Ok ladies.....here goes....... My hubby came home today with an envelope for me. It was from the wife I made this cake for. It was a really pretty card with flowers on the front and here is what she wrote:

Mrs. (my name),

Wow! The "Maine" cake was the most beautiful, personalized edible work of art I've ever been given! We are so excited about our property which happened to coincide with my birthday. I was so surprised when David brought the cake in! You have an amazing talent to be able to create such an incredible masterpiece from scratch! I took lots of pictures and emailed them to all my family and friends! I am so proud to have been given that cake! It was so moist and delicious - the coolest cake ever! You should pass around some business cards. I kow this can't repay your time, but hope to reimburse you for the ingredients. Keep baking! Thanks Again!

I must say.....the $40 she put in with the card meant LESS than what she wrote! I know....the cake was worth alot more, but for someone I don't know compliment me on something I JUST started doing meant more! So, what do you all think?

Suzted, I think the cake was beautiful and very well done. The note that was sent along with the $40 was very nice, and very from the heart. I agree totally that it is better to be complemented than to recive a whole ton of money. I do cakes on the side too, in addition to my regular 9 to 5. So I dont really 'need' the money, unlike some of the amazine bakers here that own their own shops.

For the reason that I do bake out of my home, and it is just a 'hobby that pays for itself' as my husband calls it, I dont really charge what my cakes are worth. People pay me $40-$80 for 2 and 3 tier cakes. I quoted a woman $300 to make a wedding cake for 175 people. I figure that while I am learning, I at least charge people what my ingredients cost. Anything above that is bonus. I also had delivered a cake to a friend, and she asked me how much I wanted for it, I told her that it costed me $60 to make. She wrote me a check for $120.

Its a learning process, not only how to make and bake and decorate, but also on how to run a small business, how to budget, and also how to get more out of it than you put in. I figure that as long as you get out of it what you put into it, its worth, if nothing else than to learn that next time talk about price beforehand.

I wish you all the luck in the world. You definetly have some talent.

HA!! $40.. gee.. THANKS..

Hard lesson to learn, but at least you got that out of the way. Now you will always talk about price before you make a cake.. you should write up a contract too.

Better luck with that Bulldog cake okay??