Hey all,

So I have been thinking more and more about actually putting myself out there more(like advertising wise, instead of sitting back waiting for business..)
But would love some advise..
First question pertains to pricing.

I feel prices are one of those tricky things.. I guess because I get my husband ALWAYS saying things like, "Why would someone pay that if they can get cheaper somewhere else(usually meaning the grocery store!! ) " So yeah that in it's self is VERY discouraging.

IF I get in to wedding cakes.. What do you charge per person? Per flower(simple and complex)? Delivery? Set up? Different flavors? Anything else? is there a website with lots of info on all of this? Even examples of a cake(with pic is great!) showing overall price would really help me as well!

As far as my other questions..
When baking something like a wedding cake layer, do you do 3 layers? So do you use 3 - 2" pans? My boss uses sheet pans, and were I think that is AWESOME, my recipes just do not work in sheet pans and turn out kinda odd.. just not want I think I want to do.

I have been using a SMBC, and I LOVE! Do you use SMBC for fillings/crumb coat on a fondant wedding cake? DO YOU HAVE TO USE PASTEURIZED EGG WHITES?? Also was wondering more on fillings.. do you use different fillings, not just a buttercream? are there different costs for a buttercream vs filling? Do you have rough est on how many cups per cake(6", 8" ect). Are all these already figured in to your PER PERSON price?
I am just having a hard time trying to figure out prices as I made a 6" cake and it took a FULL almost 1lb of butter SMBC recipe.. That just could not be right, right? When I figure cake costs.. they are not that high, but I do make all from scratch, so all real butter is used, no boxes.. a lb of butter local here is is around $4.. so it adds up quickly kwim.. I have been making the MMF .. which I find is quite cheap. You get like 2.5lbs per recipe.. and is like $6 a recipe(roughly). I love the color, its not a PURE white, but kinda a little off white.. my friend/coworker did point out that some brides/grooms would have issues with that, she said they are VERY picky on their whites.. is that true? I even tried to use NO vanilla in my fake cake batch, but still it was a little off white, not a perfect bright white ya know.. Anyone ever have issues with that?

When I made that fake cake yesterday, which I loved btw!! It took me about 6.5 hours.. that does not include baking a cake.. so that would be another 2 hours(? at least ?) ontop of that with the real cake..

If you have to buy new tools for a specific cake(especially when JUST starting out) do you add in those costs into the cake cost? Or do you kinda just 'eat' the cost?

That is all I can think of for now, but I am sure I will have more.

Thanks!!

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-694973-pricing.html

This is a good thread on some pricing information.

I'd price your more expensive recipe and use that for a bases on pricing. Make your pricing simple for you and your customers. I don't really get starting with a low base price then tacking on this and that too it. I'd rather have one set price, so I as the customer knows up front what it will cost me. Yes there are things that warrant extra costs, but those to me are like a ton of flowers, or something really detail and intricate.

All of my cakes are two 2in layers that have been torted, so I end up with 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling/buttercream and a cake layer that is about 5ish inches tall.

In my opinion, that is part of doing business. This is why businesses don't make a lot of money in the beginning, because you are putting your profit back into the business to build it. The only time I see added an extra cost for something you have to buy is if it is something that could only ever be used for that cake, like a custom made mold of the couples initials. If it is something that could be used down the line on another cake, then I think that is just cost of doing business.