This is the cake the bride is looking for me to do,

There's no picture or link. Please post it and we will try to help you!

also, a photo alone is insufficient info. Will it serve 100 or 1000? Is it a special cake recipe that is more expensive than regular? Type of icing used? Your location? Home or comm'l kitchen (affects the expenses). etc.

Well shoot I can't get it to attach??? The cake is for 120 people, fondant, red white black are the colors. A Topsy turvy cake 3-4 tiers. Butter cream filling. I don't know the flavors yet, the are over seas they are suppose to get with me in March. The wedding is July 23.... I also wanted to know about the color red I think it looks like Ruby red Just want to know a little on how to do the details. I am not at this point sure if they want this cake to be identical to the cake in the picture or not. I ask for permission to post the pic but nothing yet. Do I need to ask for permission? If not could someone give me instructions? Thanks so much

If the photo is from a link online, just post the link to the photo.

right off the top, the price is $3.33333 per serving (120 serving divided by $400).

for fondant?
Topsy Turvy?
red and black? (colors that take a little more work than others)

And you mention they are overseas? Are they military? Just asking to be sure this isn't one of those scam things that have been circulating for some time.

My advice - make sure you cover all your costs and then figure out how much you think your time is worth and then let your potential customers decide if the cost is too much.

yes they are in the Military, The grooms mother is the one who is contacting me about everything but said the bride will be in contact with me in March

I did a wedding cake with almost the exact design except different colors and it wasn't topsy turvy. It's in my pics. The color was a deep purple and they didn't want fondant....man was that color a p.i.t.a to make!! For what you are describing I think $400 is more than fair. I would charge more.

I forgot to add that I told the lady ( Before I knew it was a Topsy turvy cake). I said a 3 tier I would charge $250.00 FOR Butter cream and $300.00 for a 4 tier w/ Butter-cream. I told her if she wanted the cake done in Fondant then it would cost more. At the time of talking to her she really couldn't tell me what she wanted other then the size. So is $400.00 about right?( for fondant) I have never did one of these types of cake, so I am thinking I don't really want to charge to much. But then again I need to find out how much everything is going to cost. I have never really did fondant other then with Rolled butter cream fondant and just playing around with MMF. The rolled butter cream didn't do very well so I don't want to use that. I am thinking of going with MMf allot of Ladies on here have stated they like it. I really don't know about spending a fortune on fondant. Sorry I didn't post this before, just got to think about it all. I have done alot of research on doing a Topsy Turvy cake, and plan to practice it before the big event. Thanks so much for your help I sooooo soooo appreciate it big time.

I live in a very rural area not used to big city prices. I bake out of my home (so no commercial overhead to cover) and charge $450 for a basic (buttercream covered) three tier cake (12", 9", 6") cake with ample sugar paste flowers that serves 150 to 175 depending upon how big the servings. Fondant (Satin Ice, MMF) is $500 and $550 for White Chocolate from Albert Uster (the absolute best there is). I'm certainly not going to get rich but I do this as more of a hobby and for the sheer joy of it.

The industry standard wedding serving is 1" X 2" X 4" tall. A 6/9/12 round serves 100. A 6/9/12 square serves 126.

I live in a small town also, the only ones that do cakes are The grocery stores, Kroger's, Market House and Walmart. I don't think they do custom cakes? I I did call a City about 40-45 away from my home and I told them the kind of cake ect...ect.. and they said $720.00 and $5-6.00 a slice with a $500.00 minunum . I was shocked..So it gave me an idea.

I think your price is fine, did the MOB think it was to high?

NOT SURE WHAT MOB MEANS??????

MOB is Mother of the Bride.

the industry standard may say that a 6, 9, 12 will only serve 124 but my actual experience is that it will serve 150 +guests ...even Rose Levy says that

wow, those must be TRUE "paper thin" slices!!

LOL...no Indydeb...we're just like those delicate ladylike bites here in the South (smiles)

JKIP....I haven't used any of Ulster's truffle filling but given the quality of the white chocolate fondant, I can only imagine that it's wonderful. I splurged on the WChoc fondant because it was such a special cake (70th wedding anniversary) and was so impressed with the taste and handling. If you get the filling let us know your review of it. (although lord knows how I would ever price that out in my small town!)

Yeah, I looked up their website and my eyes started twitching uncontrollably when I saw the prices There should be a "would you like to finance your order with a personal loan or use your first born as collateral" option when checking out After careful consideration, weighing the benefits, and talking it over with myself, I've decided that I need to try the AU fondant and truffles more than I need new shoes

Thanks for the info sharondutton and I'll post how it goes!

mother of bride

MOB is mother of the bride

I have been a wedding planner in Southern California for 8 years and any baker I have ever worked with would charge well over $400 for a topsy turvy so I think you could charge more!