What Would You Charge For This Wedding Cake?
Decorating By andysprite Updated 5 Jul 2010 , 4:22am by dguerrant
That's a good distance to drive. I'd stack on site. But there's no way bubble straws will support the weight of this cake. You're going to have to come up with a better support system.
Jamie, I torte all of my cakes too, but she wants me to use the 3" deep pans to make the tiers tall.
I didn't even take into consideration the amount of servings that would be added with the extra height on all of the tiers. Yikes!
I did forget to add one tiny bit of vital information. This cake will be for my cousin. She asked what I would charge for the cake in the pic. I told her I would do it for no charge because she was family, etc. Well, the cake kept growing. lol I wrote her and told her that I agreed to make the cake in the picture and that it'd be great if they could cover the additional cost for the now larger cake. I came up with a detailed budget, down to the number of eggs, and sent it to her this a.m. I haven't received a response yet. I'm not sure how this is all going to pan out, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't way out of line in asking her to help with supplies. There is no way that I can foot $500 for this cake.
And for the record, YES! I have learned my lesson.
Just wanted to add that in situations like this, instead of saying "Sure I'll do the cake for FREE as my gift to you" I always tell people "Here, this is a gift certificate for $500 worth of free cake from me to YOU as MY gift to you!"
That way, if they add on and add on and add servings, etc. they pay the difference!
Note- this is $500 of YOUR cake at retail value! Which more than likely will be $50 or so out of pocket for you, with them paying any additional costs inccured AT RETAIL price!
I do not charge more for cakes that are 6" rather than 4". I torte my cakes and they usualy end up closer to 6" anyways.
If you use the Wilton guide for servings this is a direct quote from their chart
"Serving amounts are based on wedding-sized portions of approximately 1 x 2 in. Cakes from 3 to 6 in. high, baked in the same size pan, would yield the same number of servings because they follow the same pattern of cutting."
So a 6" should be calculated the same as a 4"
I know it is just giving away cake but IF you are using the Wilton chart that is what it says.
The sizes you listed equal 404 servings... 18"=146 16"=100 14"=78 12"=56 8"=24 total 404
If she is conserned about all the extra servings I would change the sizes to 16, 14, 12, 10, 8 for 296 servings.
So by my pricing for your original sizes I would charge $3.50/serv for BC wfond accents =$1414 or $4.50/serv for all fondant =$1818
Good Luck with your bride and the cake
You are correct about the cake being cut the same exact way, the way I combat this difference in height which to me = giving away free cake....is that for tiers that are 4" to 6" in height I tag on an extra cost of $1.00/serv or whatever!
Fabulous idea KHalstead!!! Love the idea of handing them a gift certificate and then you can sit down later and have the consult as if they are a paying customer. They know they have up to $xx amount of dollars to spend so they can't be surprised and you don't get taken advantage of.
BTW, I think it's possible the relative is just asking to see what she can get....it doesn't necessarily mean she is greedy or trying to take advantage...just clueless and waiting to be told NO if it's not feasible. 
oh I totally understand............and I also understand when they have NO IDEA what techniques are harder/vs. easier and they always wind up picking the most expensive cake flavors and most labor intensive designs when it's a free cake and not on purpose either!
Gift certificate is the way to go.....that way, if they have a $200 budget for the cake and want to get a more grand cake than they need and wanna throw in that money on top of the certificate, then they can. Sometimes the opposite happens and they might downplay their dream cake, just because they don't want to "put you out" too! This way, they know you're geared up to give them a $500 cake (or whatever amount). It also let's them see...............that YOU gave them a $500 gift LOl Because technically that's the retail value of it and YOU could have been paid $500 for it as well!
I feel, it would be very hard for our family to shell out a $500 gift (ingredients in this case) even for my own sister. I think you should tell her how much you can afford to give as a gift and let her decide if she wants to pay for the rest of the ingredients or just downsize the cake (sorry if this advice was given before, I read the post quite superficially)
The $500 was retail value, but it's still $500 they would have HAD to pay for a cake........probably more like $50 worth of ingredients though, so it's not that you're shelling out $500 for a gift. That's the point......when you just say I'll do the cake for FREE, that's when you run into hundreds of dollars in expenses because they never know when to quit!
That's not a FREE cake, I don't care who it's for. Would you buy her a $1500 wedding gift? OMG! The cake is beautiful. I hope this works out for YOU as well as teh bride to be.
Well, I sent my cousin the detailed budget and she asked if making the cake 16, 14, 12, 10, and 6 would bring the price way down. Ugh. I encouraged her to go with the original cake and put it on a stand. The end. Game over. yada yada
But, she's bent on having a massive cake.
Another question....how tall do you think the tiers are in the pic?
I agree, if I had to make an educated guess on the cakes I'd say they were a 5", 8", 10", 12" ......that would be why they look taller (not to mention the angle of the camera), because there isn't a LOT of difference between the size of the cakes which gives the whole cake a taller, skinnier look to it.
Time to put your foot down. Tell her this is how we can do it or feel free to find someone else and pay full price.
Geesh, I feel like lately I am reading so many threads about people wanting something for nothing, or people who feel like they can be a bully about cake or whatever. Sometimes people need a reality check that they are not the be all and end all of the world.
The average size of those monograms on top are 4-4.5 inches, so I don't think each tier is 6 inches thick, but the usual 4. I LOVE the gift certificate idea!! I haven't done a wedding cake for a relative for years, but I used to keep the receipts to hand to the bride for expenses, then all my labor time was the gift. They were more than happy with that, and never took advantage. Hope all goes well
UPDATE:
The cake went well. I had finally convinced my cousin to downsize the cake and use a plateau for height. Overall I was happy with the look of the cake. There is always something that I wish I had done different or better. But, she was happy.
It was funny though....we only cut and served the 10" tier at the reception. They'll be eating on the rest of that cake for a loooong time. lol
WooHoo...SUCCESS!! It's a beauty!! 
The bottom tier was 14" across and about 8 inches thick after torting and frosting. After we arrived it Texas I noticed that the weight of the cake was smashing the bottom layer. So, I took it apart and placed supports under every 2 layers of cake. (does that make sense?) I knew that the longer it sat there the more smashed the bottom layer of each tier would become...especially after adding the weight of the fondant.
OMG! Well, i'm glad that's over. You did great! I would have been a nervous wreck!
Bite my a$$, babycakes! I want to weigh 118 lbs but I want to be able to eat 4 Big Macs every day for lunch.
Somethings just are NOT going to happen!
YOU ARE HYSTERICAL 
Actually, when I first starting making cakes, using an 8" cake for the top tier WAS the norm. As long as the topper is sized proportionately, it will be fine.
And I agree 1000% with artscallion's post!
And WTH is this bride's problem!!!!??? She needs a real reality check.
"I want a cake taller than my flowers but I want the cake sitting flat on the table."
"I want a 6 tier cake but I only want it to serve 200 people."
Bite my a$$, babycakes! I want to weigh 118 lbs but I want to be able to eat 4 Big Macs every day for lunch.
Somethings just are NOT going to happen!
great job, but your cousin was nuts! That's a massive amount of cake. Would have been nice if you had been able to convince her to do dummy cakes for the bottom tiers.
The cake is just lovely.
I'd like to ask a question and I hope it is not out of line:
I would really like to see the line item budget that you gave to her. I am very new at this and was shocked by the cost of supplies.
Is there a way you could post that? (If it's not too personal)
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