Pricing Advice On Pyramid Cake

Decorating By paintergrrl73 Updated 2 Feb 2010 , 6:39pm by cylstrial

paintergrrl73 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
paintergrrl73 Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 5:18am
post #1 of 8

Hi!
I've been asked to do a sheet cake with a Pyramid on top that will feed 50 people. I'd like to just make the whole cake a pyramid and get creative, I've been looking at pics on CC.

Anyway, can anyone help me with what I should charge? This is a new one for me but I have done shaped/carved cakes before. Any advice would be much appreciated! thumbs_up.gif

7 replies
prterrell Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
prterrell Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 6:48am
post #2 of 8

$999. I price less than Charm City in order to remain competative. icon_biggrin.gif

icon_lol.gif

Seriously, though here's ALL you need to take into consideratoin:
1) cost of ingredients including shipping or gas + wear and tear on your vehicle to go to the store
2) cost of utilities used while making and decorating: electricity, gas, water.
3) how long it took you x how much you want to make per hour

If you know that, then you can figure out how much to charge for ANY cake.

cylstrial Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
cylstrial Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 2:34pm
post #3 of 8

I think it's going to depend on how tall you want it to be. Because say you start with a 10" square.


You could bake one of each (10, 9, 8,7, 6). It would probably be around 7-10". It just depends if your cakes bake to 2" or 1.5".

You could bake two of each (10, 9, 8, 7, 6). That would probably be around 15 - 20" tall. You might need to do size to make sure that you'll have enough cake. Because once you start carving, I mean think about the point on the top. Let's just the first few layers aren't going to yield much cake. It's the bottom layers that people are going to be eating.

If you don't have those sizes, just work with what you've got at home.
Don't forget to put a board at least every 3 layers of cake for support.

Anyway, I'd say you're looking at a bunch of money. Once you figure out what size cake pans you're going to use, you can determine the price per slice. Then multiply the two together.

Are you going to be using fondant or just buttercream?

paintergrrl73 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
paintergrrl73 Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 5:17pm
post #4 of 8

Thanks! It just occured to me that since I haven't done this before and I'm starting a new venture, I don't even have all the pans so I'd have to buy those! I have to ask the client more questions about what they want.

Thanks this was a good staring point! And no matter what it will have to be cheaper than Charm City! icon_wink.gif

pouchet82 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
pouchet82 Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 5:36pm
post #5 of 8

Make sure you charge for the cake you carve away- they might not be eating it but those are ingredients that you had to pay for

Lissydawn Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Lissydawn Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 5:50pm
post #6 of 8

This should help with the carving so that you don't 'waste' as much cake

http://www.parents.com/fun/birthdays/themes/ancient-egyptian-treasure-hunt/?page=2

erinalicia Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
erinalicia Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 6:14pm
post #7 of 8

You could just cut your square shapes of 1 or 2 sheet cakes. You can just measure off and cut your sizes and just graduate the sizes. If they want it to be a stair-stepped pyramid, then you don't have any carving to do, but if they want a smooth one you'll have less to cut off. It shouldn't be too difficult. You can use something as a guide for your knife (a carpenter's square -new) or similar so that you maintain the same angle on all sides.

If they don't want it to be huge, you could just mold it out of rkt since you said they wanted a pyramid on top of a sheetcake anyway. You can do a double layer 9X13 which is your 50 servings and charge whatever you would normally charge for that and then extra for the pyramid. Personally, that is the route I'd take and approach it in the same manner I mentioned above. Just make sure you are charging for your time! icon_smile.gif

cylstrial Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
cylstrial Posted 2 Feb 2010 , 6:39pm
post #8 of 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by erinalicia

You could just cut your square shapes of 1 or 2 sheet cakes. You can just measure off and cut your sizes and just graduate the sizes.




There ya go! I didn't even think about that!

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%