Free tool
Custom Cake Price Calculator
Build a quote from what the order genuinely costs you, then look at the price per serving before you say it out loud.
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Cake Week Capacity Planner
Add up the bake, fill, finish and delivery hours this week's orders need, then compare them with the hours you really have.
Custom shops rarely run out of oven space. They run out of finishing time, because crumb coating, paneling, sharp edges, flowers and lettering all land in the same Thursday and Friday window, and every extra tier adds another fixed block to it. This planner counts finishing time per tier rather than per order, which is the correction most bakers make after one bad week.
Enter what the week already holds, then try adding one more order before you answer the phone. The headroom figure tells you how many average orders still fit, which is a far better answer to a Wednesday inquiry than a hopeful yes.
Your result
Hours per average order
5.8
One order from mixing bowl to venue table, delivery included.
Hours this week's book needs
23.2
Total bake, fill, finishing and delivery time already promised.
Hours left over
8.8
Positive is slack, negative means the week is already over booked.
More orders that fit
1
How many further average orders you can still take for this week.
Change one input and the rest follow, so try adding a Saturday order and watch the headroom vanish.
Why the week breaks on Friday
Baking spreads across Wednesday reasonably well. Finishing does not. Sharp edges, paneling, piping and sugar flowers all want to happen close to delivery so the cake arrives fresh, which stacks the hardest hours into the last two days. Counting them per tier is what makes a four tier cake look like the four separate finishing jobs it really is.
Delivery is the second squeeze, so the planner folds loading, driving and stacking on site into every order instead of treating Saturday morning as free. Two setups an hour apart in opposite directions is not two deliveries, it is a morning, and the headroom figure drops accordingly.
Using the number when the phone rings
The useful moment is the call, not the postmortem on Sunday. When a caller asks for a three tier cake this Saturday, the answer you need is whether the remaining hours cover a bake, a fill, three finished tiers and a drive across town. The headroom line answers that while they are still talking.
Bakers who hold a firm cap tend to protect two things: a buffer for repairs on delivery morning, and one open slot for the high value inquiry that always arrives midweek. Set your available hours below your theoretical maximum and the week survives contact with reality.
Questions about this calculator
How do I work out finishing hours per tier?
Time three real cakes with a phone timer, from crumb coat to final touch, then divide by the number of tiers. Buttercream tiers usually land well below fondant tiers with sharp edges, so keep separate numbers if your mix varies. Use your slowest realistic figure rather than your best day.
Should tastings and consultations count here?
Keep them out of the per order estimate and take them off your available hours instead. A Thursday tasting removes bench time from the same window your finishing needs. Hiding it inside the per order figure makes every order look slower than it is.
What if I bake and decorate alone?
Then available hours means your own honest bench time between Wednesday and Saturday, after school runs, shopping, dishes and cleanup. Solo bakers routinely overstate it by about a third. Cut your first estimate, run the numbers again and see whether the week still holds.
More free tools and working documents
Working document
The Cake Order Confirmation Sheet
One page you fill in during the call and send back to the customer so the date, the cake and the money all say the same thing.
Quote that figure without reopening this page
The number on screen is only useful if it reaches the next caller who wants a hundred servings for the second Saturday in August. Set your servings, finish and mileage rules once inside TieredOrders and the cake quote assembles itself as the intake form fills, with the retainer taken and the balance date stored before you hang up. Ask for a demo and we will write those rules with you.