Cake Decorating Community - Cakes We Bake

I was asked to make a three tier character cake for a four year old Thier budget is up to 200$ but how do I charge for figures I sculpt. I am an ametur it will take me time days in advance. She listed rapunzel the lizard Dora pony, strawberry shortcake, shrek pussnboots, Spongebob,its quit the mixture she wants characters on each tier. Should I charge 5$ per character?

Views: 566

Attachments:

Replies to This Discussion



Danielle Dyskin said:

When we calculate the price of cakes we add $20 for a figure - they always take more time than baking the cake or even covering it in fondant.  If their budget is up to $200 say you can put 1 or 2 figures or that you will decorate with store bought plastic figures if they want more. 

Julia, I'm a bit late coming in on this one, so this may be of no use.  But could you not just sculpt say 2 figures and do the rest in 2D around the sides of the cakes?

I had a woman just want a 10 inch cake with 8 figures made to represent each grandchild. When I told her what it would cost, she actually asked if it would be cheaper if I just made 'generic' children. Really??

So I charged 175 for the cake we she ordered the characters she watned. but a week before told me her sister has an allergy to eggs and asked for a top tier of cat in the hat. I made it with yogurt and no eggs.

I made sure to make that tier first so it didnt get contaminated by any crumbs from other tiers with egg,

The design was hard to draw. she wanted the tier to tie into each character we thought Dora an Spongebob come togther with a blue background

shrek and rapunzel had a purple background with castles and grass trees an clouds

hello Kitty and Strawberry shortcake had a large bottom tier so I clearly decorated each side differently.

while traveling the bottom tier began to sag with the fondant rippling  I pushing in more wooden dowels

the figures were too big for the one inch space around each tier so i used a cut wooden dowel to hold up the figures and some icing undereach one then stuck on flowers over the dowel it hid it well.

 they werent even complaining about the botton sagging I tried to fix it up the best I could for sure I;m using those big thick plastic straws for the bottom its much stronger. Everyone was happy and this is how it turned out thanks for the responses it really helped me feel valuable!!

Attachments:

Julia - you did an amazing job!  So much work and detail on this cake.  I would say 175 was a bargain!!!!!  Have you posted these pictures to the main page?  If not, you really should - people need to see this!

Awesome job Julia!

you have to go by buy how much you think your time and talent is worth!!!! $15 - $20 dollars is a fair price per figurine, dont count your self short you spend way more on gumpaste then what you are charging for your figurines you will make no profit and you are just giving away your masterpiece, dont look at the fact of you being an ametuer that does not take away from anything but if you want to you can give a discount if thier is multiple figurines thats what i would do just say for 2 figurines at regular price and a third 10 -15 % off. i hope this helps good luck with evrything!!!!

oh how i wish i had found this page so long ago!!! i made 12 cupcakes, each with a different sculpted horse on it, they were adorable, but i only charged her 50.00 !! :(

Im so happy I had your replies it really helped me I ended up using figures they ordered online . they did not have room on each tier i had to use a dowel to hold them on  i attached icing and flowers to cover the dowel

Attachments:

thank you! i loved the challenge it was fun to tie in each character to each tier

Katy Nott said:

Julia - you did an amazing job!  So much work and detail on this cake.  I would say 175 was a bargain!!!!!  Have you posted these pictures to the main page?  If not, you really should - people need to see this!

wow! each a sculpted horse? your time is valuable dont sell yourself short

nancy steinaway said:

oh how i wish i had found this page so long ago!!! i made 12 cupcakes, each with a different sculpted horse on it, they were adorable, but i only charged her 50.00 !! :(

Thank you!

Alicia Rodney-Valentine said:

Awesome job Julia!

RSS

© 2024   Created by Theresa Happe.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service