Client wants a really tall cake...each tier 3 layers. She wants the bottom tier to be a 16" dummy. How would you price it? I have read in past forum's that the going rate is 80% of the cost of a real cake. If the bottom tier is a 6" tall, 16" tier, would you consider that 150 servings? And if so, if I normally charge $3.50 per serving...that would make the price of the dummy $420.00???? Sounds like an awful lot, but it is a lot of work! What do you think?

Well, that dummy isn't going to be cheap. I've never seen a 16", 6" tall dummy ready made, so it will need to be custom ordered. The shipping could be a bear, too.

You'll spend some real time softening the edges & prepping it.

And then you'll use the same amount of icing & time decorating it.

That $3.50 per serving is probably 75-90% YOUR LABOR cost, so it depends on if you want to discount your labor, or not.

You could discount it more if you arrange to get back all of the dummies--provided that they're in PERFECT shape when returned to you--but do you really have a lot of call for that size dummy cake?????

It goes to show that it's better to have leftover cake than to throw out a big chunk of styrofoam.

JMHO
Rae

Cake dummies are a pain to order, a pain to keep in stock, and a pain to work with. We charge the same amount for dummy tiers and cake tiers to encourage customers to choose cake.

If the cake is a 16/12/8 with 3 layer round tiers, that's 270 servings. Our price for multi-tier cakes starts at $5/serving, so we would charge minimum $1350 + delivery + setup for that cake.

That's a crazy huge dummy cake! I deduct the actual cost of the tier's ingredients but I'll spend the same amount for icing & labor to decorate it. No real cost savings! They should donate the tier to a good cause instead!