PreciousCargo, I really like your heart cake. The price sounds good to me too as long as long as you don't have a ton of money in your ingredients. I try to keep my cakes like these at $20 above cost.
I am new at this I have only been selling cakes for a couple of weeks I usually add. up what it takes me to make the cake plus extras and electric then what I charge per hr which I don't want to charge to much so right now I am just doing min wage then add 20$ to that here is a cake I did for 40 people I charged 40 for a friend but anyone else probably 55$ in in NC now but will be moving to VA soon any advice?
The most I've ever charged was $69 (I know. Weird number.) It was for an 11X15 cake, a 6 inch smash cake, and a dozen cupcakes. The big cake had a crib on it made out of popsicle sticks, and the cupcakes and smash cake were decorated to match the big one. I wayyyyy undercharged, but it was for a friend. Worst part is that I wasn't able to get pics of the cakes because I had to run out of the door to deliver them as soon as I was done.
I can't seem to attach a link to my photo but it is the donkey cake in my pics and I only charged $80 would have fed an army and I know I undercharged and customer was p**ed that I charged them that! When she place the order she also said she would be needing a turkey cake in a couple of months as well, needless to say I didn't get that order!
People really need to give their head a shake! I see some prices that the cake shows post and in my opinion I wouldn't pay those prices either reason being is some of them are just not all that. I have seen way nicer looking cakes right here on CC. If you buy a Buddy or Ace cake you are buying the "brand" more than anything, but some people if it isn't "brand" name they won't buy it, and so they are willing to pay "brand" prices. Just my opinion.[/list][/url]
Your donkey cake is great! I think we should make a T-Shirt for all cake decoraters " I undercharged and now I'm p--sed! " Its such a recurring theme here....
What would you charge for this?
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1959674
It's an 8 in WASC cake, torted into 3 layers with lemon curd. It is done in all buttercream.
I have been seriously giving my cakes away. I have to rethink all my prices from now on. Beautiful cakes ladies and gents. love looking at everyones work.
I sold this one recently to a friend for $65. There is no way I would sell it for any less than $120 if I make it again. 6"x8"x10" feeds 60 people. What do you all think?
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1960034
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1959548
This started out as a single layer 13.5x9.8 oval raspberry cake torted and filled with raspberry buttercream, and covered with fondant. The paintbrush is peanut butter and chocolate candy clay, the paint tube is a candy clay shell filled with buttercream, and the paints are buttercream. The fingers are a 50/50 fondant/gum paste mix. That oval as a single layer should serve 22 (based on Wilton's claim that a two layer in that size will serve 45), but with the carving would probably serve eighteen. If I was charging for it, I would be asking for $80.
I just made this cake and it took me over 20 hours to make everything and decorate it. For now I would charge $5,50 per serving. Hope I will be able to charge more in future
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1960373
Hi ladies! Beautiful cake pics!!! Can you also post where you're located?! These cakes are gorgeous but I fear that where I live, people would never pay some of the prices you're listing (though I SURE wish they would!!!)
I'm having trouble deciding how much to charge for certain cakes that I think have to be worth more than just a couple dollards per serving. Thanks so much!
jeca_sss,
Your cakes are beautiful.
Thank you
Shaibaer - the cake sounds fantastic...and is beautiful.....of course, as we've seen here on this thread, location is KEY! But here (Stuttgart, Germany in an American military community), an 8" cake would go for $30 at best....no matter how perfectly executed.
jeca_sss - that cake is FABULOUS!!! Love your quilling work! Again...it's all a matter of location. I had a friend balk at 2.75/serving for my 3D Ninja Turtle cake (she was TOTALLY sweet about it, but was shocked beyond belief). My biggest problem is calculating servings. That turtle cake was suppose to be for 20 people...but after 20 people ate, 1/2 was left over! LOL Guess I need to figure that out...and SOON! :|
dreamsville - You're 100% right...it's ALL about LOCATION! I think if you look at something like average housing prices in your area, you'll have a good idea at the difference in cost of living expenses and understand why some areas get SOOOOOOO much more for their cakes than I could ever charge! (I'm prone to cheap places, like Central Texas...lol)
Location is important. However, I live in a small town on the East Coast of Florida, about 60 miles south of Orlando. I own a small town bakery and most of our cakes, no matter what size, are sold by special order. A basic 8" birthday cake sells for 30.99. A specialty cake, like those that are being posted, go for $3.25 base cost per serving for buttercream and 4.00 base for fondant. When I purchased the bakery, I never thought we'd be able to sell these cakes in this tiny little town, but we have no problem. Yes, a few still "can't believe the cost", but most don't even blink. This cake went for $400.http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1958819
I have no problem deciding what I would ask for any given cake, but what would you charge for something like this?
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1963578
It took about eight hours spread over one month. It took forever for the swan to dry because its solid and it is a 50/50 fondant/gum paste mix. Next time I'll use all gum paste for the swan. I'm sure I could vastly improve my time on the flowers too because this was the first time I made most of them, and then had to wait for them to dry so I could color them.
When you price your cakes, how do you price Rice Krispy Treats? do you extimate the serving size or charge extra as a seperate sculpture?
Want to see some things ridiculously underpriced?
This one: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1964265 serves 47 and I charged $40! Actually, it's not underpriced, I just did WAAAAY more than they asked for! I got carried away because I love Strawberry Shortcake...lol They only asked for it to feed 14 people! It was for a friend and he told me to "go crazy" I took him literally...but didn't raise the price since I had already quoted it. That family has ordered another cake for their son, but I explained that the next one will not be that caliber for $40 and gave them a breakdown of my pricing.
and this one: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1962089 same thing happened....They only asked for it to feed 20...but it ended up with 42 servings!
I am happy to report, that I have an understanding of serving size now and will never go that over the top without payment again! In the future, the SS will be $129, and the track will be $115.
jeca_sss - that cake is FABULOUS!!! Love your quilling work! Again...it's all a matter of location. I had a friend balk at 2.75/serving for my 3D Ninja Turtle cake (she was TOTALLY sweet about it, but was shocked beyond belief). My biggest problem is calculating servings. That turtle cake was suppose to be for 20 people...but after 20 people ate, 1/2 was left over! LOL Guess I need to figure that out...and SOON! :|
Thank you!
Did you try using Wilton serving chart? I always price my cakes by Wilton chart.
I agree about the location. It is really important, but than again I think if you value your work and if you are patient enough you will find people who are willing to pay for your art.
I have no problem deciding what I would ask for any given cake, but what would you charge for something like this?
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1963578
It took about eight hours spread over one month. It took forever for the swan to dry because its solid and it is a 50/50 fondant/gum paste mix. Next time I'll use all gum paste for the swan. I'm sure I could vastly improve my time on the flowers too because this was the first time I made most of them, and then had to wait for them to dry so I could color them.
I like that swan a lot! You did a great job. I would probably charge $50 for that.
Did you try using Wilton serving chart? I always price my cakes by Wilton chart.
I agree about the location. It is really important, but than again I think if you value your work and if you are patient enough you will find people who are willing to pay for your art.
I did...but it seemed like the pieces were sooooo small....then (like two days ago..lol)...I realized they were for 4" high cakes, not 2" and it made much more sense...LOL I use a combination of Wilton and Earlene's now and I think it's worked out to be more along the lines of what I was thinking.
jeca_sss
I was thinking about $65 because the base that everything is attached to is also gum paste. All told the whole thing used a whole recipe of gum paste, plus the fondant to make the 50/50 mix. Then there were the eggs that I used as the mold to dry the wings on, lol. I've since gotten some styrofoam eggs to use as molds, but at the time I wound up using real eggs to keep the curve of the wings as they dried over 3 days.
shaekae81
I have a really hard time deciding on what would be appropriate costing for RKTs also. I'm thinking a lower price per portion might be OK if you're using them for a mountain as I did here ( http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1924916 ). I just pushed the RKT into a hump and slapped some buttercream on it. But when I do something like this ( http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1923365 ) that takes a whack of time and attention to detail a small per portion cost because its 'just' RKT seems wrong to me. I'd love to hear what other people do.
[quote="shaekae81"]
I did...but it seemed like the pieces were sooooo small....then (like two days ago..lol)...I realized they were for 4" high cakes, not 2" and it made much more sense...LOL I use a combination of Wilton and Earlene's now and I think it's worked out to be more along the lines of what I was thinking.
I had the same problem I always explain to my customer how big pieces are. I was even thinking about cutting the foam so they can see
jeca_sss
I was thinking about $65 because the base that everything is attached to is also gum paste. All told the whole thing used a whole recipe of gum paste, plus the fondant to make the 50/50 mix. Then there were the eggs that I used as the mold to dry the wings on, lol. I've since gotten some styrofoam eggs to use as molds, but at the time I wound up using real eggs to keep the curve of the wings as they dried over 3 days.
Go for it! Don't forget that I just started my business so I still tend to undercharge
When I recalculated all of my cakes to see what I *should* have charged, my Ninja Turtle cake (in my photos and linked to above), I estimated the RKT servings at slightly bigger servings than the cake. Between the two sculptures (head and shell), I used about 3/4 of a RKT recipe (the 6 cups of cereal one)...and I estimated that to be about 14 servings. I think we actually cut it smaller than that...but I don't want to be a cheap skate on it
Hey guys - I'm new at pricing out my cakes and would love some help for my first "paid for" order. It's going to be a castle cake (see http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1325576 for reference). I'll have a 10" and 6" layer covered in buttercream with fondant, buttercream and some royal icing accents. The cake will be a standard pound cake with buttercream filling. It should serve at least 40 people. What is a good price for the cake? I'm thinking $80 (as the customer is purchasing the wilton castle kit in advance).
using my price structure, that castle cake would be $110. If you wanted to subtract the price of the kit from that total, it would bring you down closer to the $80 you were thinking.....hth....I'm still really new at charging people, too.
This is one I sold for $440. Four hundred for the cake and $40 for the Tulips. I should have charged more for the flowers but I had never done them before. when I experiment I charge less.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1948080
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%