So does anyone else think...

stephie25 · May 2012

think wedding cakes are stupid expensive!?! We arn't even asking for anything fancy and we are getting quoted around 800!!

ElisabethJoanne · May 2012

I go back and forth. Our quotes are about $4-6/slice. That's on the highest end of what I'd pay for a slice of cake at these cute bakeries.

Kath1083 · June 2012

Ours is part of our package! I had no idea that it could cost that much per person

Mademoiselle D · June 2012

Wow...$800?!? I was complaining about being charged $560 at most, lol! Can you post a picture of your cake inspiration?

stephie25 · June 2012

Il try to post a picture this morning but the knot will only show me this post on my phone for some reason! We have 200 guest soni figured it would be expensive, but the cheapest quote was 735! I'm going back to talk to that bakery on Tuesday, they said we could do 3 tiers instead of four and do an extra sheet came that no one will see so everyone gets a piece so that will bring the price down to around 600. We budgeted for 800 but I'm really annoyed about paying that much for flour and sugar! In my dream land I thought with our simple design it would be around 500.

stephie25 · June 2012

Here is the cake we want. We have our own cake topper that is similar to this one, and FSIL (who delivers cakes) will place the flowers for us.

tiffanydaniels · June 2012

Could you do sheet cakes and a smaller main cake, our cake lady is 2.50 a slice, and so we are just doing enough cake in our main cake, but other places were trying to charge us like 3.50-4.50 a slice and we were going to do a small cake and some sheet cakes!

kantonik · June 2012

that is a crazy price! Our cake is included in our package with our venue. I had no idea they could be so expensive!

Leenie10 · June 2012

Hello,
Our cake is also included in our package but we have not done a tasting yet so I don't what the cake that's included will be like. I hope it is a decent size. $800 does seem like a lot for a cake but as we know, when you put the word "wedding" in front of anything the price of whatever it is suddenly goes up!!

stephie25 · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_november-2012-weddings_so-does-anyone-else-think?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:46c2f53c-680c-4532-aa96-4cca92890b59Discussion:7d6ab814-d85d-4eef-b528-34b48d949ad9Post:896a38cd-ba53-4ef3-9f65-e870d1ef17e4">Re: So does anyone else think...</a>:
[QUOTE]Could you do sheet cakes and a smaller main cake, our cake lady is 2.50 a slice, and so we are just doing enough cake in our main cake, but other places were trying to charge us like 3.50-4.50 a slice and we were going to do a small cake and some sheet cakes!
Posted by tiffanydaniels[/QUOTE]

<div>That's what we are doing. I did a bit of calling around and posted on our local board, and with the delivery fee and such, the place we are going back to on Tuesday is going to work out the cheapest, but it'll still be over $600. It's so true, adding wedding in front of anything makes it twice the price! </div>

MrsK1110 · June 2012

The cheapest I have found so far is $2.50/slice and she doesn't charge tax as she deems it a "service" so that will help out a ton! I have been quoted up to $6/slice and I thought that was CRAZY! My cake inspiration is 5 tiers but 2 will be fake because we don't need that much cake.

Miss_2010 · June 2012

Most cakes here are $400 starting for a 3 tier cake, with a 4th tier costing only $25 extra (this includes basic piping, fondant, whatever you want, ribbons, etc - fresh flowers are extra). There is one baker who does amazing cakes with a lot of gum paste flowers and hers start at about $650 which is utterly ridiculous. $400 is bad enough! lol

stephie25 · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_november-2012-weddings_so-does-anyone-else-think?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:46c2f53c-680c-4532-aa96-4cca92890b59Discussion:7d6ab814-d85d-4eef-b528-34b48d949ad9Post:7c4422ca-4a0b-4ee1-9549-b73f3d2a5736">Re: So does anyone else think...</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm betting part of that price is the fondant, part of it is the tiers, and part of it is because some bride before you was crazy and now we're all going to enjoy the dealing-with-a-bride fee. Yay....
Posted by Harry87[/QUOTE]

<div>HAHAHA Some crazy bride probably did ruin it for all of us! </div><div>Aaaaand that price is for buttercream. I shudder to think what fondont would have cost. </div>

snowdaisy822 · June 2012

I'll tell you, I own a bakery specializing in wedding cakes and cupcakes and I always thought cakes were crazy expensive until I started making them. For a cake that size, it will take me about 3 hours just to get the cakes baked and cooled so I can decorate them, then it takes another at least 3 hours to level, frost, and stack the cake. Fondant is a pain to work with (I actually refuse to work with it) and costs much more. So a cake like that would take upwards of 8 hours for a cake like that. If you think of labor and everything the baker has to factor in, that's abot normal. Hopefully your baker is very good and bakes from scratch, which costs quite a bit more than boxed mixes. The kitchen I use I have to pay $10/hour to even be there, so that's another overhead cost I have to factor into my cake prices.

Also, your location matters, too. I live in Central Oregon, so things here are super cheap. I only charge around $2.50/slice for buttercream, but I know down in California $8/slice is quite normal.

One way to possibly bring down the cost is to ask them to do a "dummy" cake and the bottom two layers would be fake and only the top tier would be cake, then do the cake for everyone else as a sheet cake. (Just don't tell my clients that!).

librababy · June 2012

I undertstand 'labor' but $800 for cake is insane. I hope you find a delicious cake in your budget.

I got lucky and went to 2 local bakers. The 1st one I didn't like the cake so much but the second bakery is not only cheaper but the cake is delicious. And I got quoted a steal. So happy. I did not want to pat more than $200 for cake. For me and my budget, I just could not.

stephie25 · June 2012

I totally get that it's a ton of work and 8 hours for a cake is a lot. But so is the 40 hours I have to work to pay for that cake!

Shellywid · June 2012

we decided to go with cupcakes instead, we are setting them to look like a 3 tier cake (one for each flavor) it will be about $150 for 200 people

souptin · June 2012

i dont know about the norms where you live, but I am in Toronto and it is common for the venue to charge an additional price to serve cake as well-just to keep that in mind, here its anywhere from $1-$2.50 per guest to plate and serve in addition to the cost of the cake!

I am allergic to gluten, so getting a gluten free cake would be CRAZY expensive and with the added serving fee it just wasnt worth it for us so we are doing cupcakes and a sweet table instead and having a very small round cake for us to cut.

Mademoiselle D · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_november-2012-weddings_so-does-anyone-else-think?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:46c2f53c-680c-4532-aa96-4cca92890b59Discussion:7d6ab814-d85d-4eef-b528-34b48d949ad9Post:6117e179-8d41-487b-95ec-440d0ad36ba8">Re: So does anyone else think...</a>:
[QUOTE]Here is the cake we want. We have our own cake topper that is similar to this one, and FSIL (who delivers cakes) will place the flowers for us.
Posted by stephie25[/QUOTE]

I can understand the labor associated in baking a cake but for a cake which doesn't require any elaborate sugar work....$800....no way!

I am sure you will find a vendor who can bake your cake and is within budget. Have you considered checking out any local culinary schools and possibly hire an aspiring pastry chef student. We are looking to do that for our dessert table. Also, you can look around for smaller, local bakeries who do have wedding cakes but are starting out.

In my case, we found someone (a friend of a very good cousin of mine) who went to The Cordon Bleu in South Florida and he works in a bakery. He does cakes on the side and his sugar work is AMAZING! We are will be sampling his work soon and he isn't going to charge us an arm and a leg for fondant and sugar flowers.

Here is the cake we want and it will cost about $450 in total. This cake would cost beyond $500 in South Florida.

<a href="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/6/10/2649636c-f6dc-4476-9a57-cb3a1359a401.large.jpg" title="Click to view a larger photo" class="PhotoLink"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/6/10/2649636c-f6dc-4476-9a57-cb3a1359a401.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a>

stephie25 · June 2012

Funny enough, I just got back from finalizing the cake. We are doing the three tier, just like the picture I posted above, and an extra round cake and it'll be about $600. More than I wanted to spend, but the best deal I found in our area.

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