Cake Pricing

Decorating By fabray13 Updated 3 Dec 2009 , 12:28am by andlydle

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fabray13 Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 1:02am
post #1 of 15

hello. i am a newbie cake decorator and am unsure how to price my cakes. i usually make cakes for friends/family and only charge for supplies. i was asked to make a wedding cake next may and have no idea where to start, with regards to price. any suggestions? i spoke with a few bakers and they said they charge per slice. please help.

14 replies
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leah_s Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 1:26am
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Yes, it's standard to charge by the serving/slice.

Now that you're selling cakes, do you know if your state/city requires you to be licensed/inspected/insured?

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fabray13 Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 2:55am
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no i am not sure about all of that. i do know i need to check in to it though.

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debster Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 3:09am
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I'm in Ohio near Cleveland and we work under the cottage law. Do not need to be licensed here. Call your bakeries and see what the going price is. I'm rural so it's hard to get over 2.50 per slice in my area.

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sweet-thing Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 3:14am
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You are very lucky to live in Ohio. You can have a home bakery and you don't have to have a license. There are lot's of rules that you should definitely look into, of course. And you have to be licensed and inspected to do a lot of things that are temperature sensitive like cheesecakes, etc. but you can have business from home if it's allowed locally.

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debster Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 3:22am
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Yes we can not do anything like cheese cakes here without a permit, but I don't sell those anyway so it's not a problem. I'm so thankful to be able to do cakes and cookies and candy. My problem is I'm in a township and trying to get a business sign for my yard has been a long hard process that still isn't finished.

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sweet-thing Posted 30 Nov 2009 , 4:28am
post #7 of 15

Sorry debster. I wasn't trying to talk over you. We must have been typing at the same time.

icon_smile.gif

Yeah, I think the selling is the easy part. It's the being allowed to have a business in a residential area that is a pain! Hope you get it all worked out!

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fabray13 Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 11:59am
post #8 of 15

Debster, what is the cottage law?

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cylstrial Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 2:00pm
post #9 of 15

The cottage law is where you can sell cakes - you just can't sell anything that has to be refrigerated. So if your cake has some type of filling that has to be refrigerated, then you either can't sell the cake or you have to change the filling.

There are a few states in the U.S. that have cottage laws - but not many.

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andlydle Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 2:41pm
post #10 of 15

i'm also in ohio just starting out. a friend of mine figured out what she deems more than fair for our area, so i'll be going by that too as soon as i actually start selling them. Basically $3 p/serv for buttercream $4 p/serv fof fondant. buttercream with fondant/gumpaste accents should be $3.5 p/s and if the fondant has more elaborate gumpast/fondant accents or just a lot of them then bump it up to $4.5. it's easier to get a fair price for non-sheet cakes, because people just don't respect them as much since they can run to the grocery and get it so cheap. My friend has a rule against selling sheet cakes, but I'm going to come up with a price that i deem fair for each size. and if people want the cake to be more special than the grocery store cakes, they'll pay what i charge, if not then oh well.
However, you need to make sure you're covering all of your supplies, time and talent so if charging $4.5 p/s only pays you a very small amount for your time and talent, charge more. you may not get everyone to buy from you, but at least the ones who do will make it worth your time. icon_smile.gif

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KHalstead Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 3:08pm
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andylydle where are you in OHio?? Those sound like GREAT prices to me, wish my area would support that.

Around here, the going rat for a tiered cake in bc is $1.25 per serv. (I charge $2.25), and fondant (wilton fondant by the way, only 1 lady does fondant besides me) is $2.00/serv. (I charge $2.75 for fondant)

I'm the only one that does carved cakes and I charge $3.00/serv. for bc and $3.50/serv. for fondant ( I use satin ice)

i would love to charge $3.00/serv. although I've done several Cleveland weddings because the prices there are generally $5.00-$10.00/serv. so people have quickly figured out they can save a bundle to order from me at $2.25/serv. and pay me the $1.00/mile to deliver!

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__Jamie__ Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 4:41pm
post #12 of 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by KHalstead

Around here, the going rat for a tiered cake in bc is $1.25 per serv. (I charge $2.25), and fondant (wilton fondant by the way, only 1 lady does fondant besides me) is $2.00/serv. (I charge $2.75 for fondant)




That's because you haven't charged what you should this whole time, KH! icon_lol.gif Raise them up, and then the going rate will be what you set it at! icon_lol.gif

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KHalstead Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 5:27pm
post #13 of 15

Well, the people in business around me have been here for quite some time. My prices have gone up considerably since I started 2 yrs. ago. I started at "their" prices but kept raising them when I would get too swamped (wanted to cut down on orders but didn't want to have to say NO, figured raising prices would weed out the cheapies).....and it worked........but I've had to raise them several times since starting.

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fabray13 Posted 2 Dec 2009 , 10:14pm
post #14 of 15

oh my goodness!!! i really havent charged people for anything but supplies, because i am a newbie. i showed a well respected decorator in my area the pic of the orange cake with the flowers (cant post to the forum because the file is too large) and she told me she would easily charge $180 for that cake. i almost died! i cant imagine charging so much, then again, i dont really charge anything to begin with! i guess i feel bad! lol! i guess i just need to set a price list. yikes!!!

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andlydle Posted 3 Dec 2009 , 12:28am
post #15 of 15

I'm currently on the southeast side of columbus. But I'm moving an hour east and plan to charge the same as i would here. I'm not going to run a charity. I have a husband and an 8.5 month old that i like to spend time with and making cakes for people will take time away from them, so i need to make it worth my while. if that means i don't get as many orders, that's ok with me, because the orders i get will actually be worth my time.
Oh and from what I'm told there are some around here that charge $6-8 per serving. I won't be comfortable charging those kind of prices for a while. but it just proves that people will pay what you ask them, if you're confident in yourself and they want it enough. if they think your price is too high then they can just go to wal-mart or make their own

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