know, I politely replied to her that 25 pound wouldnt even cover the cost of the smaller of the two cakes, she then instructs me to start my own ebay buissness, and that i would get looooooooads and loooooads of orders if i offered cakes like the ones 'asda' made . . . at this point i really questioned wether my cakes were that good , or comparable with Asda . . .

I had a cutomer last week that came in with a picture of one of Duff's 3D Cakes. I quoted her $2500.00 because of the time that would be involved with the cake. I have talked to Duff before and know that he would do the cake for around $10,000.00 I think. When I gave her the price she was floored. I try to explain that we charge by the hour and that we are artists and so on, and that it would take us at least 20 hours to complete the cake. She said, "That's ridiculous....It only took Duff 30 min.." I stood there with my mouth open....... She's kidding right?......Afraid Not. Some people have no brains.

I had a cutomer last week that came in with a picture of one of Duff's 3D Cakes. I quoted her $2500.00 because of the time that would be involved with the cake. I have talked to Duff before and know that he would do the cake for around $10,000.00 I think. When I gave her the price she was floored. I try to explain that we charge by the hour and that we are artists and so on, and that it would take us at least 20 hours to complete the cake. She said, "That's ridiculous....It only took Duff 30 min.." I stood there with my mouth open....... She's kidding right?......Afraid Not. Some people have no brains.

HaHaHa! I'm cracking up about Duff's cake taking 30 minutes....does she think the shows are live?