How Much Would You Charge For This?
Decorating By Tickled_Pink Updated 14 May 2010 , 12:36am by MissyTex
Hi all. Ive been doing cakes for a little over a year now, and had my first official wedding cake order a few weeks back. Since I had never done a wedding cake before for a paying client, I was happy to charge VERY little for it for a friend and to add to my portfolio. The bride and I were both very happy with the result but I am curious how you professionals would have priced something like this.
Stats- 75 guests, 3 tiers, gum paste roses, brush embroidery using a stencil. Design was based on their wedding invitations of chartreause green roses and black bead work.
Thanks in advance for your expertise! Much appreciated
We charge per serving (check with your local bakeries to see what their per serving charge is). Would also charge per handmade flower (again you can check with your local bakeries). Would also probably add to the per serving charge for the stenciling. It's hard to tell what you should charge as each area of the country is different. I'm in the south and probably wouldn't be able to charge as much as you could in NYC. BTW, your cake is gorgeous.
I would go with 12-9-6 inch tires to serve that many people if you are serving the top tier. or 13-9-6 if not. I think the average serving price I have found in all my research is anywhere from $3-$7 per serving I go on the low side as I am just starting out and charge $3 going up if the design is more elaborate. Maybe for this cake I would go $4 or $5??
the cake is beautiful! great job!!!
i charge per serving as well for tiered cakes...starting price for a fondant covered cake (and it looks like fondant to me) is $4.50/serving...right there the cake starts at $337.50. The gumpaste roses and the stenciling would have increased the price to around $6-$7/serving...not to mention if you did one flavor of cake and filling throughout or had a variety. When all is said and finished, I would have probably charged around $500 plus delivery on that cake to feed 75.
Sorry I just reread I didn't realize you had made the cake already 
Very beautiful!!!
And note that charging by the serving means to charge for the number of servings a particular cake CAN serve, not the number of people it is INTENDED to serve. A cake should cost what the cake costs, whether the host wants it to feed 2, 50 or 100 people. So find a chart you like (Wilton has one) that tells you how many servings are in each particular cake size, and go from there.
Beautiful cake, BTW. Brush embroidery is next on my list of skills to develop.
Thanks all for the input and kind words. Yea, I totally low balled the price, but like I said, it was my first official wedding cake and I was happy to do it to cover my costs and add the photo to my "portfolio"
Im in the NYC area if that helps with pricing. Thanks again everyone.
Our bakery is in your area. That cake would probably go for $8.50 or $9 per serving due to all the flowers and stencil work (about $675 total). You'll find the majority of custom bakeries in NYC are about that price - trust me, I've done my research. Nice work!
Thanks SO much SnowShoe. That is a nice compliment coming from someone as talented as you. Thanks for your insight to the NYC market.
A little off the subject....but your tiers look really tall, are they the standart 4" tiers? Beautiful cake.
Hey, thanks Kellie. Yes, they are all 4" tall tiers.
You did a beautiful job! Congrats on your first wedding cake!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%