Hi! I recently made a carved Lightning McQueen cake for a friends little boy. It was his birthday gift. Someone has recently asked how much to charge for one exactly like it and I'm not sure what to charge. Please help! Thanks!  You can find the cake at (just scroll down a little). Thanks again! 

Short answer: $0. You can't sell sell copyrighted character cakes, but you can certainly make them for free :)

If making them for free there is also some rules about that as well. Here is a link for all you need to know regarding copyright laws :) 

https://jasonkraftblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/copyright-law-and-cake-decorating/

Just out of curiosity, I've noticed some of the big name bakers from places like NY often have licensed character themed cakes....how do they get to do these?  And if they paid royalties I'd imagine the cost would make the project way out of most budgets.

I've been thinking about that as well.  I see a whole lot of licensed character cakes being done by well known cake people and they are selling them.  Not necessarily "famous" people but people who are pretty well known in the cake world.  I also see them selling tutorials on how to make them.  Not sure if that's illegal but they are making money off the character, right?

It's difficult to compete with people who are doing Mickey Mouse clubhouse cakes and all the little frozen Oaf's.  I swear, if I see one more minion cake.....

Yes, those folks that are making copyrighted cakes have the license to do so. Sometimes you will purchase a complete license and other times you can contact the copyright holder and just get written permission. I remember Duff on Ace of Cakes discussing that one time that part of his budget was dedicated to licensing and copyright. I used to work in a glass shop and we had several people come in and want collage football team themed stained glass and yes we had to contact the NCAA and purchase a license.

"college" sorry

@Jinkies 

 It's like the minions have taken over all that was once normal and good now it's all yellow and has goggled eyes. Everything from twinkies to band aids lol. 

Yes!  And, we law abiding cakers can't make and sell em! Grrrrr

MINIONS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE FORUM!!!!!

I'm officially done with cc I can't take another minion!!!! Haha just kidding that's funny :) 

@Webake2gether and OP (for hijacking thread)

bi do  tulalillo ti amo.  Muak muak muak

Minionese translation:  I'm sorry I love you.  Kiss kiss kiss

Thanks for the info @Webake2gether  I'll definitely check it out. :) My question still stands though, how much should I/would you charge for a carved Lightning McQueen cake that feeds 25-30 people? 

Assume, for all intents and purposes, that everything's legit on my end with licensing and such. 

Even though I don't sell yet I'll go ahead and say what is already going to be said by someone who does because I've read it on here enough to quote the pros :) Nobody can tell you how much to sell your cakes for. There are many factors that play into pricing cakes such as ingredient costs, location, whether you have overhead or not, how much time you have in it and your market. Your best bet if all is well and legal on your end check the prices in your area of others who offer carved cakes and if there aren't any close by check the nearest big city and then you will have the opportunity to decide what you think your time and effort are worth in your area. I'm sorry if you were looking for a dollar amount but I highly doubt you'll get that from here unless someone is close to your area that can help more :)