I am trying to figure out servings and cake tier sizes for a wedding. The bride wants to serve 120-150 people and wants to save the top tier for the first anniversary.

How do I charge her so the cake serves 150 and she is still able to save the top tier?

I am following the Wilton charts so a 14" (78 servings) + 10" (38 servings) + 8" (24 servings) will total 140 servings. If I make the top tier 6", it will be an additional 12 servings.

So I should charge her for 152 servings right? Will the cake look proportional with 14", 10", 8" and 6" tiers??

I charge starting from $3.50 per serving for fondant covered cakes and she wants a fondant motif on each tier to match her invites. Should I increase the per serving cost to $4.00?

If I charge $3.50, the price will be $532 for 152 servings, not serving the top tier. Does this sound appropriate? I'm close to the DC area.

Thanks for the advice!!! Really appreciate it!

I think having a 4" gap on the bottom tier when you have had a 2" gap on the others would look odd. But that is just me.

It will look fine. It can be nice having the bottom tier larger, even taller too - very anchoring. It used to bother me, but now I like it and can be good for getting the correct amount of servings.

http://www.spdak.com/web%20galleries/wedding/wgc_media/source/Lily%20of%20the%20Valley.JPG

this cake is 6-8-10-14 x 4-4-4-5"

Back to your question - yes, you charge for all of the servings, what they do with them (serve/save) is their business. Can you describe what the design is? Depending on how intricate and time-consuming it will be, you may need to charge more than $.50 more than your base price.

Thank you!!! So I will go with 6, 8, 10, 14. I'm designing around a teardrop motif, something like this http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2099824 and http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2088832

I've done a lot of 6/8/10/14. It looks just fine. Only a caker would see the difference anyway.

The sizes will look great! As for the pricing...I think $3.50 is too low. Remember you shouldn't just charge based on all your materials to make/bake the cake...but also your time.

I would increase your price...at the end of the day you are working to make money not break even.

Earlene's Cake Serving Chart is a very helpful tool to determine what sizes are needed for the servings desired. You can use the bride's area for keeping the top tier, or the groom's area for using the top tier. Hopefully, I can add the link here. If not, go to earlenescakes.com, then ENTER, then ALL INSTRUCTIONS, PRINTED INFORMATION, AND CHARTS INDEX, then CAKE SERVING CHART. Here's the direct link: http://www.earlenescakes.com/ckserchart.htm

Thank you everyone!! I'll go with $4.50/serving for the motif cake that I posted and use 6/8/10/14. Appreciate the advice!!

Thank you everyone!! I'll go with $4.50/serving for the motif cake that I posted and use 6/8/10/14. Appreciate the advice!!