You guys are soo good and can charge much more in line with what you deserve. Around me I am making birthday cakes and everyone wants 1/2 sheet cake with decorations on it...Which is fine I like doing that kind of cake. I also like 3d Cakes. But when I price I had to keep in mind that if they don't come to me they would have gone to walmart...I am slowly raising my prices each year. This is only year 2. If you can get at least a few people who REALLY love your unique style or icing or whatever they will tell others and that is all the business I need for now.

To the girl that only "makes cakes for friends" and you quoted $30 for your cake. You are under charging even by my standards which are low. What I did was, I went shopping for my ingredients and wrote the prices in a book. Then figured out how much each item takes to make.. My buttercream costs me $5.50 a batch. Then decide how much your time is worth. My carpenter brother charges as much to make it/fix it as the product needed and then goes up from there based on time.

Thanks so much for making me feel better about my prices and giving me a clue of what I should charge.

Thanks 7yyrt. Ive been on here and doing cakes for a while. I dont do much talking, because all my questions are usually answered without having to ask them. There is so much info on CC. I love seeing cake's like Mikel79s on here. They are so good, its like they call to me saying come on you know you want to try just one more. Lol
Between the free cakes and trying to explain why I won't do Id like a Neyland Stadium, just need it 8-10 servings, for what they think would be a reasonable price, Im exhausted. Yeah, just google a picture of that one. Its in Knoxville, TN and sure to give you a good laugh.

I want to say thank you to all of you CC'ers. The information on this site is priceless. I started making/decorating cakes as another *hobby*. I thought that it would be something I could *do* that would be fun and consumable...better way of spending craft money. Well, after spending over $1500 on private classes, tools, pans, books etc. I am giving away anything I make. My husband asks me *WHY* Well, I don't have a commercial kitchen and I have two cats...! Believe me when I say I only make for family and friends and don't even ask for the cost of ingredients. Our local grocery store offers pasteries, wedding cakes, party cakes etc. They look very nice, are very expensive, and taste like CRAP! Tiny tiny one bite pastery are 2/4.50. Artificial everything. Underripe fruit, and cheap chocolate ganche dribbled on top. There are cosco cakes that everyone raves about. Good Grief...how does one educate people on what is worth the $ when it comes to good cake? When my daughter got married 4 years ago, I balked at the base price of $300 for a basic cake...then I started to research it. I educated myself. For those of you that are making a career out of this amazing art - I applaude you.

IndyDebi,

That must be one TASTY cake!!!!

totally agree with all!!
My cakes are custom, it takes me time & creative energy to make them, not like at the grocery store I used to work at where you just slap on some buttercream, ice & border, who cares if it's not perfect. Therefore I deserve a certain amount per hour on top of the cost for ingredients/supplies. When I tell people how much it costs, if they're taken aback, I just say well not everyone wants to pay the price for a custom cake & I totally understand! That way you find a nice client base of people who are willing to pay for the kinds of cakes I offer.

i recently had a "cake epiphany" and started realizing that my cakes and MY TIME and MY EFFORT and my ARTISTIC ABILITY was worth a lot more than I was giving myself credit for. I turned down 2 cakes this week. They were from friends.
they wanted to feed a lot of mouths and on very short notice and thought that cost of materials was TOO much.. wanted something for nothing...
I told them "goodluck finding a 10.00 walmart priced cake that looks like an art peice anywhere.."
unfortunately, cake ark is like many forms of art..
people LOVE art, and people WANT art.. but people dont really " NEED "art .. and people DONT WANT TO PAY for art either.....
not to mention, because i am using cake as a medium for my art, and I am NOT making a living from doing it.. i will NOT do a cake that I DONT WANT to do.. i WILL make a cake for my dear ol granny.. I WILL make a cake for my own kid's birthdays.. I will make cake for my best friend's birthdays..(within reason!!!) ... but I WILL NOT throw 200.00 away in supplies and materials and ingrediants alone or throw away 25-70 hours of my time for a cake i dont want to do! or spend countless nights hovering over my counter making intricate gumpaste or modeling choc. figures or details..as my hands cramp from kneading 10 lbs of fondant into various colors.. or hours running my oven and mixer into the night because during the day i have 3 meals to prepare and a house to care for and kids to care for and the night is the only time i can get time... sometimes spending 2-3 days awake with no sleep!(and by day 3 i have confectioners suger in every pore of my body , i swear) and hours out in the garage building elaborate structural support using wood working equiptment and various screws and glues and tubes and pipes and brackets..and hours standing at my sink washing dishes. and on my hands and knees picking fondant off my wooden kitchen floor. .. not more.. aint gonna do it.. for anyone... unless i really want to ( really want to as in the cake is an excellent opportunity for me to further advance my artistic abilities and/or it is a theme that is right up my ally and i cannot resist/ and /or i CAn justify making the cake because the person is reallly deserving and it is my gift to them and i am giving them the cake in leiu of something else that would cost a similar amount..) and of course, sometimes i just make a cake because.. well.. cake is yummy.. i call these my PMS cakes.. they have no fondant.. thay are not carved or decorated other than some buttercream border piping or chocolate shavings.. they are made only because 'momma wants cake ,dang it!'

People just can't resist those cheap $10 cakes. I honestly think most of them have no idea what real cake tastes like.

I made fresh lemon cake for my friends wedding, poor girl, I've ruined her. One of her guest asked if she got the cake at Neiman Marcus? She emailed me that she bought some "lemon flavored" pre-packaged cake at the grocery store a few weeks after her wedding (wanting to relive her wedding cake) and it tasted like someone sprayed furniture polish in her mouth.

You don't know what you are missing until you have something to compare it to.

Well said BarbieAnn....your post made me laugh. Been there, done that!

I agree, you want WalMart prices go buy WalMart cake, dont ask me to make you a cake. My friend had me make a cake, KNOWING what I charge, told me NOT to charge her less because she is a FRIEND. So when I told her the cake would be $85 she was not happy, so I said JK, $75. For @ days I heard about this cake and the cost. NOW she wants another cake and is asking questions about how to make it CHEAPER. I want to tell her to go to WalMart and have them make it for you!

Mikel79,

I am very near your area, Im actually east of Atlanta. I think your cakes are marvelous! Dont worry people think about your prices. I KNOW your cakes are well worth it. Just look at them, so clean and precise. You have some very pristine work. Excellent cakes!!!! Stand your ground and your cakes will speak for themselves! I love your work!!

Like so many people have stated already in this thread, people just don't get it. Last week, Tuesday, a woman called wanting a motorcycle cake - yes, carved cake to look like a motorcycle. I asked her when she would need it and she wanted it Friday. I explained that it was too late to get a cake like that, but we could do a sheet cake or round cake with a motorcycle on it. I asked her how many she wanted to feed....get this.....5! She wanted a motorcycle cake to feed 5 people!

I explained my smallest cakes feed 24 - 24 people. She asked and I gave her starting prices for 1/4 sheet, $36, and 8" round, $70. She got all huffy, said she would have to do something else and hung out without even saying goodbye.

I don't take it personally. She's not my customer and probably never will be. A detailed motorcycle for 5 people in 3 days....I wanted to think it was a joke but people just have absolutely no idea.

Kudos to you! I agree with your pricing for selling the cakes you are making. I would not sell a $10 cake for the time and effort you put towards a cake!

AWow. This thread was from 2010. Way to revive!

Just wanted to chime in to say, that is not my client. Want a grocery store cake? Go get one. My clients want a customized, delicious work of art.

When I want cheap toilet paper, I go to Walmart. When I want fabulous muscles aoili, I go to the fat hen!

Thanks for reviving the thread! I read it all and it was a good one, there are a shortage of threads (good or bad) these days!