How Much To Charge For A Dummy Cake?

Decorating By Darthstefeny Updated 5 Aug 2012 , 5:45pm by DeniseNH

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Darthstefeny Posted 24 Mar 2012 , 4:26pm
post #1 of 11

I haven't made a dummy cake yet, and a client asked me how much it would be for one. It's for a wedding where the client is serving a slab cake and the cake is for picture. So I e-mailed her if it's only for picture or if they wanted a real cake on the top for her and the groom. So then she asked me to price both. It's only a basic butter cream with a little pipping with some chocolate coverd strawberries on it. I'm wondering if anyone has any idea to help me with this. It would be a 3 tiered cake. Thanks icon_smile.gif

10 replies
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denetteb Posted 24 Mar 2012 , 6:16pm
post #2 of 11

I don't charge for cakes, but if it was me I would charge my usual price. The price of the dummies will probably cost more than cake. Plus most of the priceof a cake is in the labor and the time to decorate a dummy would be about the same as a real cake.

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denetteb Posted 24 Mar 2012 , 6:17pm
post #3 of 11

One additional thought is if you make the photo cake and someone else makes the slab cakes, will your name and reputation become associated with the quality, or possibly lack of quality, of the slab cakes if you chose to make the dummy cake?

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Darthstefeny Posted 24 Mar 2012 , 6:54pm
post #4 of 11

Thank you for your input. I didn't think that a dummy cake would be priced the same as a cake. I knew I would still have to decorate and such, but being it's not real cake, I didn't think it would be as pricey. Thanks again.

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denetteb Posted 24 Mar 2012 , 6:57pm
post #5 of 11

But you still have to purchase the dummies, right? How much will they cost you? If I recall from other posts/forums the trend in pricing was 80% to full price of a real cake.

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TammyH Posted 24 Mar 2012 , 7:40pm
post #6 of 11

Back when I was charging for cakes, I charged for dummy cakes (the same as my "basic" price for the equivilent size). They take just as much time to decorate/setup.

TammyH

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pmarks0 Posted 25 Mar 2012 , 12:38am
post #7 of 11

Because you don't have the overhead that you would have with baking a real cake, the general rule seems to be 75-80% of the full price, it it were all cake.

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matthewkyrankelly Posted 25 Mar 2012 , 1:00am
post #8 of 11

The benefit to you of a dummy cake is that you can make the cake much earlier and don't have to worry about spoilage. However, costs will be about the same and work should be about the same.

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purplestamper Posted 5 Aug 2012 , 12:20pm
post #9 of 11

icon_biggrin.gif Just recently friends and co-workers have been asking me to make cakes for them. Took a cake decorating coarse 3 years ago to make cakes for my family. I just did my first dummy cake, two tiers 8" and a 10" and got $100.00. I figured the materials cost me about $40.00, double the cost of the materials. It was covered in fondant and Gerbera daisy's. So $80.00 for the cake and a tip. Live in a small town so we can not charge Big City prices.

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leah_s Posted 5 Aug 2012 , 12:39pm
post #10 of 11

The generally accepted standard pricing for dummies is 80% of what the real cake would cost. It's the number that appears pretty much everywhere.

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DeniseNH Posted 5 Aug 2012 , 5:45pm
post #11 of 11

I tried making a dummy cake for display at a wedding then two real cakes on each side of the fake cake then a sheet cake in the kitchen. I spent a lot of time making it but didn't charge for it because I knew I could use it for an upcoming wedding show. Wrong! I needed to go back to the venue to pick it up then discovered it was damaged because someone got drunk and stabbed it with a fork "to see if it was really a fake cake". So between the cost of the victorian dummies, swags, sugar flowers, extra charge to pick it up then having to redo it because of the fork marks, I gave up and never did another. I have been asked but quote the same price as a real cake.

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