wedding cake at cost price?

LEJC

Have a look at the waitrose website and under the heading entertaining you will find details of the wedding cakes they sell to order...I choose them as they are probably "top end" high street...

there are some lovely cakes ...mostly price under £300 this might help you get an idea if you are being overcharged for your cake....or indeed what you could buy on the high street for the money...

Personally I think its a reasonable quote that you have had particularly if you are having a pillar style cake as the boards and pillars can push the price up...but I guess it depends what type of cake you are having

cazjones99

its not on pillars its on an s shape cake stand, the cake stand is provided by the venue

sweetilemon

iamana1ias wrote: »

Depending on the sizes it could easily be cost price. I spent £80 on ingredients and £25 on decorations for a 12" square fruitcake for someone's birthday. Don't forget there will be a cost to baking it too.

It possibly could be but i still think its unlikely when there are companies charging 225 including full mark up for fully decorated cakes esp id its not decorated.

LEJC

cazjones99 wrote: »

i dont feel as if i can shop around now as shes already told them to go ahead

If you are intending to cancel the order...I would do it very quickly as if you are having a fruit cake tier and getting married in a few weeks ...they may well have started making it as the cake will need time to mature....
also when you are calculating the price of ingredients...the use of brandy or something similar may have been used to soak the fruit...hence increasing the cost beyond the normal..flour,eggs sugar etc.

iamana1ias

LEJC wrote: »

Have a look at the waitrose website and under the heading entertaining you will find details of the wedding cakes they sell to order...I choose them as they are probably "top end" high street...

there are some lovely cakes ...mostly price under £300 this might help you get an idea if you are being overcharged for your cake....or indeed what you could buy on the high street for the money...

That's a bit like comparing wedding dresses with Topshop

iamana1ias

sweetilemon wrote: »

It possibly could be but i still think its unlikely when there are companies charging 225 including full mark up for fully decorated cakes esp id its not decorated.

Companies will use the cheapest ingredients and probably have access to lower prices anyway. They may not pay VAT either. Not really fair to compare them with the OP's supplier.

Kittendreich

£100-150 would be about right for the ingredients unless they are unusual cakes... You can buy undecorated formal cakes from the supermarkets for less than £300.

If you have already agreed you either need to decide straightaway and advise you have had a change in budget and cant really afford £300 (but honour it if they have already started) or just accept the gift and write a really nice thank you letter!

LEJC

iamana1ias wrote: »

That's a bit like comparing wedding dresses with Topshop

There's nothing wrong with a bit of top shop now and again....!!!!!

iamana1ias

Kittendreich wrote: »

£100-150 would be about right for the ingredients unless they are unusual cakes... You can buy undecorated formal cakes from the supermarkets for less than £300.

!

Or fairtrade/free-range/organic/good quality ingredients. £150 would probably be "value" everything.

abis21

Hiya,

I used to have a small business cake decorating. I did a 3 tier wedding cake, all chocolate, with buttercream in the middle of each cake. It had plain white icing, ribbon round each cake, and a bride and groom topper. I charged that out at £125, and I still made £50 profit from that.

Fruit cake is definately more expensive to make than sponge (or chocolate, or lemon etc), and I would normally charge a small surcharge (between £5 - £25 depending on which sized cake you wanted as fruit). A large fruit cake is very delicate to make without burning it. It can take 6-8 hours at a low temp to make sure the outside isn't burnt, but the inside is all cooked. And it requires checking on regularly, so that is also something for a cake maker to consider when costing it up.

I also, didn't have any premises, I ran it from home. So I didn't need to cost in any other factors into my cakes, whereas other cake makers would have to. I didn't have staff, just myself, and I enjoyed doing it, so I was happy to not earn very much from it. I certainly didn't earn minimum wage from it by the time I had done everything, but for me it was a way of filling up my evenings (once my daughter was in bed, and before OH moved in) and making some extra pennies too.

Ingrediants aren't all that much. Am sure some companies use organic everything, but I didn't. Even buying organic tho, it won't cost anywhere near £300 to make.

I am going to make a small fruit cake for cutting at my wedding, and then loads of cupcakes. Cupcake only take 15 mins in the oven, and can be decorated very quickly. And I can make my fruit cake in advance.

But realistically, what are your options now. How much did you want to spend on a cake? Can you get some other quotes from local companies? Can you back out now, or is it not possible?

Hope you get sorted out xx