How Much Do I Charge!?

Decorating By ieatcakes157 Updated 7 Sep 2011 , 10:07pm by TexasSugar

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ieatcakes157 Posted 7 Sep 2011 , 8:48pm
post #1 of 6

Heya, I'm new to making cakes, and someone has asked whether I can make a 40th birthday cake (just a round one, with the number 40 on, with red and white flowers). She's asked me how much i charge and i haven't a clue what to say.
I've made a few cakes, but they arnt flawless, I'm just a beginner.
How much do i charge!? I'm in the uk by the way lol

Thanks icon_smile.gif

5 replies
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cakestyles Posted 7 Sep 2011 , 9:02pm
post #2 of 6

Have you figured out your cost for the cake?

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ieatcakes157 Posted 7 Sep 2011 , 9:09pm
post #3 of 6

Well all the ingredients i already have,
so i guess it would be -
s/r flour about 20pish,
sugar 30p ish
eggs 60p
baking powder nothing i guess lol
margarine 79p
icing (ready to roll stuff) £2 at the most.
coloured icing i havent a clue either as i already have blocks of that!
icing sugar 20p?

My cakes really arnt perfect at all, but if im making them for someone i try to make them the best i can!

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cakestyles Posted 7 Sep 2011 , 9:17pm
post #4 of 6

Even if you already have the ingredients, chances are you paid for them at some point. lol

I figure in all of my costs for ingredients, supplies, utilities used, license/insurance (I'm a business) and than add in labor and profit and that's how I determine my price.

You'll need to decide how much you want to make on this order after all of your expenses are covered.

HTH

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idontknow Posted 7 Sep 2011 , 9:53pm
post #5 of 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by ieatcakes157

Well all the ingredients i already have,
so i guess it would be -
s/r flour about 20pish,
sugar 30p ish
eggs 60p
baking powder nothing i guess lol
margarine 79p
icing (ready to roll stuff) £2 at the most.
coloured icing i havent a clue either as i already have blocks of that!
icing sugar 20p?

My cakes really arnt perfect at all, but if im making them for someone i try to make them the best i can!




have you figured in the cost of the filling (jam, buttercream, or whatever you plan to use) and the buttercream under the roll-out icing? also figure in a small amount for the gas/elec you would use to bake and make the cake & buttermcream. then you would need to buy a cake board and box, plus maybe ribbon to decorate the board or even the bottom edge of the cake? it starts to add up doesn't it! once you have a total figure for all the expenses, say its £7 for example, try and guess how many hours you would need to make everything, from the buttercream to the flowers. say it is 4 hours, and you'd want 5 pounds per hour, so you add (4*£5=) £20 to the cost of the expenses. Then, add in a profit margin, say 5% or 10% or whatever you choose. so £7 ingredients, £20 hourly charge = £27 + 10% = £30. This is how you could work out a price - obviously i'm just using made up numbers and rate per hour and profit etc, just to give you an idea of how to get to a final price.

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