What Is It With Customers And The Sheet Cake Mentality?
Decorating By Kiddiekakes Updated 27 Sep 2009 , 1:06am by mocakes
For me it's not a "shape" thing, it's a cost thing. And shame on the person who thinks I should sell cheaper cakes just cause the "masses" will be able to buy more of them. I'm certainly not going to do anything where I loose money and it be a finacial loss to my family.
Yep, exclusive and loving it. Exclusive so that I'm not cranking out 20 sheet cakes every weekend and getting burned out and groaning everytime a new email pops up in my inbox asking about cake. Exclusive so that I actually have a life outside of cakes. Exclusive so that I get to play with my son and take vacations.
I like that I only book every 5th or 6th request I get. 
Viva exclusiveness!
Welcome to the Exclusiveness Club! Yes, I do LOVE being able to spend time with all 7 of my kids.
Yep, exclusive and loving it. Exclusive so that I'm not cranking out 20 sheet cakes every weekend and getting burned out and groaning everytime a new email pops up in my inbox asking about cake. Exclusive so that I actually have a life outside of cakes. Exclusive so that I get to play with my son and take vacations.
I like that I only book every 5th or 6th request I get.
Viva exclusiveness!
This may not be the thread for this, but where do you hold your training classes? LOL!
I am not in business, but am in the process of moving forward with it. These topics are great because it helps me decide what I want to do in my future business. I love hearing both sides of the coin!
Maybe it depends on your area?
Here, sheet cakes = grocery store and they expect it not to cost much more. It was a business decision to do whatever I had to do to separate myself from the grocery variety cakes and seek out the clients who do want a unique and delicious cake. Everyone will not book and that's fine.
I had a garage sale before I started this business. A woman came and tried to talk me down for clothes that were expensive brand name with the tags still on. That told me that bargain shoppers are not who I want to deal with.
I mean, I am not knocking anyone, if you sell 'em and it works for you great! It's just not me. That doesn't say anything negative about me and selling sheet cake doesn't say any negative about you. Do what fits your business and personality and feel good about it!
I mean, I am not knocking anyone, if you sell 'em and it works for you great! It's just not me. That doesn't say anything negative about me and selling sheet cake doesn't say any negative about you. Do what fits your business and personality and feel good about it!
Perfectly said!
I've thought some more about this and (especially after looking at some of the cakes Doug linked to) I've decided that it's not sheet cakes that are the problem, it's KIT cakes. I did enough of them when I worked at the grocery store -- they involve NO creativity! I did one recently because it was the first order I'd had in a while (I primarily bake for fun), but I hated it the entire time I was doing it. Honestly, if al I'm doing is the backdrop for cheap plastic toys, what's the point? So, rather than say "no sheet cakes" I'm saying "no kit cakes!!!'.
i always wondered about this... according to the wilton servings chart, a 9x13, filled (2 layers, so 4 inches high), is 50 servings. even if you charged a low $2.00/serving that's still $100 (yes, bravo for me for doing my math
). so, it's not really a very cost effective move then, is it?or are we talking just single layered? because i know there's a difference in wording (sheet cake vs ((i think)) kitchen cake?) i'm just not 100% sure about it.
You raise a great point. For those of you who say it IS worth it, do you do SINGLE LAYER (2inch)es or DOUBLE LAYER (4inches?
My "sheet" cakes or whatever you all consider to be "sheet" cakes are 2 layers which are both torted and filled (4 cake layers 3 filling layers), so they look exactly like my round, square, oval, hex etc., when they're cut. Only difference is they are either 9 x 13 or 11 x 18 rectangular shaped cakes.
I don't offer single layer unfilled anything, heck I don't offer 2 layer with 1 filling. All of my cakes are 4 layers cake/3 layers filling. My minimum cake order is $100.
Hmmmmm.......maybe I DON'T do sheetcakes 
do I? Just what is the definition of a sheet cake anyway?
i always wondered about this... according to the wilton servings chart, a 9x13, filled (2 layers, so 4 inches high), is 50 servings. even if you charged a low $2.00/serving that's still $100 (yes, bravo for me for doing my math
). so, it's not really a very cost effective move then, is it?or are we talking just single layered? because i know there's a difference in wording (sheet cake vs ((i think)) kitchen cake?) i'm just not 100% sure about it.
You raise a great point. For those of you who say it IS worth it, do you do SINGLE LAYER (2inch)es or DOUBLE LAYER (4inches?
....Hmmmmm.......maybe I DON'T do sheetcakes
do I? Just what is the definition of a sheet cake anyway?
that's kind of what i was getting at. i get the whole "restiction of creativity" point too, but it's the cost thing that was confusing me a bit. unless, that is, i'm not fully understanding what the definition of a "sheet cake" is?
I'm such a Planet Cake groupie.
Taking this a little OT, but I looked around their site, and their cakes are really beautiful, but have you looked at their serving sizes????!!!!
http://www.planetcake.com.au/onlinestore/policy/cake_sizes.php?pid=591
50 'finger portions' from an 8" cake??? I'm in the wrong business! Oh, no, I'm in the right business, just my portion sizes are waaaay too big!!
Trust me - these cakes are at least 4inches high and are so rich, moist and torted and covered with rich yummy ganache that you would not want to eat more than that.
Also remember that here in Australia it is normally served AFTER the dessert - if it is served as the dessert it will be accompanied by a dollop of rich clotted cream and berry compote - so PLENTY BIG enough
Yeah those finger potions are super-dee-duper tiny! LOL But everything in America is bigger-includng most of our waists and bottom lines.
WOW!! last time I mentioned anything about the amount of sugar you Americans consumed I was tarred, feathered and publicly crucified!! Glad to see you can actually "take the Mickey" out of yourselves at last
NOTE - "Take the Mickey" roughly translated means .... to poke fun of in a lovingway - hahahahahahahaha
And don't feel so bad - us Aussies are NOT all the bikini clad super skinny bronzed beachbabes.... some of us must eat bigger pieces of something! hahahaha
It does not matter to me one way or the other i just like baking and decorating cakes wheather it is sheet, tiered i don't care most of my cakes are sheets. That is what most people ask for and i will be more than happy to make what ever they want for the right price.
As Americans I know we a lot of sugar...but who cares. I can't believe anyone would get upset about you mentioning it. Maybe it was the way you said it. And I don't know anyone who assumes all Austrailians are hot.
We don't really have this argument here in Australia as the term 'sheet-cake' doesn't even exist - We also don't have supermarkets selling decorated cakes (other than those with a bit of frilly paper stuck around them and a plastic Happy Birthday topper shoved in)
Our bakeries and pastisseries have cakes that you can order - mostly with edible images on them ...... BUT they aren't cheap!!
Buttercream is also not big here - so the difference between a cheap cake and a not so cheap cake - normally just comes down to ......
"HOW cheap somebody is prepared to work for"
The prices that you guys charge would not even cover the cost of our ingredients - thinking there needs to be a college course in PRICING!!
And I don't know anyone who assumes all Austrailians are hot.
LMAO, um.....me neither. Of course my biggest glimpse of Australia was watching Muriels Wedding!
i always wondered about this... according to the wilton servings chart, a 9x13, filled (2 layers, so 4 inches high), is 50 servings. even if you charged a low $2.00/serving that's still $100 (yes, bravo for me for doing my math
). so, it's not really a very cost effective move then, is it?or are we talking just single layered? because i know there's a difference in wording (sheet cake vs ((i think)) kitchen cake?) i'm just not 100% sure about it.
You raise a great point. For those of you who say it IS worth it, do you do SINGLE LAYER (2inch)es or DOUBLE LAYER (4inches?
My "sheet" cakes or whatever you all consider to be "sheet" cakes are 2 layers which are both torted and filled (4 cake layers 3 filling layers), so they look exactly like my round, square, oval, hex etc., when they're cut. Only difference is they are either 9 x 13 or 11 x 18 rectangular shaped cakes.
I don't offer single layer unfilled anything, heck I don't offer 2 layer with 1 filling. All of my cakes are 4 layers cake/3 layers filling. My minimum cake order is $100.
Hmmmmm.......maybe I DON'T do sheetcakes
do I? Just what is the definition of a sheet cake anyway?
I torte all mine as well and still call them sheet cake... It's a "sheet of cake..." just so happens to be that ours are four layers of "sheet."
Honest to goodness, here's dictionary.com's definition of a sheet cake. Rather comical:
Main Entry: sheet cake
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a one-layer cake often topped with frosting or with ingredients rolled into it
Example: Sheet cakes are often sold at grocery stores and served at office or birthday parties.
Usage: cooking
No disrespect to the sheetcakes, I have seen some that are insane and if they are torted with 4 layers of cake and 2 layers of filling, they are just like regular round/square except they are rectangle.
The problem is all customers that approach me about 'sheetcakes' assume since Costco sells a gynormous one for $16 then they should be able to get one from me or the same...*maybe* a couple dollars more.
That's why I simply don't do them. Gotta agree with Jamie about doing what you like. I would potenially get alot more business if I started busting out sheetcakes for $25-$30 - but I would miserable.
But to be brutally honest, I am not paying for a storefront or supporting a family with "cake". If that were the case, I would have to be much less picky about what business I would take. So long story short, as long as I can afford to 'not' do sheetcakes, I won't.
*headeesk* I guess this thread proves it's not the customers with the 'sheet cake' mentality, it's the decorators!
If you offer sheet cakes for less than any other kind of cake and think that you gotta spend less than 10 minutes slapping icing on them, then YEAH, they ain't worth it. But that's ANY cake. Sorry, but you can just slap icing on a couple of tiers, pipe some crappy border around them, and crank 20 of those out a weekend too. (I've seen some at Safeway once in a while)
If someone wants a unique, one-of-a-kind, special, yummy cake with custom decorations that will take days to make, why is it a slap in the face or "less than" if they happen to want the cake as a 9x13 rectangle instead of a 8" round with a 6" tier? A cake is not more special if it has another cake stacked on top of it.
Wal-Mart cakes are Wal-Mart cakes because their decorators are only allowed 5 minutes to decorate a whole cake, not because of their shape. And Wal-Mart WILL do tiered, drapy, stacked cakes too. For $125
i always wondered about this... according to the wilton servings chart, a 9x13, filled (2 layers, so 4 inches high), is 50 servings. even if you charged a low $2.00/serving that's still $100 (yes, bravo for me for doing my math
). so, it's not really a very cost effective move then, is it?
I use the 2"x1"x4" serving size for all my cakes, which means a 9x13 RECTANGLE (as I've just decided I'm going to start calling them ) is 58 servings. My price for the 9x13 is $117 and can go higher depending on filling/icing choice. Yeah, most people don't want to pay that, but that's no skin off my nose. They want a cheap cake, they can go get a cheap cake from WM or the groc. store. They want a good cake, then they can order one from me and pay what it's worth!
No disrespect to the sheetcakes, I have seen some that are insane and if they are torted with 4 layers of cake and 2 layers of filling, they are just like regular round/square except they are rectangle.
The problem is all customers that approach me about 'sheetcakes' assume since Costco sells a gynormous one for $16 then they should be able to get one from me or the same...*maybe* a couple dollars more.
That's why I simply don't do them. Gotta agree with Jamie about doing what you like. I would potenially get alot more business if I started busting out sheetcakes for $25-$30 - but I would miserable.
But to be brutally honest, I am not paying for a storefront or supporting a family with "cake". If that were the case, I would have to be much less picky about what business I would take. So long story short, as long as I can afford to 'not' do sheetcakes, I won't.
That was my concern. If you do sheetcakes, do people expect you to price them like the local grocery or wholesale stores?
I know that everyone has their reasons for not doing sheet cakes. A lot of my customers always want sheet cakes no matter what I suggest, and they never want them filled. Just plain sheet cakes with frosting and decorations on top. I have never gotten a complaint so I must be doing something right. When I see a kids face light up with excitement from a sheet cake I have made for them that's all I need to keep making them no matter what.
I'm not as good as alot of you guys and in my area I could never get the prices that you do but I still make a profit. I see a lot of fantastic decorators om CC and you have to do what you think is best when it comes to sheet cakes. Just keep on decorating so people like me can keep on learning from the best like you.
Thanks
Around here, yep! They sure do. But that may not be true everywhere. I have seen posts from CCers who offer custom sheetcakes and get a pretty penny for them. I guess I just didn't feel like fighting that battle, ya know?
I have a Costco, literally 2 miles away...... and say what you want about grocery store cakes, Costco cake is GOOD! That is all we ate before I started decorating. Even still we will go to a party and if I see a Costco cake, I know it will not be left on the plate.
**Not as good as my cake, of course 
No disrespect to the sheetcakes, I have seen some that are insane and if they are torted with 4 layers of cake and 2 layers of filling, they are just like regular round/square except they are rectangle.
The problem is all customers that approach me about 'sheetcakes' assume since Costco sells a gynormous one for $16 then they should be able to get one from me or the same...*maybe* a couple dollars more.
That's why I simply don't do them. Gotta agree with Jamie about doing what you like. I would potenially get alot more business if I started busting out sheetcakes for $25-$30 - but I would miserable.
But to be brutally honest, I am not paying for a storefront or supporting a family with "cake". If that were the case, I would have to be much less picky about what business I would take. So long story short, as long as I can afford to 'not' do sheetcakes, I won't.
That was my concern. If you do sheetcakes, do people expect you to price them like the local grocery or wholesale stores?
Well, yes, but they also expect the other cakes to be the big box store price, too. If a customer isn't willing to pay what you and your cakes are worth, that's not a customer you want to have. Education helps. Explain/show how your cakes are different. Customer referrals help, too, because chances are, if someone's seen and eaten one of your cakes, they're going to "get" that it's worth more than at the store.
The problem is all customers that approach me about 'sheetcakes' assume since Costco sells a gynormous one for $16 then they should be able to get one from me or the same...*maybe* a couple dollars more.
Ahh, so it's not "sheet cake" so much as "CHEAP cake"!! Ok, duuuuuur me! Here I was thinking people were turning down cakes strictly because of their shape and not because of cost.
Main Entry: sheet cake
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a one-layer cake often topped with frosting or with ingredients rolled into it
Example: Sheet cakes are often sold at grocery stores and served at office or birthday parties.
Usage: cooking
LOL...I love the "with ingredients rolled into it" line. Just WHAT do you suppose they mean by that?"
OK, so now I know that my "rectangle" shaped cakes are NOT indeed "sheet" cakes......
Thanks Win, for clearing that up for me!
The problem is all customers that approach me about 'sheetcakes' assume since Costco sells a gynormous one for $16 then they should be able to get one from me or the same...*maybe* a couple dollars more.
Ahh, so it's not "sheet cake" so much as "CHEAP cake"!! Ok, duuuuuur me! Here I was thinking people were turning down cakes strictly because of their shape and not because of cost.
Here in lies the rub. I do a lot of "sheetcakes" but my prices are no way comparable to grocery store prices! I pity the fool that compares my cake to a grocery store cake. I end the discussion right then and there and suggest they need to shop elsewhere.
And, I do think the term sheetcake must conjur up visions of kit cakes. I never thought of that before this thread. To me, it's simply a shape, nothing more; a blank canvas!
Main Entry: sheet cake
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a one-layer cake often topped with frosting or with ingredients rolled into it
Example: Sheet cakes are often sold at grocery stores and served at office or birthday parties.
Usage: cooking
LOL...I love the "with ingredients rolled into it" line. Just WHAT do you suppose they mean by that?"
OK, so now I know that my "rectangle" shaped cakes are NOT indeed "sheet" cakes......
Thanks Win, for clearing that up for me!
My favorite line was the example:"Sheet cakes are often sold at grocery stores and served at office or birthday parties."
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