What would you charge for this cake?

(not my cake, lady saw it on CC and decided she wants the same one for her daughter) Thanks to the original baker!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-91606.html

Also, the lady wants No fondant--how do I detail without fondant? I have never done that before.

Sorry I can't help with the pricing question but I would think, just a guess, you could do the jersey as a FBCT and the netting on the basketball with royal icing or even maybe BC done in layers.

You could use rolled buttercream in combination with regular buttercream or you could use buttercream alone. I would probably charge $50.

I think I would use candy clay to do the jersey and the netting. It would hold it's shape well and it is really easy to work with. I don't think I have ever seen a pure white candy clay, but hopefully she would be interested in different team colors for the jersey.

Hope that helps some! Good luck!

I have done a basketball w/BC using a star tip and the black lines were the u shaped tip(can't remember the #). I made royal icing letters to spell wilson. It was cute. Ask her if the jersey could still be fondant and removed. If not use royal and position it so it can be flat. May be standing up tilted slightly in the front?

A friend JUST ordered this cake design from a baker here. In NYC, she paid $500 for ~30 servings. I'll let the baker chime in with her name if she choses but that was the price I was told. Wouldn't fly in my area, but I'd say in smaller areas at least $100, closer to $200. If you went $50 as suggested, that would be less than $2/serving for a 3D cake.

As for no fondant, these could be piped, like doing stringwork for the net. The jersey can be rolled bc, and pipe on details. Make sure to dowel the ball, under as well as through.

i would charge more than $50.00 because the person is acutally getting two cakes. how about determining how many slices are in the 2 cakes then charge between $3 and $3.50 per slice?

Personally, in my humble opinion, I think prices for cakes are somewhat sensitive to your market. For example, if you live in a real small town with mostly older customers, you can't put the price at what it may be worth because they probably couldn't afford it. Where, on the other hand, if you live in NYC like the person above said, and there is a wide range of marketable clients, you could charge what it's worth if not a bit more. In my area, military community (overseas), I could charge around $75 for that cake. And the customer would pick it up themselves, I charge extra for delivery. I also think that it depends on whether or not you're just starting out. If you keep your prices low (because your name isn't out there very much yet), people are more inclined to refer a friend to you because they feel like they got an exceptional value for the product they got. Then slowly, as business increases, your pricing will start to reflect that. Make sense?
hope that helps

No one has mentioned it yet so I will..... make a batch of Marshmellow fondant and let her sample taste that and if she likes it use that instead of regular fondant. Tell her it's a new trend and tastes DELICIOUS!!!! and to just give it a try If that fails as well.... I guess just use buttercream, candy clay, and RI.... and a FBCT for the jersey.

On the pricing part.... I'd say at the very least $150.~.... but I'm sure you can get more then that.

Good luck and it's a great cake! Poohbear did a great job on that

i would say in my area i could probably get $100, with fondant. if your only doing buttercream then i would say $80? like everyone said though, it really does depend on your area. its not a difficult design, definitely not worth $500! but bravo to the decorator who can charge that amount!

Well, I'll be the odd man out and suggest telling the client that the details have to be made of fondant. It's easy enough to pull them off and the cakes themselves will be iced in buttercream. I'm the cake expert - not the client. I'm not going to compromise the look of the cake or kill myself trying to achieve an effect with a medium I know is second to fondant. If she can't handle the netting and the jersey made of fondant, she's too high maintenance. My guess is, she'll be okay with the netting and jersey being made of fondant.

You can find wedding white candy chips at Hobby Lobby if you have one near you to make candy clay. It is really easy to work with.

I second the MMF idea. But you could try some rolled buttercream if that doesn't fly, and/or modeling chocolate for some of the details, particularly the netting and the jersey. I think you can get away with regular buttercream for the basketball, but the hoop/netting, and the jersey, you are going to need something else, even if she has to peel it off.