Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I have bought the Pro course but not actually got through it yet as only started yesterday, but wondered if you could give me your opinions!

I’ve been asked to quote for a novelty birthday cake, A4, with some pretty complex modelling, such as a hob with pots and pans and food bubbling etc.

I quoted £130 – £180 as the ingredients alone (with box and ribbons etc) are going to come out around £85-£95. The client was fairly aghast at the cost. Does this seem ridiculously too expensive, or just a little or what you’d expect. I’m not going to lower the quote now I’ve stated it but would be good to get a general opinion from those of you who do lots of novelty cakes.

Thanks a lot – JoeB

Hi Joe, you probably should be charging that much based on the level of detail but, if you don’t mind me saying, your costs seem very high! What size of tin are you baking it in?

Hi Doodlecake, that’s exactly the answer I’m looking for, I don’t mind you saying that at all, it seems expensive to me but when I add just the ingredients together it’s a fortune! I will be making 2 x 10 x 10 inch cakes…just realised above it said A4, but it’s A3, so double the size of A4. So two 10 x 10 inches, and then the modelling on top.

I think I may need to stick to cup cakes!

You could bake a a double sheet cake which would considerably reduce your ingredients costs. I agree with Doodlecake your costs do seem high. If you type in search ‘Victoria sponge cake’ you’ll find a recipe for a 12 x18 sheet cake. I baked this recipe for a dinosaure cake which had 5 dino models, erupting volcano, palm trees, water and other scenery + a 2.5 foot rice kripie treat dino model on a separate board. My ingredients costs box, boards and ribbon came to £45.00. You can further reduce costs by using the Wright’s cake mixes which are very good.

I made a cake at the start of the year, which was 18″ x 10″. It was decorated like a campsite on top, so a lot of work. I charged £110, and the customer paid no problem. I started with two 10″ square cakes, and cut some off one to make a hill. I don’t think the price of your cake is outrageous at all, but I do think the price of your ingredients is maybe a bit high? How are you working it out?

Madeitwithlove can you give me the web address for tje sheet pan recipe. Have been asked to make a tennis cake and that would be perfect.

Hi mtfhyes

I didn’t put a web up, the recipe is on this site if you put in the search box ‘victoria sponge cake’ you see my answer. It’s a Peggy Porschen recipe , really nice. x