Someone just asked me to give her a price for this cake. It's for a wedding for 40 people.

It's all buttercream 1 layer amaretto soak cake. The cake sizes on the picture are bigger than what I would do for 50 servings. I will plan to do 6" 8" 10", base on wilton chart the 8" and 10" will give me about 48 servings. She mentioned that if the flowers and ribbons are extra she can supply her own.

I calculated the cost of everything and came out to $250 ( no flowers & ribbon) including delivery and set up.

I just moved to the area (DE from MA) and I'm trying to build up a clientele thou I don't want to be cheap and I don't want to be so expensive making potential clients run away lol. I don't charge per slice neither think that charging for a wedding should be any different from a regular cake though I included an extra charge giving the fact that I will be giving this cake special attention and detail and might run around a bit getting some supplies together.

What do you all think? and what will you charge for this cake?

Thank you all! :)

 

 

 

ABased on 74 servings, $203 plus $30 for the calla lilies.

I'm not quite sure as I'm not in the US and I know prices vary between states anyway but it sounds a bit expensive to me it is a really simple cake, specially if you are not getting the ribbon or flowers

AWhat's your cost for this cake, including ingredients, labor (your hourly wage), and overhead (license fees, insurance, etc.)?

I don't charge my license fee and insurance everytime I bake a cake, I rent a commercial kitchen and I included it in the price I calculated. I gave her a quote for the same exact cake including flowers and ribbons, delivery and set up and now she wants me to quote the same cake but 2 tiers only. It's so frustrated when people keep asking you to fix your prices around their budget. If they want a cheap cake that cake won't be good, they should just not waste anyones time and go straight to their local supermarket bakery.

A

You don't charge your entire annual overhead for each order, you charge based on the estimated number of orders per year. So if you have 2 orders per week and $1000 in annual overhead, each order would include about $10 of overhead costs.

If she's looking for a cake with the same number of servings but with 2 tiers instead of 3, your cost (and therefore your price) should be the same.

Re budget, generally one of the first questions to ask a potential customer is how much they have budgeted for the cake. If their budget is below your minimum you know not to waste time on a quote.

to me, once a client starts to try to control/contain/rein in prices like that--it's pretty much over

 

you've quoted her a fair price i think

 

what is "It's all buttercream 1 layer amaretto soak cake."

 

not to mention why do you want to give her a 50 serving cake if she needs 40 servings?

 

an 8x6x4 is 42

 

a 9x6 is 46

 

how tall are your tiers?

 

oh i'm so confused--but it is mostly my natural state anyhow ;)

Jason_kraft I understand everything you explained and yes it was included in the quote.

I did asked her to if she had a budget or how much was she looking to spend. She said she didn't had one and she didn't know it all depends

on how much my quote was and if she can afford it or not and if not she will go with smaller version.

It's a 2 tier cake 6" & 10", she's keeping the 6" for her anniversary and she will cut the 10" to feed 40 people.

The cake is just one tick layer about 3 inches high and 4" high with the buttercream, it's a Hispanic traditional wedding cake that is soak/sprinkle or

moist in amaretto liquor. I will give her my final quote today for the 2 tiers and if she doesn't want to pay my price she can go ask some where else :)

Including delivery and setup that seems fair to me.  It is customer's like this that are scary and any cake will not live up to their expectations. 

 

I had a bride once call me a month before her wedding (yes, she procrastinated) and tell me that she needed a 3 tier cake of this and that and all she needed was someone to bake the cakes and ice them and cover them in fondant, that she could get the flowers and do a great job decorating herself if that would help stay within budget.  She kept saying that she was a college student and didn't have much of a budget.  She kept mentioning that she could go to Walmart and get plain cakes and decorate them (I almost asked her to go ahead and do so)

 

First off, I was not comfortable with anyone else decorating my cake, shoot that is where the fun is :)  I do this part time and the weekend of her wedding I was going to be out of town the entire week before, so I didn't even have time to help her unless I rearranged my schedule.  I factored the PITA into my price and quoted her a realistic price, never heard back from her.  Yup, sometimes it is best to just walk away.
 

oh cool--i don't think i'd ever heard of that before

 

it sounds delicious, maddy!

Wowww...and I forgot to mention that she wants this cake for March 9th and she wants it deliver to the casino 25 minutes away.

I haven't heard back from her and don't think I will and if she gets back I will tell her that, that weekend has been taken since she didn't reply

I gave the space to someone elses order. I work at a bakery and I do this on the side to save up to open up my own place so I don't have time

for people like her. Thanks all for your support :)

 

K8memphis, I have my own recipe I make but they have one at cakecentral as well...here's the link if you ever want to give it a try, it's delishhhh

http://cakecentral.com/a/amaretto-puertorican-cake

k8memphis, there's also a sirop you have to make and then pour over the cake evently

depends in the size of the cake just boil 1 or 2 cups of water, 1/3 cup sugar until it disolves and 3 tbls amaretto, let cool and

pour half over cake evenly, let stand, turn the other side and pour the rest, let stand for about an hour or put on freezer to set and then decorate.

AYour price sounds fair to me for the cake in the picture, but I would include the ribbon and Calla lillies for that price. Calla lillies are fairly simple as far as flower making is concerned. I'm also in Texas, so I don't know what's considered reasonable in your area. But I do think that price is fair, for delivery and setup. ♥