Frequently Asked Questions
How far in advance do we need to book?
We recommend booking as far in advance as possible in order to secure your date, as we are only able to take on so many orders per weekend. The more lead time we have, the more prepared we can be to make your dream cake. Even if you are not ready to finalize the design, it's best to at least get your date on our calendar, especially during our busy wedding season. We recommend booking 6 months to a year in advance for weddings. And for custom cakes for birthdays, showers, and other celebrations, we recommend booking at least a month in advance. If you contact us with less notice, we will always try to accommodate your order if we have availability. However, a rush fee will apply for a wedding booked with less than 2 weeks notice or for other celebration cakes with less than one week notice.
How do I get a quote and place an order?
You can email us through the contact page of our website, or email us at sweetartbysierra@gmail.com Make sure to include the wedding or party date, location, estimated number of guests, and an idea of what kind of cake or sweets you are looking for. For a wedding cake order, we recommend scheduling a wedding cake design consultation. You can schedule your appointment online here. And samples can be picked up from our bakery at a later date.
Where are you located?
We are located in the Simi Valley / Moorpark area in California. We work most often in the Ventura County, Malibu area, Los Angeles County, and Santa Barbara County areas. We offer delivery to all of Southern California. We are a licensed and insured bakery. All of our orders are custom made to order. We do not keep cakes or any sweets in stock for daily pickup.
Do you offer both pickup and delivery? What are your delivery fees?
We can deliver all over Southern California. We charge $1 per mile round trip from our location in Ventura County, CA. There is a $60 minimum delivery fee for wedding cakes, and $40 minimum for deliveries for other occasions. All wedding orders must be delivered to ensure the cake arrives safely.
Orders for other parties and events may be picked up from our location in Ventura County to save on delivery fees. We recommend delivery on cakes 3 tiers or larger to ensure that the cake arrives safely. If you plan to pick up a 2 tiered cake or larger, please bring someone else with you in the car to hold the cake.
How much do your wedding cakes cost?
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We simply cannot give a easy answer to this question as all our wedding cakes are custom made to order. Therefore there are many factors that go into your custom quote such as the number of guests that the cake needs to feed, the size of the cake, the amount of detailed work, the amount of sugar flowers used, etc. We will give you a proper quote once we talk about all the details you want during the cake design consultation.
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Wedding cakes range from $6 - $15 per serving
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Naked cakes start at $6 per serving
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Simple textured buttercream cakes start at $7 per serving
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Simple fondant cakes start at $8 per serving
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Most wedding cakes fall into the $7 - $9 per serving range.
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Cakes with much more extravagant details, tons of flowers, or sculpted designs can range from $10 - $15 per serving.
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Our minimum wedding order is $500.
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To get a true quote on your cake, we recommend booking a wedding cake and design consultation. We will discuss all the details about your wedding, create a beautiful custom design, and we will give you a quote on your custom cake and/or dessert table.
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You can use the calculator to the right to estimate your base wedding cake price. The price per serving will be determined based on the design. Delivery is not included.
How much do dessert bars cost?
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Dessert bar items range from $1-5 each.
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Our minimum wedding order is $500.
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To get a full quote on your order, we recommend booking a Wedding Cake and Dessert Consultation. We will discuss all the details about your wedding, create a beautiful custom design, and we will give you a quote on your custom order. Click here to book an appointment.
How do I pay for my wedding cake and secure my date?
We recommend that you schedule a Wedding Cake and Dessert Consultation. Click here to do that online. If you would like to pickup a box of cake flavors to try, we charge a $20 wedding cake tasting fee to cover our time and cost for creating your samples. If you choose to book us for your wedding (which most people do at that meeting), that fee will go towards your wedding cake deposit. We require a minimum deposit of $100 as your "Save the Date" retainer to secure your wedding date. 30 days after the Save the Date deposit, the first 50% is due (minus the Save the Date deposit already paid). Then the remaining 50% balance will due by one month before your wedding. We do also offer monthly payment plans, or options to break payments into smaller amounts if that is better for you. We accept cash, checks, and credit/debit cards. Our preferred payment method is cash, but each of those options are accepted.
How much do custom cakes cost for parties and other non-wedding events?
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Our non-wedding cakes range from $6-15 per serving. Most birthday, shower and other party cakes are in the $6-10 per serving range.
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There is a minimum of $150 for each custom cake and a $250 minimum for more detailed sculpted cakes.
What if someone has allergies or special diet requests?
We only make our regular recipes, or we also offer cakes with ingredients that do not contain gluten (in chocolate or vanilla cake). We currently do not make our cakes vegan, sugar free, egg free, lactose free, or other special requests. We work on equipment shared by a variety of ingredients. Even though we sanitize all our equipment between each use, we assume no liability and offer no guarantees that any cake or sweets items will be 100% free from coming in contact with milk, eggs, wheat, soybean products, peanuts, tree nuts, or anything else that could cause an allergic reaction.
Do you offer Wedding Cake and Dessert Consultations?
Yes we do. Click here to book your appointment online.
What is your cancellation policy?
If the client needs to cancel their order for any reason, all payments that have been already made are NON-REFUNDABLE. Once we book a cake order, we often have to turn down other orders for that same weekend since we can only take on so many orders at a time. If the order is cancelled within more than one month before the event date, we will keep 50% of the money paid as a credit on file. That credit will be available to use for cakes and sweets for any other occasion up to 6 months after the original event date. If the order is cancelled within less than one month before the event date, all money recieved will be forfeited as by that time we will have already had to turn down orders by other potential client at that time.
Do you ever ship cakes or other treats?
At this time, that is not something we offer. We cannot guarantee that your product will arrive safely, so it's not worth taking that risk of you being dissapointed in getting a melted or damaged product.
What method of payments do you take?
Cash, Cards, Checks, PayPal, Zelle, and Venmo. A $25 insufficient funds fee will apply to any bounced checks.
Do you rent out cake stands and other pieces to use for dessert bars?
Yes! I have a love of collecting beautiful unique pieces. We are always adding more to our collection. We have plenty of cake stands, glass apothecary jars for candy bars, a variety of other vases, buckets, and platters for dessert bars. You can see our full collection here.
Will you copy a cake design if I show you a picture?
As much as we love Pinterest and all the awesome inspiration by many talented cake artists, we want you to have a truly custom made cake. If there is a design you are in love with and really want us to copy, keep in mind that it will never look exact, as every cake artist has different styles and also decorating tools. We can use other cakes designs for inspiration but we will do our best to make changes to make it more customized for you. We never guarentee that we will make an exact replica of someone else's cake design.