Hi Everyone,
I just got my first wedding inquiry for 20-25, 8" centerpeice cakes. I am aweful at giving a price especially since i have never done a wedding before and i am really excited to finally have the opportunity to take one on. 
I know this person which makes it even harder to quote her $2.50 per slice for a white on white (piped) buttercream that they will be picking up from me and decorating themselves with flowers.
Yes i will be doing a lot of cakes at one time but they will not have all that much detail.
Any advise for a newbie to weddings?
How embarrasing,
Yes, i spelled jitters wrong, it is very early in the morning here, lol.
I think you will different answers here....There is a pricing matrix floating around, which I have never used....there is the takes your ingrediant costs and times that by three....which I have done...personally I never understood the pricing per piece for a wedding cake, but not for regular cakes...although I do understand that wedding cakes are usually much more involved.
I have a website that lists prices for different sizes of cakes, and prices for wedding cakes. I use it quite a bit as they are in the same area I am.
Okay, say it costs you about $12 just in supplies and ingredients to make each cake(I've found on here this is around the amount it costs, it costs more for me because of where I live, so this could be higher for you). For 25 cakes that would be $300.
Wilton charts show that an 8" round serves 24(1 in. x 2 in. by two layers high... http://www.wilton.com/wedding/cakeinfo/cuttingguide.cfm), which at $2.50 a slice would be $60 a cake. So 25 cakes would be $1500. So with $1200 profit, say 7 days work(I'm just giving a hypothetical number, this may not be the case for you) at 8 hours a day, would be a bit over $21 an hour.
This is how I figure out how much I would want to charge, I add together ingredient costs, labour, time etc. Its easier when you figure out how long you would want to spend on each cake, how long each design would take, how many cakes you could do a day etc. I finally figured out the pricing matrix and it has defintely helped me out, at least I know how much I'm spending when I'm making a cake now!
dang james...when you make it sound like that I want to do a whole lot of weddings...lol..I just dont wnat to deal with a bridezilla. I am still so new at cake decorating that I can't even get the course 2 flowers right let alone do a wedding cake....lol..
You know, I thought about it and I don't know about other people but it takes me about 4 hours for a simple 8 or 9 inch round, iced in buttercream and decorated (like prep, baking, icing etc). So 4 hours per 25 cakes would be 100 hours. So 8 hours a day for 7 days would only be 14 cakes 
. Of course you could also be faster then me!
But then you will have to deal with storage, (where will you keep 25 cakes..do you have access to a large freezer or fridge? Do you have a large space like a large dining table etc to store once they are iced?), how many cakes can you bake at a time, will you have enough cooling racks, do you work fulltime outside the home so that you will you need time off or will you do this after work? Since you're kitchen and oven will be taken up, will you order out or be eating microwave dinners? Then you factor in hydro and water etc, thats a long time your oven will be on. All of these things factor into the price as well, even for a friend its a LOT of work. I think its totally possible if you have a definte plan in place 
I found that the servings sizes seem a little out of wack. At least the ones I've seen on the web. Most people I know cut at the very least a 2"x2" or more slice. I cannot see how they can figure so many pieces of cake from the size of the pan. It is way more than I counted even at 2"x 2". I've tried it and it doesn't compute. Any input on this? I want to be fair to people buying my product but so much per a slice of cake I think I want to be a little more generous with a slice of cake. And a little more accurate as to how many people a cake will honestly serve. If you can help me with this dilemma or what I feel to be a dilemma as I am currently trying to put together a price list that is fair I would appreciate input.
Kathy R
Earlene Moore's site has larger serving sizes I believe http://www.earlenescakes.com/index1.htm
Yeah 15 seems much better then 24, just like how some sites say you can get like 16 servings from a 6 inch! I know at least in my family they would laugh at me if I served a slice that small!
20-25 8in cakes???? WOW!!
Okay before you give her a price, sit down and do some math. How much is it going to cost you to do each cake. How much in cake and icing? What about filling? Also don't forget the cake board, board covering, and boxes. This will give you your cost for doing the cake.
The general rule is that you take that figure and mutiply it by 3. If you don't feel right charging that much, then you can do 2.5 (which is usually what I do), but please NEVER go lower than 2 times. I'll usually round this number up, to help with all those other supplies you use.
So if you spend $10 on supplies to make a 8in cake, then I would charge $25 to $30 per cake.
Yes it isn't the one big cake, but just keep in mind it is going to take you alot more time to bake these cakes, let alone ice them, even if you are just doing simple decorations.
You are going to be spending 30 or more mins baking each layer. Are we talking about double layered cakes here? If so even if you have two pans you are going to be spending 5-8+ hours alone in baking. If you only have one pan that would be 10-15+ hours. And that is not even counting the mixing and dish washing between each one.
Imagine how many batches of icing you are going to be making!!
As someone else said, consider how much time you spend making one of these cakes and you are going to have to do that 20 to 25 times. A LOT OF WORK.
And of course then you have the store all these bad boys somewhere while you are working on them.
I'm not trying to scare you away from them. But I do want to see you get paid what you and what they are worth. I understand that you know them but this is not a small undertaking. You are better off charging what your time is worth. This is time you will be spending in the kitchen on your feet, instead of with your family. This is time you are giving up to do them a favor.
Please, please do not cheat yourself with this order!!
Thanks so much for all of your advise, and concern. I am so happy to have people like you all in this forum to look to for advise......you all are priceless!!
I did talk to the women i know and quoted her $27 per cake. I think she may have thought that was too much by her quiet reaction. She then asked what 6" rounds would cost. I am not going to budge on the price because i think that is already a good deal and i realize that i will be putting in A LOT of work!!!
This kind of situation is almost a double edged sword. To get this kind of order is awesome and makes you feel good that someone would come to you and trust you to do the job but on the other hand you will be dreaming about cake (or having nightmares about it) for quite a while after all the time spent in the kitchen to fulfill this kind of order.
We will see if she calls me back. I have a feeling that if she goes with the cake centerpeices she may go with the 6" to save a few bucks, which will still mean a lot of work for me but at less money for me also. I quoted her $14.50 per 6" round. All i can do now is see what happens. 
I hate to say it but I think you've just undercharged her for the 6" cakes, you've halved the price and yet the cakes are only slightly smaller, not going to mean a lot ingredients wise and you will still have the same amount of work, just each unit will be slightly smaller. You will still have the same number of layers to bake, boards and boxes to buy and cakes to store.
Oh Great! Now i've really done it. 
It goes to show what will happen if you try to be nice. You end up making yourself CRAZY.
Based on what you guys are saying, i should have thought about it a bit more before i gave her a price. Well, I will just have to hope she does not go with the 6" round idea because hopefully she will realize that it will look lost on such a big table. 
Would you mind sharing the website?
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uote="SUELA"]I think you will different answers here....There is a pricing matrix floating around, which I have never used....there is the takes your ingrediant costs and times that by three....which I have done...personally I never understood the pricing per piece for a wedding cake, but not for regular cakes...although I do understand that wedding cakes are usually much more involved.
I have a website that lists prices for different sizes of cakes, and prices for wedding cakes. I use it quite a bit as they are in the same area I am.[/quote]
Yeah 15 seems much better then 24, just like how some sites say you can get like 16 servings from a 6 inch!
I know at least in my family they would laugh at me if I served a slice that small!
i always laugh when I see what they say a cake would serve. A six inch two layer round would serve three to four people in my family! LOL Basically the guides they give you are for a literal, "bite" of cake as opposed to a "piece". =0) If all you are doing is baking and buttercreaming them with very little decorating, I don't think you would be undercharging, but I also have a hard time swallowing the prices that people charge, that is just me. According to what I have read on this site I would ALWAYS undercharge. LOL. Think about all the work you are putting into it and quote a price that you would be willing to pay for that amount of work. At least that is how I would price a cake if someone asked me to make one for them. I am sure that I will be outnumbered though.
SweetDreams:
I mainly do wedding cakes for friends or family. Actually, my son and daughter's friend the most!! What I have done is calculate my regular pricing then I will begin to discount for those I know or whatever. This shows them what the cake should cost and they definitely appreciate any discounts! This may help for this person you know!
Sweetdreams, if you really what to scare her off, mention that she's going ot have to have a fleet of friends driving vans to come pick these little guys up.
And she'll have to have an empty bed room with tables set up to store them if she picks them of a day early. Or an army to volenteers to walk them in to her reception the day of the even. Either way she won't be able to use her guests or the wedding party since they will be to busy getting ready to help out.
This just sounds like a bad idea.
She'll have to mention to her florist that she'll need safe flowers for the decorations. You can't just stick regulart ones on the cakes...you make people sick.
So is each table going to serve themselves? That alone with mess up the serving chart. Some people like big hunks of cake. 
I'm eager to do a wedding too, but I'd pass on this job.
mommachris
Mamachris,
Each table would be serving themselves which is why she was already thinking to go with the 8" because some people would take larger portions than others.
I took my hubby's advise and actually increased the price per cake and let her know that because it would be a really big job to take on at one time. My hubby says that if i up the price then she can always come back and tell me no if she that is too much (not me telling her no). If she does accept it and i get the job, there will actually be a lot of benifit to me. I will get the chance to improve on my skills, increase my speed of decorating, get a little extra $$ for doing the job and will then have at least one wedding under my belt.
After 20-25 cakes, i can't see how i wouldn't end up with some skill benefits.
Can you tell i am trying to be positive about this?
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