I need some help on figuring prices - I have no idea what to charge - there are 2 other people who have bakeries here (other than the grocery stores and walmart cheap cakes) - one of them only does buttercream and the other does fondant. I've heard people complain that her cakes are pretty but the fondant is horrible and the cake is dry - they say that they don't mind paying the prices if they are actually edible. So far, and i've only done maybe a dozen fondant cakes and some of those were ice cream - everyone says mine look good and more importantly taste great......I just need to figure a price.
If you look at my pictures, I sold the Santa cake for $65 - I was scared to ask for more!!

Your Santa is awesome!! $65 was not enough for the bottom tier let alone three tiers and all the incredible detail.

WOW...the Santa cake is awesome!!! . Actually ALL of your cakes are awesome, truly you should have charged more for that cake. I don't know what the going rates are where you live but I would have charged at least $100 for that cake!!!

Thanks! I've always just admired people who did these cakes and when my ice cream store started suffering when it started getting colder, and I had alot of people asking about "regular" cakes instead of ice cream cakes, I decided I'd better be able to provide what they wanted!! Thanks for any advice - as I really have NO IDEA what I am doing!

I agree with the $100 price o your Santa cake - as a starting point! You will always have a few who don't get it about what really good cakes are worth, but believe me, there are plenty of people who are happy to pay for the quality you offer. Your work is really impressive!

I would have to agree that about $100 is a good price for a cake with such detail. You underestimate yourself. You just need to figure out a price per serving and stick to it, pay yourself what you are worth.

That cake is so cute and well worth over a $100.00. the santa alone would go for over $60.00 and that is starting to low actually. Dont under estimate yourself, once you start pricing to low you will never get out of doing things to cheap for people. From your cake pics your work is awesome and you should charge accordinally.
Keep up the good work
cherie'

Damn girl.. $65 for that Santa cake?!?!?!? Sounds like you need a lovin' bitch slap..

That cake is brilliant and worth WELL over $65.. I'd say quadruple that. How big is it? Easily $6/serving though.. that's a lot of work and very well executed. Don't sell yourself short. I bet you hardly broke even on that cake (if you did at all).

Sit down and figure out how much it costs you to make your cakes and figure what you'd like to be making for your time.. then you can come up with a per serving price..

jkalman i like your tact i know who to go to when I need a reality check. I agree with you all the way

Where are your pictures located?I am fairly new to this site and haven't figured everything out just yet.I would love to see them.

Kokopuff,
Look at the bottom of crazyconezonecake's post. There's a little box that says "photos". Click on that to see the cakes.

That Santa cake is spectacular! Crazy..., You grossly undercharged for it.

Thank you! I guess I will start paying more attention to the symbols at the bottom.

Awesome Santa! It seems like you're going to take the town by storm, with your great looking & great tasting cakes!!

I'm guessing that is an 8x6 if the turntable is 12"? That's 39 servings. I think $3-$4 a serving would be very respectable plus $25 give or take for Santa who is magnificent. So somewhere between $150 to $200.

My base is going up to $2.75 (buttercream, not intricate). After sculpting a couple of cakes, those babies would start at $7/serving. Plus, fondant & fondant accents add to my baseprice b/c it is more intricate/time consuming.

He's cute btw & you charged WAY too little. When you sit down & calculate your cost of ingredients, supplies, electric, etc and the time it took to bake, ice, sculpt, make ingredients, shape & details, etc you'll find $65 was way too low. I'm bad to feel bad, but why do we? We are better than Walmart---they can't get that there & if someone does want something better, they are going to have to pay, end of story! Uh huh

I too am not sure what to charge. I've attached a photo of a cake I did this weekend. It is actually the first one I've actually charged for. The girl told me at first she needed the cake for 50 people. I check around and found out the min. one of the nice bakeries charge is 2.50 per slice. I quoted that and she then changed it to 35 people. I still had to do just as much work for less people. I ended making 87.50 which was way to low (she did buy me an additional $25 gift certificate to a local gift shop though). I have a hard time believing people will pay 200 and 300 dollars for a cake. By the way this cake is one she chose off of this site so I don't want to take credit for the idea. I don't even know who the original decorator was.

If she wanted less servings she should get less cake, smaller tiers or less tiers. You charge by how many servings are in the cake not how many people are coming to their party, right?

Paulstonia, thank you for your reply and I see your point. Normally I would charge by the slice but this particular cake the way it was layed out needed the 10 inch pan and the six inch pan. I guess if I were more experienced I would have immediately told her we would have to make a smaller version and it would not be identical to the picture of the cake she initially requested. I guess that will come with more experience. However, do you find that people are willing to pay 4 and 5 dollars a slice for a detailed cake?

Wow! Your Santa cake is absolutely adorable. As a newbie and consumer, too, I would've paid ALOT more than $65 for that cake.

Lisa

People will pay $200 and $300 for cake. If they want a designer cake then they will pay designer prices. Of course there are times they want something more simple but for special times they will pay it.

I have found that in my area when I first started cakes people couldn't imagine paying $150 for a birthday cake but when I showed them examples of these awesome cakes they really wanted them. It has gotten easier. People around here now know that my cakes are more expensive but I turn away orders every week because I just am swamped.

I have people paying $100 and up (sometimes way up) for birthday cakes. But I still offer the sheetcakes (with much less detail and decoration) for those who don't want to spend alot but just want a great tasting cake.

drowninginfondant I know exactly what you mean about being new and uncomfortable charging 4 and 5 dollars a slice. I'm pretty new to this too. I'd check around and see what the local bakeries are charging for fondant covered cakes. And are the animals fondant? No way they're getting a cake like that, it is adorable, for as low as 2.50 a serving. So you were already giving her a great deal, she just found a way to get an even better one. Don't kick yourself too much just remember this next time someone tries that. Less money less cake