i think sheet cakes are often used more for big group gatherings due to the ease of cutting and serving.. just observation i mean.. i myself don't like to do sheet cakes much as it pertains more for how hard it is for me to get those nice corners. i know they can be covered up etc.. i'm just a self perfectionist.. i have to get it right lol and i usually cant lol.. go figure. i liked the rounds cause they were quicker and easier for me is all.

i envy those who live closer to a "walmart" home depot costco etc.. mine are an hour drive away lol.. so is any cake decorating supply i need.. for the better selection its an hour and a half!

You know, I don't get offended when someone asks me to do a sheet cake..only when they ask me to do a "cheap" sheet cake. I use the best ingrediants I can find, make all my icings/fondant from scratch, spend hours designing and then decorating the cake and they want me to do all of that for the price of a Safeway cake? THEN I get offended. I try, ever so politely, to send them back to Safeway. I guess what it is...and I know I'm still in training here...that I consider myself to be a cake artist, a cake decorator. Am I perfect enough to be charging 1000 a cake yet, no, maybe someday I will be but for right now I don't think my work is worth those fees. I pride myself on my creativity, on the fact that I always want everyone to have a unique cake that at least tastes as good as it looks and has the finest ingrediants in it. So, yes, I do make sheet cakes, I even have at least one in my album here, but there is nothing "run of the mill" or "kit" like about any of them that I do make. So yes, to the person who said it's not about the shape but about the price, yup, guess that covers it for me. If someone wants a Costco cake (and yes, they do taste good) and that is what their budget can afford then by all means they should go to Costco and get the cake they want. BUT if they want one of mine then it will definetely cost more than Costco.

Cat

I do sheet cakes and I don't mind it at all. Depending on the occasion I may even offer to do it as an oval because I think the oval can make a sheet cake more elegant, romantic, or feminine. I tort and fill too, depending on the number of servings a customer needs. This isn't my livelihood and it doesn't pay my rent, I own my place but that's beside the point, and I have no competition where I am. I charge more than Wal Mart and the other grocer that does cakes but I'm not going for top dollar either. I'm happy with what I charge. I like my work and my customers are always thrilled with it too. I can't ask for more. I don't claim to be a pro and it pleases me to please my customers and make decent money doing it. To hike my prices just to see how much I can wring out of them would, and speaking just for myself...so don't jump me for saying this, would feel greedy on my part.

I think many people order sheet cakes because it's what they're familiar with and like - easy to serve and un-intimidating. Nothing to take apart, just cut, serve and enjoy. I'm happy for you "exclusive" decorators who get the big bucks. Good for you! I hope you get all the business your little hearts desire. I'm small town rural America and happy doin it like I do!

Kansaslaura, your butter pecan etc cake sounds divine!!!!!!!

Lol Cee Tee! That was a funny, funny day! Yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to hear that! Yuch!

Cee Tee that is a hilarious story....I can't get over that someone would really care that much what shape cake she had to decorate. I wonder if she'll only write on white paper........

IMHO sheet cakes can be really creative, very cute and NOT grocery store looking ( and I will be showing that soon, tee hee wink wink)

BUT that kind of cake take tons of work so charge for it!!!!!

Oh, I don't think the girl was purposefully being a snob or anything like that. She was really nice!! I honestly don't think she realized how much she was complaining. I bet if I saw her tomorrow and asked her, she'd be just as taken aback by the whole thing as the rest of us!

I have seen other cases tho, sometimes here on CC, where a decorator would turn down a large, well-paying order on the basis that the customer wanted a sheet cake rather than tiered. It's almost a Pavlovian response from decorators wanting to validate themselves to say "I won't do a sheet cake at all". It's becoming cliche.

So I guess the heart of it is...the sheet cake has become the scapegoat for decorators frustrated by cheap customers.

oops

[quote="Mensch"]Here's a rectangular cake I made last year. Nothing 'sheetie' about it, except maybe the shape.




Gorgeous cake! My problem is tho, that I would then get the "so can I get THAT cake for $25?" How do I deal with clients like that? As I said, it's not the "sheet" it's the "cheap" that I have issues with. I am far and away not saying that everyone should be able to pay for a $75 childs birthday cake, that is how I got into this business years ago...not having the money to pay for a grocery store cake so I made my daughters myself and got hooked. But I think if the client decides that they want a designer cake then shouldn't they be prepared to pay designer prices no matter what the shape?

ps...LOVE the shoes...did you form them yourself or did you use a kit or??? dying to know!

thanx!
Cat

I'd rather do a rectangle, square or other basic shape cake ANY DAY over anything tiered.

Tiered cakes are extra work to prep and transport, and NO ONE knows how to cut them.

Give someone a rectangle, and they're cutting nice neat pieces right off the bat, everyone gets cake, everyone is happy.

I don't sell, and never ever ever will, but I don't see why a rectangular cake would be any less of a creative opportunity than any other cake...

(FWIW, I LIKE a relatively plain slab cake. I don't like a lot of icing or filling interfering with good cake...so I don't think it's necessary to torte or to even offer more than one good, thick layer...)