I appreciate all the feedback. I should have mentioned that I currently do everything you recommend. I let them know this is not the usual price for certain cakes and let them know what they'd pay for a cake from someone more experienced. I also only do these cakes for certain people and certain types of design. I've done a few small wedding cakes and charge the going rate for those and would never use those as practice. Just kind of surprised with the hostility of some of the posters here. Just trying to gain my footing in this crazy business. Most of the feedback has been helpful though. Thanks.
Simple rule of business:
Time IS Money.
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Charge for your time -- just like the car mechanic, the lawyer, the doctor, the architect, the........
Read this thread. The CC'er kept track of her time and ran the numbers: http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=6475557#6475557
TIME is MONEY!!!!!!!!!!
The 15 year old girls who scooped cookie dough for me learned this their first week with me.
"But you did not even break even. Because it had to have taken longer than four hours to do the shopping, baking, clean up and decorating? So you're not even making minimum wage"
ok, so according to this, you need to charge 30.00 (7.50 an hour) even before you start and then add in the price for the cake? I work at foodlion, just 6 months now, as cake decorator and i think i do a good job, but our prices there are 13.99 for a 1/4 sheet, 24.99 for a half sheet and 34.99 for a full sheet. 6.00 added for a kit. yes, they are simply decorated- a few roses, leaves borders-but even if a customer comes in with a special request and want something more the price is the same. if i told someone that i would have to charge-over a hundred dollars for a 1/2 sheet cake(up to 48 servings)-2.50 a serving, i don't think i would be making many cakes. i know my talent is worth the money but 99% of the population most likely would think other wise.
ok, so according to this, you need to charge 30.00 (7.50 an hour) even before you start and then add in the price for the cake? I work at foodlion, just 6 months now, as cake decorator and i think i do a good job, but our prices there are 13.99 for a 1/4 sheet, 24.99 for a half sheet and 34.99 for a full sheet. 6.00 added for a kit. .....
You cannot even begin to compare yourself to food lion.
Commercial bakeries can bake 2 or 3 (or MORE) wedding cakes in one hour (multiple ovens with multiple racks in a convection oven). What used to take me 6 or 7 hours to bake at home only takes me an hour in my commercial kitchen.
Commercial bakeries make LOTS of icing in one big batch all at once. Home bakers have to make multiple little batches in a KA. LOTS more time.
Commercial kitchens tend to have big decorating bags of icing being filled by kitchen assistants and ready for the decorator. Home bakers have to fill each little dec. bag themselves as they need it.
A "cake decorator in a bakery or commercial kitchen tends to not nothing but "decorate" (I said "Tends to" .... understanding that this is not always the case). WHen they get the cake, it's already iced and sometimes bordered. A home decorator mixes, bakes, trims, levels, ices, decorates, etal.
With better productivity per hour, commercial places can afford to sell them cheaper because they've reduced the overhead expense per cake.
If my rent is $1000 a month and I only do one cake a month, then I have to charge $1000 for the cake before I crack even one egg.
If I do 100 cakes a month, I only have to allocate $10 per cake for the rent.
Higher productivity ... lower overhead expense.
Yes, but that sheet cake cost the grocery store cents to make... our cakes don't cost cents. Yes you should charge for your labor and ingredients, but your per serving price should include both.
I made a birthday cake for my 87 year old cousin. So her tightwad granson
asked me what i charge for a cake. Before i can say anything, he quoted kroger's price. I told him that kroger's or any store cake is baked at another facility and prefrozen. Here my cakes are fresh, moist and decorated beautifully. I am not going to compete with no large grocery chain whose cakes Lord knows how long they been in the freezer and after decoration been in the cooler.
madras when initially you said $1.00 I was like okay maybe her work isn't so good that maybe it's worth that.
Please take a look at pricing in your area. Looking at your gallary you really have great talent and your work is very clean. It doesn't even compare to a supermarket.
It takes some time to get over the shyness of money...at least it did for me. But now I say I don't care, I know my worth and I'm not out to win every customer. If they can't pay for it then I can easily recomend them our super target or other supermarket that can fit their budget.
Good Luck !
I took my nieces to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream today. A small cup (single scoop) was $3.60, PLUS $.78 for about a tablespoon of M&Ms! A small vanilla shake was around $4.00 (I forgot the exact price). Neither of those items took all that long to prepare. The ice cream is made in big batches; and once it's made, it's done.
There's no comparison in the amount of work involved.
Why do people readily pay 3 or 4 dollars for coffee at Starbucks, then squawk about the price of cake?
Yes, but that sheet cake cost the grocery store cents to make... our cakes don't cost cents. Yes you should charge for your labor and ingredients, but your per serving price should include both.
Plus, the grocery store cakes often taste like they costs pennies to make, and none of those pennies were used to pay for any type of real butter in the icing.
You can pay for a custom suit that's tailored especially for you, or you can buy one off the bargain rack. They might look similar from a distance, but the quality is totally different, and you can tell when you're up close. Eating a grocery store cake is a different experience than eating one made custom with a personalized design. (Or at least it should be!)
And for the person who said they made $30 profit from a $50 cake (I'm sorry, I don't remember who wrote that), the response that you didn't make that much was 100% right.
I just charged my friend $1 a slice on a 2 tiered buttercream cake with fondant accents for 50 people!
A. I am a newbie and by no means perfect
B. She is a good friend trying to stay on a budget
C. I still made a $30 profit because I make everything including the fondant from scratch!
I just want to gently make an observation here. The $30 profit? I think you mean that you only spent $20 out of pocket on everything you purchased. And you probably have some of those ingredients left over too.
But you did not even break even. Because it had to have taken longer than four hours to do the shopping, baking, clean up and decorating? So you're not even making minimum wage.
You made no 'profit' at all, CakeBuddy.
not to mention something that i hadn't anticipated when i began trying to do this to make money was how much i spend on scotch tape to cover the boards) and plastic wrap!! it's these incidentals that are sometimes not taken into account when trying to figure how much to charge and if they are REALLY making a profit.
i charge $2.75/serv for 2 layers and was charging 1/2 that for my 1 layers but i may change that after seeing this thread
That is another question, should sheet cakes have 1 torted layer or 2 layers of cake torted. You know what I mean...1 layer of filling or 3 filling layer?
In my area a sheet cake is a 2" tall hunk of cake. However, I torte mine to stand apart from the crowd - on the RARE ocassion when someone can talk me into even doing a sheet.
If the cake has four layers of cake and three layers of filling, then it's a regular layer cake in the shape of a rectangle.
If the cake has four layers of cake and three layers of filling, then it's a regular layer cake in the shape of a rectangle.
Exactly. 
The Wilton cake preparation and servings guide lists rectangular layer (4") cakes as "sheet" cakes...which probably does add to the confusion.
HTH
In my area a sheet cake is a 2" tall hunk of cake. However, I torte mine to stand apart from the crowd - on the RARE ocassion when someone can talk me into even doing a sheet.
If the cake has four layers of cake and three layers of filling, then it's a regular layer cake in the shape of a rectangle.
THANK YOU! I had no idea about sheet cakes, and now I feel up to date. Thanks
In my area a sheet cake is a 2" tall hunk of cake. However, I torte mine to stand apart from the crowd - on the RARE ocassion when someone can talk me into even doing a sheet.
If the cake has four layers of cake and three layers of filling, then it's a regular layer cake in the shape of a rectangle.
my area as well. don't like doing them either really but i will. i also feel if your torting and filling then it becomes a layered cake no matter the shape and that's $2.75/serv base.
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