How Much Would You Charge For Anniversary Cake

Business By Krista512 Updated 12 Mar 2012 , 6:45pm by TexasSugar

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Krista512 Posted 11 Mar 2012 , 4:43pm
post #1 of 4

Im wanting to try a wedding style of cake so I can start getting out of the birthday cakes all the time. Im offering a friend to let me do her 10 anniversary / vow renewal cake at a cheaper price so i can get the practice and picture. she isnt a really picky person she said she wanted a cake for about 50 people maybe a 2 tier she likes square more than round. wants the blue sapphire and silver with daphodils. wants buttered pecan cake flavor. I have to figure out how to make that flavor i have a buttered vanilla. she said add pecan extract if there is such a thing and some chopped pecans.

I really want to do a 3 tier cake to have a wedding style picture so i want to offer her a 3 tier, 10 in, 8 in and 6 in based off of 1.5x2x4 serving sized there would be 66 servings.
Buttercream filling covered in marshmallow fondant
thick silver ribbon around the bottom of each tier. a 10 on top either a bought topper or possibly make it out of gumpaste.
with blue saphire daphodils on the bottom of each corner of the cake with some on top like the 10 is sitting in a bed of blue daphodils.
I will make the blue daphodils out of gumpaste.

what would you charge for this cake? im just getting an overall estimate. i have the cake boss software to calculate but i need to find out the cost of things like the ribbon, the stamins, and how much gumpaste i would need.

3 replies
Karema Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Karema Posted 11 Mar 2012 , 8:05pm
post #2 of 4

I would just charge a flat rate of $5/ serving. So that would be $330. I don't care if it's for a birthday party or wedding I start at $3 per serving and than add more for fondant, and decorations. And I say this price bc you are the one that wants to add the extra servings and she hasn't said that she wanted all those extra decorations. If not I would have charged $6/serving!

pmarks0 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
pmarks0 Posted 11 Mar 2012 , 8:38pm
post #3 of 4

Industry standard size piece is 1x2x4 which not a tiny piece of cake. By calculating your pieces with the larger size, and pricing based on that you'll be losing money, and providing more cake than a client might have requested. The cake you've described 6/8/10 square actually serves 100. Using Karema's pricing and comparing your piece total vs the industry standard total you've just lost $170 in revenue.

In terms of your friend, she only wants 50 pieces, but you want practice making a larger cake. If she likes square better than round than make her a 6' and an 8" which give you 50 pieces based on the industry standard. Then add a dummy 10" square on the bottom to give you the look you want. I would probably charge $5/serving on the top two tiers, so that would be $250, I would charge $200 for the bottom tier which is $5*50*80%. Yes you have to decorate but you don't have the time/ingredients for baking the bottom tier or the overhead. So that would be $450 for the cake and I would do an add on charge for the flowers based on cost of ingredients, plus your time and add 30% for profit. That would be for someone paying the full price.

However, since you've basically asked if you could make this cake for her and offered her a discount, I would probably split the difference on this and charge her the $250 for the top two tiers and some of the daffodil cost. But I would probably eat the costs and my time involved in decorating the dummy tier. That way you've given her a cake worth about $500 for probably $300.

I don't think you can charge her for the bottom tier considering you want to make her cake bigger than she told you she wanted. The cost for a 10" square 4" high dummer is less than $5 where I am, and the cost of the fondant to cover that tier is about $20, add in the rest of your costs, and I don't think you'll find it more than $50ish.

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TexasSugar Posted 12 Mar 2012 , 6:45pm
post #4 of 4

If I was do that a fondant covered 6/8/10 square cake it would be 100 servings times 3.5 or 4. I'd do the $4 if I was making flowers as well.

So I'd charge $400.

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