Guitar Cake - What Size Sheet Pan?
Baking By acakedecorator Updated 26 Mar 2021 , 12:52am by acakedecorator
I have a customer wanting a cake to look like this guitar to feed 12-15 people. Is a 9x13 a good starting size or should I go bigger?
Also, I have never charged for a shaped cake before. Any idea on how much to quote her? It will be buttercream with fondant accents.
Thanks!
probably if the neck is not cake -- I think I would carve a 10 or 11" round -- unless you have an oval or heart shaped pan -- then use those scraps and a loaf pan for the littler part of the body of the design -- but it's gonna be more than 15 servings --
charge a fortune for sculptures -- $8, $9, $10 per serving and up -- but you want to have a minimum price too like $200 for a sculpture --
how much did you quote her? just curious -- much lower probably?
I haven't quoted yet...I've been sitting on the message trying to think of something. I always get nervous to quote high prices, which is something I am trying to work on.
I was thinking something in the range of 120-150
She is a previous customer from years ago, too, when my prices were much lower. So I am afraid she will be very shocked
I can't imagine she will be willing to pay what the cake should cost for just 15 people. A 9" x 13" sheet cake would be large enough with maybe an 8" x 8" for the neck of the guitar. If she balks at the reasonable price, suggest a sheet cake, again 9" x 13" is adequate, with a printed image of the guitar on top of it. If you've never carved a cake before, here's a helpful hint. Print out the guitar in the size you want to make the cake, cut it out and use it as a templet to carve the cake. Makes it so easy.
I've only done one and I charged $250, but it would have fed a whole slew of people.
Great suggestion, SandraSmiley.
And thanks for the tip! I will definitely be doing that.
Your cake is awesome! How big was it?
Honestly, acakedecorator, I don't remember the exact size, but it was approximately life size. I am thinking the board was four feet long and the guitar was made up of a double layer of cake. It was heavy. Oh, and I cheated and made the posts that hold the strings out of dowels and used yarn for the strings, so they had to be removed. I cannot pipe well enough to pipe the strings.
sandra -- I think that's creativity at work not cheating 
and yes for 15 peeps it will be a mini guitar -- want to encourage you to go for the $150 -- you will earn it but establish your minimum price too -- something like "well, my minimum for sculptures is $200 but just this once I can do this for $150 --
then like sandra said, offer a drawing or a printed picture on a sheet cake -- or I tell yah -- some guitar shaped cookies planted around a round cake would be cool too as an affordable alternative -- and the necks could be kit Kat bars or something -- random thoughts --
Great ideas, k8. Thank you both for your responses! I love this forum :)
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%
