I have been asked to make 80-100 mini tiered cakes. She wants them to be no bigger then 3" high! She wants three tiers the bottom one being 3", middle 2" and top 1". I am going crazy trying to figure out how to do this. She wants chocolate fondant on half of them and a slate blue on the other half. Then I need to decorate each of them with an individual flower and vine using buttercream. I have found a pan that bakes four of these at once but it is silicone and have never used one before. The cost of this pan is $30. The only other thing I can think of doing is using a jelly roll pan and using cookie cutters with poured fondant. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!! The wedding is in the middle of Oct.
She wants cake not cookie and I'm sure it will be taller then 3". She just wants the bottom layer to be no bigger then 3" in diam. I'm not even sure what to charge her for these. She also wants me to do a small wedding cake to go along with all the little ones.
I've pondered on how to do this exact same thing. I'm thinking that it would be better to make several cakes in sheet pans or jelly roll pans like you said and to use circle dessert rings or cookie cutters to cut out the pieces that you want. I think this will take less time than using the one pan which will only make a small amount at a time. You could also use muffin pans if you have those of varying sizes. Fill the cups just enough to bake to the top but not over the edge.
I also think that rolled fondant would be better. Poured may be easier but I don't think it'll be as pretty.
As far as how much to charge her, I think it should definitely be more than the nomal price per serving for a regular wedding cake. Don't undercut yourself because this is going to be alot of work!
There have been a lot of threads on this subject over the last few years and everyone does it differently!!! I too think using a sheetcake is easier than baking all those little cakes.
Everyone who has ever done them says to charge, charge, charge!!! Don't think that "little cake" means little price! They take a lot of time and your time is worth the price!!
I couldn't agree more. Bake several large sheet cakes and whip out those circle cutters. keep in mind, less crumbs and easier cutting if the cake is chilled. As for the decorating, can you say assembly line? truthfully, these cake can be mass produced and still be of great quality. rolled fondant WOULD look better.....but the question is, can the poured look good enough? At this point, you have to compromise considering the time, energy, sanity and concentration it's going to take 
Good luck! We want pictures!!
I know magic line sells those little tiny pans (3-2-1 inch tiers) but you would need ALOT of them to this quickly.
good luck !!!!!! post pics when you are done.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007Q1ROA/?tag=cakecentral-20
I have the silicone 4 cake pan and it sucks, at least for me it did. You really have to grease those compartments otherwise they stick and you only get the bottom tier out, or you get air bubbles and get a funny shaped tier. I would do the jelly roll pan technique.
Oh my goodness. I am feeling overwhelmed just reading this!! I think I would be tempted to go the sheet cake route and use the cutters.
i watched a show and they took cutters and cut them out looked fast to me but i wouldnt know since i have never done them before, I would like to try let me know how they turned out
Just my 2 cents
I have and use the magic line mini tier pans when I only need to make a few.... But everyone is right if you are making high quantity you need to assembly line the production using sheet cakes and cutters or you will lose your sanity! As far as fondant on a 3-2-1 tier, they are really tiny cakes. I have only iced mine in BC (and its time consuming) but when Im doing that I always think I would hate to do this in fondant! Whatever you decide to do, do make sure you charge appropriately, much more that your typical price.
Do a test run with a few to see how long it takes you and then determine your price, you will be so much happier (and less stressed) than under quoting and half way through the project having huge regrets.
Best of luck! Everyones here to help if you need it, cant wait to see pics!!!!
I have never done mini tiered cakes before, but I found these pans. I know that they are 2d, but could you put them together and cover with icing? Not to sure about the idea, but thought I'd post the link to them anyway!
http://cgi.ebay.ca/3-Tier-Mini-Cake-Shaped-Wedding-Cake-Topper-Favor-Pan_W0QQitemZ140133590103QQihZ004QQcategoryZ25466QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I agree with everyone, make the sheet cakes and use the cookie cutters they work absolutely beautiful. The rolled fontant will look fantastic on them.
Also, you need to CHARGE her for your work. Those 80-100 mini cakes are much more work than a four tiered or so wedding cake. Don't be shy, don't even hesitate, just make sure you get what you're worth and all of the work that you're doing on this cake.
Good luck 
and do your thing.
I know sells those little tiny pans (3-2-1 inch tiers) but you would need ALOT of them to this quickly.
good luck !!!!!! post pics when you are done.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007Q1ROA/?tag=cakecentral-20
Does CC have the Magic Line pans?? would love to have them
I agree with everyone, make the sheet cakes and use the cookie cutters they work absolutely beautiful. The rolled fontant will look fantastic on them.
Also, you need to CHARGE her for your work. Those 80-100 mini cakes are much more work than a four tiered or so wedding cake. Don't be shy, don't even hesitate, just make sure you get what you're worth and all of the work that you're doing on this cake.
Good luck
and do your thing.
Cocacakes
how would you determine how to charge for these i just starting out and cant get my prices right , like what would you charge for a double 12in BC cake, i called several bakerys and they run from 35.97 to 65.00 here where im at, im doning this on the side i have a full time job also.
thanks
sheet pan idea i think would be the best and fastest way. you would go insane trying to do them individually. id say start with a base price for ingredient, like 3-5$ per cake...then figure out how many you can do in an hours worth of work, and decide how much youre worth per hour say 10-20$. ex: you can do 8 cakes in an hour: youre worth 20$ an hour for you work-so divide how much time for each cake...2.50$ and add it to the base price. thats the way i would figure them up
I'm assuming that one "small cake is going to be per person. If you do each tier 2 in. tall (thats the size of the mini cake pans) then that makes each cake atleast 6 in. tall. I think that is a lot of cake for one person. Maybe try to convince the bride to just do two tiers. Also that is alot of cake without a filling or anything because it is hard to get a decent amout of BC (and have it be nice) on the small cakes. I guess if you did one inch tiers stacked with BC to make a two in. it would be better as far as filling is concerned. Sorry I'm just rambling. I guess I'm feeling stressed for you.
I know Magic Line sells those little tiny pans (3-2-1 inch tiers) but you would need ALOT of them to this quickly.
good luck !!!!!! post pics when you are done.
I have the mini magic line pans. I got mine off of ebay, but cakepans4less.com has them and I like to order form them. They have pans and a ton of candy molds. They are very fast with their shipping, a great little company. Also sugarcraft.com has them too.
Sorry for the rant. 
Country Kitchen has the pantastic line of mini pans and they are smaller than the Magic Line pans. You can make more at once too.
http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/mini.aspx?T=1&ShopId=38&CatId=536&SubCatId=1618
Hope this is helpful!!
Never tried these myself but if I were to attempt I would go with sheet cake and cutters. Sounds way time consuming - don't work for less than what you're worth! Assembly line is great advice. Is there anyone you can enlist to help? Good luck and post pics please!
You all are awesome for even considering these. I wouldn't do 'em for under $12 each and that's because I WANT her to go somewhere else. THe labor, the boxes, the transport, the set-up ..... talk about labor intensive labor costs!
My rule of thumb: 1/4 the size means 4 times the price. Smaller is ALWAYS more work than bigger!
Here's another thread on large quantities of mini-cakes:
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-225341-.html
HTH
over valentines day i wanted to make mini chocolate covered cakes so i bought a wilton mini heart silicone and i had a lot of troble with the cakes keeping their shape when i removed them and they were covered with crumbs, so i took my mix and made a sheet cake and cut the shapes and it saved me a lot of time and i got much cleaner looking cakes.
well holy SCHEISSE as I would say in German/English swearing-mode lol.
Well I cant speak from experience or any sort of class that you all are in lol, but I do know that when I made the krabby patties last yaer for my nephew's birthday, I used my shallow muffin tins. And that worked. Didnt fill them a lot. But I'm envisioning different sized cookie cutters and sheetcakes to be a good massproduction line. I did use cookie cutters to cut out 'lettuce' and other condiments out of MMF for the krabby patties. Not able to suggest fondant poured or otherwise.
I gotta say you wont want to undercharge for all taht though lol.
I do concur, 3 tiers sounds like a lot of cake for one person
good luck1 Cant wait to see it all
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