We had a tasting today with a bride who mentioned that the last lady she did a tasting with wanted to charge an extra $80 per tier (On top of whatever the base price per serving was) to apply pearl or shimmer dust to fondant. Not painting scrollwork with it or anything, just dusting it on the cake so that the fondant has a shimmery look.

Does this seem excessive to anyone else? We don't normally charge extra for stuff like dusts, unless it's a significant amount, and even then it would only be to cover the cost of the dust.

Anyway, just thought that was kind of strange...

I can hear that conversation now...

"We start at $2 a serving, which is a tremendous bargain. Oh, you want icing on the cake? That's an extra $1 per serving. What? You want us to do some decorating on the cake too? That will be an additional art fee of $1 per serving. Oh, and you'd like us to put some pearl dust on the cake also? That will be an extra $80 per tier. That takes a high level of skill to do, so we'll have to charge you that in order to cover the cost of training someone to brush the dust on the tiers. But don't forget that our cakes are only $2 a serving when you're comparison shopping at other bakeries."

i DO think that's strange! wow! what an up charge that is too....but it's not too surprising. I made a cake for a friend with no decorating on it with piping or anything, but the little fondant sports balls and some cut outs on it. She told me that the very busy bakery near her area wanted to charge an extra $20 per tier to make the fondant balls and things...i was shocked at that! I mean, I don't even pay that much for the fondant ($60) and it sure doesn't take me that long to make the balls...I build it into the price of the cake. Obviously she went with me...and sometimes stuff like that makes a longer lasting customer. Because things that seem ridiculous to them and to you make for a great relationship

HOLY UP-CHARGE!!! I figure a pot of that stuff is $3-4 bucks and may take 10 minutes, so i don't worry about it! Now, if I need to add gilt edges or something that is going to take some time, I charge for the time, but not the dust. That sounds like costumeczar's comment. "we start at $2 per serving but we need to charge you extra for icing" Sheesh!

Our thoughts exactly! What's even weirder is that the bride said she got her info at a bridal show, and in the brochure it said her cakes start at $2.95 per serving. Then when she got to the tasting, the lady said that it was a misprint and that her prices start at $4.95 per serving.

i definitely think someone is trying to reel the brides in :p lame.

Maybe the lady hates doing the dust and figures if it is worth it for her if someone is willing to pay that much?

So you'd probably think that $5 for a 2 inch fondant star slapped on a sheet cake is too much as well?

Wow.

Actually, that comes from a bakery here in town. I don't happen to think they do very good work and they charge for every little thing they add onto a cake.

I hate add-ons so I try to build as much as possible into the cost of the cake.

Oh, I thought you were the one the OP was talking about, defending your upcharge. Oops! Carry on!

I hate add ons too. I price myself to account for just about anything someone wants anyways. So someone who wants very simple easy stuff, eh, I have it easy that day. Very intricate figurines or gumpaste 3-D stuff, yeah that's additional, but I very rarely exceed myper serving price.

A lady I work with went to this bakery for her son's birthday cake, knowing I do cakes and having seen several of them.

I tried not to smile when she told me they charged her an extra $25 for 5 little fondant stars they scattered across the top of the cake.

I need to try harder . . .

Lol, I would have done just that--lol!

I do charge extra for a lot of things, but I cover a lot of things too. It is complicated at times, but I feel that if someone wants a Lambeth style buttercream cake with carpal tunnel inducing string work, it needs to cost more than buttercream with ribbon and pearls (eck). And a plain stacked fondant with real flowers should cost much less than a Topsy turvy, gravity defying, 25+ color cake with a gumpaste tea cup and pulled sugar.

Maybe she thought the bride meant gold dust or silver dust? The real stuff?

Unreal.

Ummm....real gold perhaps! LOL she's crazy that's way too much for dusting!

I agree that it's way excessive, but just for potential defending of insanity, maybe they buy the cans of luster spray for a full cake rather than a jar of dust. A can of luster spray is $22.87 (at aui swiss) plus shipping. I don't think you'd need a can per tier, but if that was allotted, then MAYBE, MAYBE it would be closer to reasonable.

In my experience it is more likely the customer was confused.