I am making ten tres leches cakes frosted in butter cream with a sugar veil design, pink ribbon and gumpaste stargazer lilly arrangements. The sizes will be two 12", six 10", one 7", one 9" with a vanilla mousse filling. Do you charge friends the same amount as your customers or do you give them a price break. Thank you.

Hmmmm - some might disagree,.... because i give my friends the same final cost as i would if they wwere an unknown customer.
Yes, i might take a few dollars off - but thats about it.
If anything it is the delivery fee i forgo.

I have friends with their own business and when i buy from them i don't expect a huge discount.... i may get 10.00 off -

Long Hours, ingrediants and everything else that goes into creating a cake is my bread and butter - so no one gets a huge slice of my sandwhich...

Bluehue

I have one friend to whom I give a break to... I bake the cakes in her kitchen and she buys the ingredients and I gift my labor... I get free reign on the design and am allowed to use them as practice... she has helped me greatly over the years...

then again, I am just a hobby baker in a cfl state... so it really isn't alot of skin off my back... I dont even do many cakes that aren't for family or friends... I dont feel I am at that point yet...

Otherwise, no one gets a break...

If you feel the need to offer a better price for "special" people, I suggest creating a discount. Whatever you feel comfortable with, but set the discount so it doesn't change. For instance, I had a ten percent "courtesy" discount that I might give to a family member, someone I owed a favor to, or my lawyer who always gave me a discount. So every product had a set price, but if someone qualified I gave them a ten percent discount. I struggled with this for a couple of years and always felt uncomfortable; but once I settled on this policy, I felt fine.

What would you charge for a cake this size? Thanks everyone for all of your help.

I usually waive the delivery fee for friends and family.

Just charge what you usually would.

I sometimes "gift" part of the cake. It is my wedding, birthday, whatever present.

Friends & Family are difficult. They are going to want the same discount next time. Remember that part. If we are at the level in our friendship that I would give them a present, I discount the cake 2x the price I would for a gift. $20 kids birthday = $40 discount on cake. If I know someone well enough, I give them free cake stand & free delivery on the wedding cake.

I'll do my family for free...but I have a very small family.

Jason I hoped you would chime in. My friend is Cheap Cheap Cheap. I was going to be nice and charge her 550.00 which a reasonable price since there are 10 cakes. I went to set up the cake today to find out that her neighbor was paying for the cakes. She is a really nice lady so I start to feel and and think to myself great how is this going to work. As we are taking in layer after layer she tells my mom I brought six hundred but I have seven total and she was worried she would have enough money. I have to admit when I heard seven hundred I was happy but then it turned to I don't want to over charge this poor old lady. Jason what would you charge for that size of cake? Thank you.

Depends on how complex the designs are, but it would probably be at least the $800-1000 range. But that doesn't really help you since my cost structure is different from yours.

You need to look at the cost of your ingredients and estimate how many hours it will take to complete the order before you can even start looking at setting a price.

Thank you Jason.

It seems like you got your answer, but one thing I would say is be careful with discounts with friends and families because sooner or later they will be wanting a discount of Free. The small circle of friends or should I say associates I was dealing with, I had to stop dealing with because they pushed the envelope each time. I always say my light bill has to be paid just like your light bill.

That's pretty much how it happened. She never asks how much it costs. She has me tell her how much after the cake is finished. I don't like to over charge but then I don't want to cut my self short either. Thank you for the info I will check it out. I don't plan on making any large cakes anytime soon. I don't know how all of you wonderful people do this on a daily basis. In two days I had 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I actually almost fell asleep driving home after the delivery. As soon as I sat down at home I fell asleep sitting up. I love seeing the cakes once they are finished and all set up but I don't think most people know what it takes to complete a cake.

I agree but I made this cake for a friend. I only bake for friends and family. I wouldn't want to do this on a daily basis. I have been making cakes for her for years and haven't been burned yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed. My mother took the pictures and they lighting wasn't great but you can get an idea on the size. I knew I should have taken a couple of pictures before leaving but she assured me that she had taken enough photos. I guess I should have asked if they were good photos.lol.

LOvely cakes! I like the setup!

Thanks so much for the photos--gorgeous.

Even though you have done this for years, it will preserve the friendships and family relationships if you agree on a price beforehand. Think of it as a courtesy to the people who will be paying for the cakes. It would be a shame to have your lovely talent and generosity be impaired by bad feelings.