I know we post this stuff all the time but its too funny.... lady just calls, wants a horse cake, standing up. "Not a big cake at all, just a little one...only 15-20 people...nothing big at all, you know" she keeps saying.

I simply said "Well, it doesn't matter how small or big the horse would be, I'd still be building an internal stand and taking alot of time doing the sculpting and artwork for a horse standing up...so no matter how small it is, the price for a horse standing up would start between $200-$250.

She was like "Oh my word heavens no....that's okay then...thanks!"

I reminded her that no matter how "small" the cake is, I'm still building a stand and doing the same artwork that I would be doing on a big one...I don't care if its for 20 or 50...roughly the same amount of work.

Funny people. I suppose these people think if they order an amazing cake for "only 20 people" that they have to pay "Only fifty bucks" or something. haha.

I think your quote seems fair!! lol Gotta train em'

Good for you. People have to understand that there is minimum amount of work and materials, though, effort, involved. Sometimes the only difference between 20 and 100 servings is a little more flour and eggs. (That's an oversimplification of course. I KNOW it's not just eggs and flour!)

That's still cheaper than Duff!

I read a caterer's blog once and it attributed this to fast-food-syndrome.

If meal #2 is $5.00 for one person, then 2 of them would be $10 and 5 of them would be $25.

This doesn't work for catering (or cakes). There is a base overhead cost that has to be covered.

In the catering world, I explain it as "The tablecloth costs me the same rental fee, no matter if there is food for 50 or food for 250 sitting on top of it. The gas to get my van to your venue costs the same, no matter if there is food for 50 or food for 250 inside of it. The cost to run my oven to bake one wedding cake costs the same, no matter if it's a cake for 50 or a cake for 250. (I had an oven that would hold that many pans ..... this is different in a home oven, of course.). It takes the same number of chafer fuels to run 4 chafer pans, no matter if there is food for 50 or food for 250 inside of them."

We're not fast food. There's a reason people get a "volume discount". Not so much because it's cheaper to do more ..... but because it costs more to do less.

Absolutely the truth Debi. I wish people could understand that. Yes, you can get 100 cookies at Sam's club in a big box than you can get 100 individually packaged cookies. Come on people... think about it for a minute.

My 3D cakes START at $150 for about 30 servings. It's too much trouble for anything smaller than that and that's a straight carved cake. Once you start building a pvc frame for something standing up or something, it goes up from there. So, if they want a 3D cake for 5 people, it's $150.

Just wanted to share this: I made a 3D 1968 Mustang recently for a groom's cake and the MOG was happy to pay for it. When she came to pick it up, she was just amazed that the proportions were right and IT LOOKED LIKE A CAR. She asked me how I did it and I explained that I figured out how many cubic inches of cake were needed. I went online and got the dimensions of the car, they figured out how big the car would need to be to get that many servings. Then I took pictures down and got them enlarged to the size I needed, etc. She was looking at me in amazement and the work that goes into a "simple carved car". She was completely shocked at the amount of work that goes into it and then decided that she got quite a bargain.

My problem is that the people around here know how much work goes into the cakes but they still don't want (or can't afford) to pay that much. I have undercharged for years because I felt bad for people. That was before I found CC and ya'll gave me the courage to charge what my cakes are worth. I <3 CC!

No reason to feel bad for people who can't afford a 3D cake. haha. I !!!!!! cannot afford a 3D cake unless I make it myself! LOL!

You know, I know what goes into a cake and wouldn't pay those prices just because I can do it myself. But, if you're talking about... for example... fixing my car... i'm helpless. I couldn't even begin to guess. "Hmmmm... car isn't starting. Must be that dang muffler again. I just primed it last week, what's the deal." Hahahah. Ok, I'm maybe not THAT bad!! But, all this TMI is just to say that, I HAVE to pay someone else to fix my car because I couldn't do it to save my life, and I have a pretty good appreciation for what those guys do, (my brother is pretty good with that stuff, and i've heard him explain stuff) but that doesn't stop me from ragging a blue streak when I have to pay $500 for a repair. Even if the repair was well worth it, I'm still pissed I had to pay it, KWIM? I guess a cake wouldn't qualify for that line of thought though because it's a 'luxury' item. I guess I wouldn't be complaining about how much that stupid jeweler wants for that big, shiny diamond ring. If I can't afford it, I guess I don't get it. If I'm so inclined I guess I go get the diamond chip that I can afford. (Or, I save up for that big blingy one! That sounds better!)

Please excuse the babbling today, everyone. My kidney stones are really acting up so I'm medicated. I'm really sorry if I sound like an idiot. I suppose I should log of and stop embarrassing myself, but that wouldn't be AT ALL like me! Hehehehe. But that's why I love y'all, you'll just laugh with me. (Or roll your eyes and keep moving!)

Talking about paying to have work done on your car (or house or what not) a lot of times who you're paying either does a crappy job or doesn't finish it at! So then you have to go pay someone else to do the job that the other person was supposed to do. I haven't really heard that happening to too many people when they have an event catered or buy a cake. A lot of jobs are 9 to 5 and then they leave their work at home. I am not a professional baker, hopefully one day, but I've spent the good part of a week working on my bf's cake. Staying up all night one or two night to get it done, I don't know a lot of jobs that do stuff like that! Know what I mean?

Melvira,
I hope you get to feeling better!!!

Absolutely I know what you mean! And thank you for the well-wishes. I'm just dizzy and light headed from the medicine, so I'm prone to babbling!

Question...do they think they can eat this "stand up horse"? Like it will be made from cake and buttercream?

This is so weird, I was just thinking about posting a question and right here is the topic! Several people have said: "Why don't you open a bakery?!?" I guess I have never made it past the LOFL stage, but has anyone ever done a cost/proft ratio? I guess what I'm asking is on an AVERAGE how much profit do you make; say $3.00/slice charged how much of that is profit?

As a home bakery it seems like at the end of the year when all is said and done and all expenses calculated, including EVERYTHING and all costs associated, my net profit ends up being about 1/3 of what I bring in.

Thanks Kitagrl. I know there are a lot of variables for individual profit calculations, but I was just throwing it out there. By the way I meant "ROFL" not LOFL (typo) Where is my coffee??!! Happy 4th everyone!