Can any one help give prices for 2d 3d, stacked cakes, and fondant,vs fondant accent pricing figuring pricing. My DH is telling me I should charge alot more for my cakes...I think he is right but sure where to start pricing??? TIA

Sorry for the missed word not sure where to start pricing????

to figure out pricing, you need to figure out what it costs to buy the ingredients (including the time and money in getting to the store), what it costs to bake and decorate (including gas, electricity) and you need to put a value on your time.
it can help to compare your self to other bakeries, see what they charge. if you are too cheap, thats not so good, you are doing yourself out of money, and if its too high, people just wont use you.
xx

That is why I wanted to see about what others charge b/c I try to compare to stores around but some of my cakes are stacked and I use fondant and so forth I wouldn't even know how to price electricty & gas. I buy only in bulk when there is a sale at the store and 99./. Is family & friends. Also I usually give a flat rate for the size of cake they want. Any other help please?

saying you charge a "flat rate" is just semantics. If you charge a "flat rate" of $50 for a 12x18, which serves about 50, then you are charging $1/person. A "flat rate" means you've already done the math and figured everything in.

I charge a "flat rate" of $3.50/serving, which means that price includes all cake flavors, fillings and designs .... no extra 50 cents here or 25 cents there for this, that and the other.

Some will advice "cake ingredients times 3". This might work in an industry where your biggest expense might be materials, but the biggest expense in caking is labor.

Example: A 10" round serves 38. Let's just round to 30 servings to keep it simple.

My cost to make a 2-layer 10" round would be around $15.
My cost for labor would be $30 (3 hours @ $10/hour).
Ingredients times 3 means i'd sell the cake for $45.
LAbor expense times 3 means I'd sell the for $90.

Actual price of cake? 30 servings times $3.50/serving = $105.

I'd lose my a$$ if I did ingredients-times-three.

The "times three" theory should be applied to the highest expense.

Indydebi do you start your price at 3.50 serving for everything "flat rate" or do you have options, adding for extras labor and so forth? I just need some ideas of what others do.. TIA

Not to butt in, but I also have questions about this topic.
When ppl say "add up cost of ingredients" to make the cake, how do you do that? How do you split the bag of flour, the flavoring, or milk (etc.) to the amount that you use on one cake? And what about different cakes that you make that require different amounts? ...I know it's all approximate, but i just want to know how ppl go about doing the math???

I do a flat rate. I hate being nickel and dimed, so I hate doing it. Sometimes it "sounds" like I'm more expensive than others, but by the time others add in the nickels and dimes, I'm much cheaper. When I find something that "genuinely" takes more time and justifies more money, I'll charge it. But I dont' think it takes an extra $65 to wrap a ribbon around a cake (as one bakery in my area does). Fondant has a bigger base price and I dont' do gumpaste flowers.

to determine the cost for doing a cake: If a dozen eggs are $2.85 a dozen, then divide that by 12 to get a price per dozen. For flour, look on the side of the bag (nutrition panel) and it will tell you the size of the serving, and how many servings in the bag. Example, if it says a serving is 1/4 cups and there are 80 servings in the bag, then that tells you there are 20 cups in a bag of flour. Price of bag of flour divided by 20 = price per cup.

Sometimes, however, you need to charge for the whole thing. Example: If you need to buy a dozen eggs and you will no way, no how, at no time use the remaining leftover eggs, then you factor in the whole cost. This is a legit business method. I used to be in purchasing and if, when I bought material, I was required to buy a minimum of 10,000 lbs, then MY customer had to buy a minimum that used 10,000 pounds. I dont' care that he didn't need or use the 10K lbs .... I had no use for it so I was not eating the expense.

Thanks Indydeb you make the big picture clear

Thanks so much it helped out alot for me as well...