Pricing Dummy Cakes

Business By Buttercream.Fingers Updated 24 Aug 2017 , 2:12pm by -K8memphis

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Buttercream.Fingers Posted 23 Aug 2017 , 1:35am
post #1 of 9

Hello bakers,

I had my first wedding cake order and my husband and I at a disagreement over the price I said. This cake, bottom tier 8" is dummy cake and the top 6" ×5" is lemon with strawberry and lemon fillings. Everything from scratch and i made the sugar flowers too. How much would you say I should have charged?Pricing Dummy Cakes

8 replies
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AAtKT Posted 23 Aug 2017 , 10:27am
post #2 of 9


$9,876.56

Random price thrown out for a random guess... 

We don't know your location... and pricing varies by location so so so much...

We don't know your minimum order pricing, your overhead... your ingredient costs... your labor time and cost... if you charge for delivery or not... and so much more...

I can say that in my opinion, the dummy cake should cost almost as much, if not as much, as a regular cake that size... the styro can cost almost as much as the ingredients and the time to decorate it is the same no as real cake...


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-K8memphis Posted 23 Aug 2017 , 11:27am
post #3 of 9

this is where your minimum price point comes into play -- i would not touch that for less than $200 -- i mean figure if it was a 10x8 -- that's over 60 servings -- that cake should be $6 a serving with that decor -- that's $300 for the 10x8 --

if you charge for the servings as is it's $72 -- for the same work -- 12 servings

same work -- oh my no --

tell us who thinks what between you & your husband

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kakeladi Posted 23 Aug 2017 , 10:10pm
post #4 of 9

The other posters are right..there is so, so, so much that goes into pricing.  And as they said, dummy cakes that as much time and work, & probably cost as real cake. 

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Buttercream.Fingers Posted 23 Aug 2017 , 11:50pm
post #5 of 9

Thank you all for the replys. 

I have to say that I tried to find a way to edit my post since I posted it....no luck

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Buttercream.Fingers Posted 24 Aug 2017 , 12:42am
post #6 of 9

I don't know what happened here but most of my reply is not showing above...:-(

As I said I wanted to edit my post because it did not sou d the way I wanted. My question was not exactly how much $ should I charge ( I know it varies a lot depending on multiple factors) but more about how much other bakers charge for their dummy cakes in comparison to their real cakes...which you all lovlies answered...thank you ☺

It does make since to charge close to the real cakes. When all the decorating efforts are the same, the price of ingredients is the smallest expense in the equation

In regard to who thinks what t is unfortunately me who undervalues my work and feels bad charging for it. My husband sees how much time and efforts I put in my work and feels I'm not asking for what I'm worth.

I have few years of experience On the actual baking but not a lot on the business side of it. I hope it won't take me long to figure it out.

Thank you again everyone :-)

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Buttercream.Fingers Posted 24 Aug 2017 , 12:52am
post #7 of 9

It does make sense *

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youngj Posted 24 Aug 2017 , 3:52am
post #8 of 9

I think dummy cakes should be the same amount as your base price for that size. Maybe even a little more if covered in fondant rather than buttercream. Same amount of work goes into dummy cakes as real cakes. 

good luck and your work is beautiful 

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-K8memphis Posted 24 Aug 2017 , 2:12pm
post #9 of 9

yeah, what youngj said -- and because a celebration cake has two major functions -- one, as focal point to look pretty for the party and two, to taste great for dessert -- so that's where you gotta charge for both -- and you made a killer focal point i'm sure it tasted great -- as much as it grieves me to say it your husband is right :) 

so charge a lot* or find another way to make money -- y'know if we made baby formula to sell -- yeah, let's have mercy on all the new moms and give solid price breaks to everyone but no we are not that -- 

do you know how absolutely cute the tier cakes are sam's club --

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/2-tiered-white-cake-chocolate-butrcreme/prod14090422.ip?xid=plp:product:1:8

contrary to popular belief those cakes taste great --- if those bakeries weren't good they wouldn't still be there -- so nobody has to go without -- and you don't have to work for peanuts 

*enough

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