Someone wants me to make them a 1/4 sheet cassata cake. I make a delicious one. I make everything from scratch including homemade strawberry jam to put in it. I don't want to charge an arm and a leg for it, but my husband and I calculated the cost of just the supplies and it was $45! I was astounded. I don't want to lose an order cause I'm just starting up, but I don't know if I would even pay that much for a 1/4 sheet cake no matter how good it was. I have a feeling once I tell her the price she'll just get a cake from the grocery store. Any suggestions? If I were to charge for the cake what would you charge?

Well, you can't lose money making it...

When I have a cake tbat is high cost, when I tell people the price I go through some of the ingredients to make them understand when they hear the price.

So I'll say, "okay, so I'll be making you an 8" round cake with XXXX design on it, inside you'll have my tasty pound cake made with fresh whipping cream, and for the filling you chose pineapple filling, which consists of fresh pineapples that are cut up and simmered to perfection just for your cake. The cost for this is..... "

Sometimes they say, ooh that sounds great, other times they say, maybe I don't need something so fancy. And of course, if you made a different cake for this lady, your ingredients would go down and her price would go down.

Because you have the time, I would probably work up the price for doing the cassata cake and then just a basic cake for the same 1/4 sheet cake. And give them both to her, while explaining how tasty your cake and fresh jam filling is.

Even though $45 sounds like a lot, it's a custom make cake with premium ingredients - and frankly, it's not worth it to you to do it for free unless it's a VERY good friend.

One of my "things" with baking is that I rarely use anything other than top quality "whole foods" ingredients - all butter, Belgian chocolate, premium vanilla, etc. All that adds up cost wise, even if it does make for fantastic cakes.

But I do understand the sticker shock - as a broke college student, I certainly wouldn't pay what I have to charge for a cake the few times I've done them unless it was a VERY special occasion - even though I know 100% they are worth what I charge.

Since I rarely make cakes-for-pay, and when I do it's for friends, I flat out tell them how much the ingredients cost, and what I need to charge on top of that to cover x many hours labor. Put it to them like that and they understand it's a fair price - it's up to them whether they want to pony it up or not. I don't take it personally if they don't.

Thanks guys. Your advice really helped. Being new, it's hard because I don't want to lose any orders. But your right I can't give it away. Thanks for all your help. It's going to help when I talk to her. Now I know what to say.

I think another alternative would be to offer to her that she can purchase the ingredients for you. That way she may be able to see for herself how much it really costs to make a cake.

What is a cassata cake?

Is $45 the cost to produce the cake? Or is it just the cost to purchase the ingredients? (Ex: If eggs cost $2.99/dozen and you only use three, you're not going to charge her for twelve. And so on.)

But, if it does cost $45 to produce the actual cake, then I agree with everyone else

Cassata cake recipe

1 pk Yellow cake mix; (18.25
1/4 ts Ground cinnamon
1 Container ricotta cheese;
2 tb Dark rum
1 c Miniature semi-sweet choc.
1/4 c Water
1/4 c Plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 c Heavy cream; (1/2 pint)
1 ts Vanilla extract
1 c Sliced almonds; toasted

Mix cake batter according to package directions. Bake the cake batter according to the package directions for two 9 inch round layers; let cool, then remove from the pans. Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, chocolate chips, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the vanilla, and cinnamon; mix well, then cover and chill. In a small bowl, combine the rum, water and the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; mix, then set aside. Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter and drizzle with the rum mixture. Cover with the ricotta cheese mixture and top with the second layer. In a medium sized bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the heavy cream and confectioners sugar until stiff peaks form. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the whipped cream and sprinkle the top and sides with the toasted almonds. Cover loosely and chill for at least 2 hours before serving. *Note: To toast the almonds place them on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer and bake in a preheated oven at 350 ? for 1 to 2 minutes, just until golden

This is appropriate to do if you have no use for the balance of the item purchased. It's done all the time in manufacturing ...... customer wants 1000 pcs of an item that require a certain material that I have to buy from Asia .... but Asia has a min buy requirement. I have to buy enough material to make 2500 pcs. My customer has to order 2500 pcs OR they have to pay for all of the excess material that I was FORCED to purchase and that I have no other use for.

Now if I can use the excess material for other products for other customers, then of course my customer only pays for the material needed to make his 1000 pcs.

It is a legitimate and proper business practice.[/quote]


In the context of cakes, you're pretty much guaranteed to have use for the remainder of vanilla, flour, eggs, ect.
So, I just wanted to make sure she took that into consideration when figuring out her pricing.
But, I understand what you're saying.

i know this topic is debated so often here.
but i have to agree with the advice of dont lower your price to apease anyone.
if you feel justified in charging $45.00 then thats the price.
i dont make cakes for profit, but if someone wants a cake i ask they cover the cost of ingredients. no profit.
and i STILL have people squabble over it. so ive begun to say NO if they wont cover the cost of my supplies. oh well, go to the local grocery store and get their frozen, no tasting, very bland decorated cake.
if this customer wont budge, then neither should you. although offering her a different type of cake within her budget sounds like a good idea.
i wish you luck!

Indy- Thanks. I never thought of it that way.

DesertDiva- Holy Cow!!! That sounds delicious and whatever you charge, it will be well worth it.

I posted this a long time ago and apparently it became popular again..... $45 was the actual cost of the supplies to make the cake. I priced it per egg, stick of butter, etc. not what I would have left over. I ended up charging her $70 and she didn't even hessitate, she just said okay. I was really surprised. So I guess I worried about nothing. Thanks again everyone for your help!

I'm glad it worked out for you!

When I saw the recipe for that type of cake, I thought, "That's an expensive cake."

So when someone orders a cake that is more expensive than the norm, I don't see the problem in saying something like that. Instead of calling it expensive, you could say that the cake requires premium ingredients which increases the price, or something like that.

When I see a great recipe, I always have to decide if it is worth it to me to make it if it is more expensive than my norm. I think people get that.