I had someone contact me through my facebook page....I am located in Florida and work under the cottage food law. This is the photo of the cake she wanted me to recreate. Using a 14 round and two 6 inch rounds to get about the servings she needed. Chocolate and Vanilla marble cake (which i have to search for a recipe if she goes with me)

I quoted $170....does that seem to much for a Baby shower cake? All my ingridents would run around $50 I believe. I know other areas charge differently..but can i ask what you would charge if you were in the same situation? I am always second guessing my prices, especially when I don't hear back for acouple of days!

Thanks !

Maybe it would be a good idea to post some guideline as to what your cakes cost per serving, (low rate for simpler cakes and higher for fancier ones) it would weed out people who want a cake to serve 50 people for $50. People see Pillsbury box mixes for $1 and Frosting for $1.25 at Walmart and they think the ingredients will cost you even less because you may buy huge bags of flour and sugar. So they think you are using $10 worth of ingredients and charging $170 for it.

True. Lots of people dont really think how much cost does go into the cakes. On my facebook site, all the pictures of cakes that I have done in the past all have prices and amounts they feed...so I would hope they would see that, and can see how much most cakes are...most range above $50.

You need to stop second guessing yourself. Do some research. What are the other bakers in your area charging? Are they doing custom work? You need to remember all of your costs like water and electric too. If you dont get a reply then go do something else.with your time that day.
Unless you are independantly wealthy and dont mind sacrificing hours of your life producing cake as a community service project, then get comfortable with your prices and stick.with them.
I have had to have this conversation with myself several times.
Your price doesnnot seem to high to me but i am in a resort area.
good luck!

It also doesn't matter what the event is, the work is the work. I'm just saying becasue you asked if that was too much for a baby shower cake, but it shouldn't matter. If a cake takes x number of time and materials to make, the price should be based on that regardless of whether it's for a baby shower, wedding, or a food fight.

Thanks everyone! and yes...true..it shouldn't matter only depending on event... I think the reason i second guess my prices because I myself can't see paying that much for a cake. Even at my own wedding (before i really got into baking/decorating) I didn't want to pay as much as we did...because its just a cake!
I did do some price checking around my location... For custom cakes I seem to be in the middle of the road...I know of 1 person close by that does items for around 40-50 dollars cheaper than what I usually price..and then there are a few I checked that do custom work much much higher than me. And of course I can't match Publix or Walmart..which I'm totally fine with!

Thank you all for your remarks..I think I just have to stick with what I've spent so much time creating when it comes to figuring out my cost and such..And like what was said tons of times in these forums, if a person doesn't like your price, they shouldn't be your customer...I keep trying to tell myself that!!

Thanks all!

Myst, one of the first rules in sales is DO NOT spend your customers' money.

Here are some examples of discretionary spending:

A Mercedes payment is $1500 per month.
A pool costs thousands to operate every summer. Double and triple that for heated.
A large lawn costs about $250 to mow weekly.
Private school is $12,000 to $30,000 per year per student.
Country Club memberships are thousands per year.
Winterizing a boat is about $3000.00 every fall.
ATV's for kids are $6000.00 and up.

My point is that these are the people you should be focusing on to buy your cakes. Don't try to sell a premium item to the mainstream inquiries.

To the right target customer, that cake has no more bearing on the family budget than a cup of coffee. That's the price of a pair of Nike's for their kid.

So find the correct prices for your market, make sure those prices work with your costs and your target income, and stick to it.

Beef up your marketing and hit the right demographic for your product. You will then see your business rise to the top of your peers in a CFL state where you may feel overwhelmed.

PM me if you need to know how to contact that market.

Your work is good. Don't sell yourself short.

I would say you definitely need to know for sure how much are your ingredients as well as how long the design will take you, right through from consultation to collection/delivery. Knowing how much you wish to earn per hour for your labour is also key.

Having established this as well as knowing how much any incidental charges on overheads per week are (like insurance, light, gas, etc) Once you know all three figures you can start to build a picture as to the true cost of a cake.

But you also have to know your market. If someone is only willing to pay for a supermarket cake then you are looking in the wrong area for your customers. You need to establish what it is that is your speciality and then you know which customers are looking for that product. Then you know where to find them. I would say by keeping an eye on the shops who make excellent quality novelty cakes and know what they would charge for the same item - is a good strategy to keep your prices in line with market trends. But do not undersell yourself. I hear so often people slicing off (no pun intended!) charges off their prices simply through embarrassment of their price, and then feeling sick that they did not get a fair price. I would encourage all cake decorators to exactly work out costs and ensure the correct prices are being charged.

Off topic...

We had an in-ground pool for years when we lived in Florida and it cost about $80/month for chlorine/chemicals. The pool was 15' x 30' and 5' deep, so not large but no small.