Hi
Iam new to cake decoration, and i started getting orders from friends and relatives who loved my designs, i have a list of questions to ask from the last 2 cakes i did;

(1) ready cake mix: to use or not ? I have used it for a fondant cake but i noticed that the cake doesnt hold its shape and being oblate from down edges.
(2) is there an equation for the ratio between the cake wieght and the top decorations wieght ?
(3) when covering a cake with fondant, i always roll it bigger than the cake size (telling myself bieng bigger much better than smaller!) but when i roll it over the cake i have this folds all round the cake that i have to go and flatten it one by one and of course i never get a clean look at the end. Would you advice how to avoid that ?
(4) i have used once the packaged betty crocker frosting under fondant, but it melts, really become so soft under fondant, melt and escape from the down edges. Is it a NO GO at all or did i need to do certain techniques with it ?
(5) can i crumb the cake with whipped cream, double layers, and decorate with butter cream ? Would the butter cream decorations hold itself or it will slide ?
(6) for customers who LOVE whipped cream filling and frosting, but asking for designs that should be fondant...can i make a whipped cream filling, butter cream cruming and fondant cover ? And for that cake how should i store it and for how many days it stays good ?
(7) roughly for how many days can a butter cream fondant cake be stored in a room temperature of 25C and can be safely edible ? (I have been asked this from my customers and i was saying 2 days).
(can i make a good amount of butter cream and store in the freezer ?
(9) last question (i promise) since i started to get orders i dont know how to charge my customers, i dont know shall i calculate the cake materials cost only or also a part of the fixed costs of the tools should be included? Please give me an idea about the charges is it per kg, design...etc and how much in £ or $.

Thanks you all in advance for your help and response, please include the question no. When replying...thanks again.

Nora

Hello Nora and welcome to cc ok I will try to answer some of your questions but if someone more experienced than me chimes in then go with them .
Ok here goes 1) you can use a box mix if you want and that's what your customers want. I started out using mixes then went to scratch just because I wanted to try it. You can also doctor a cake mix ( add extra stuff to it) I think it makes it a little more sturdy never tried a doctored mix so don't know for sure.
2) I don't know it there is a weight ratio but size does matter you don't want it too big (would look funny) or too little ( might get lost o. The cake)
3) that's exactly what happens you roll the fondant bigger than the cake then you smooth it out you can get fondant smoothers or use your hands there are a ton of videos on YouTube that will help you out.
4) I would personally not use a canned frosting it is super easy to make your own and there are a lot of good recipes on here in the recipe section.
5-7) don't know sorry
I think you can when you find a recipe you like you can always pm the poster and ask if it can be frozen.
9) that is the million dollar questio "how much should I charge?" it all depends there are several and I mean several threads on here about pricing but here you go how much $ do you have in ingredients, time (including cleanup),and what your skill level is when I started out decorating it was just for friends and I made them buy the supplies and come clean up the mess!!? I hate cleaning up) they would sit and talk to me watch me work and when I started getting good and asking full price they didn't bat an eye b/c they knew what it took me to do. Wow that's a lot of typing!! Hope i helped some anyway and happy baking!!