I am an amateur baker and I recently made this  cake for a "friend" and is curious how much would you charge for it...

this is the first 4 tier cake i ever baked...It has cream cheese frosting and the orange layers are filled with strawberry filling. thanks for your input...

Wow.  I can't say how much I'd charge because I don't really work with buttercream but I can say that you have done a better job than a lot of paid decorators I've seen.  Pretty good for your first 4-tie! Well done :-) 

Is that a 6-8-10-12" tier combination? I'd charge around $600-650 before tax and delivery, but you need to figure out how much your materials cost and how much your time is worth before you set prices.

Thanks so much!! @Snowflakebunny23  

@costumeczar  yes that's the tier combinations. WOWWWWWW.... i am always scared because, like i said i am an amateur and Im always timid about giving pricing because i am scared they wont like the cake or the taste. I am so not charging enough. Thank you so much for the eye opener.

That's about middle of the road for pricing from what I've seen, too. A lot of it will depend on where you live and what the going rates are, but you have to price things to make a decent wage and profit or you might as well just go work for someone else and not have the stress! I have a pricing e-class listed in my Etsy shop which is 100% thorough, or if you want to get a rough estimate of what you should be charging you can do a search for cake pricing calculators online. There are a couple that are out there...They're not super thorough but they'll give you a rough idea of what you should be charging.

I have a cake business in a borough of NYC for over a year now and I can tell you people here would not pay $650.00 for a cake like that from a home baker. I would say closer to $400 - $500 for an all buttercream before delivery and tax. And sadly sometimes not even that much. People have no idea what things cost and have asked for ridiculous cakes feeding hundreds of people for $100 - $200 Shundi : I would say your best bet is to do your research with brick and mortar bakeries in your area and ask what other home bakers charge and try to do something similar.  I struggled with the same thing and this is what worked for me. Don't go too low to start out because you have talent and when you do want to up your prices (and you will) you won't want to lose existing customers.

@costumeczar @Laurafs22  thank you both for the information. I will definitely look up the e-class on etsy. I live down here in Louisiana so I am sure the prices may vary. I reached out to a baker i know and i believe she is a "home Baker" in my city. She is well over my skill level so i hope she lends some advice for me as well. I am so appreciative of the people that took a chance on me so i do feel like i may "owe" them something. but not to toot my own horn, my skill level has improved but the pricing hasn't. (if that makes sense) Once again I really appreciate your input. Great Advice and Information.

@Laurafs22  is right, pricing varies tremendously depending on where you are. I live in Richmond VA and what I charge is pretty much the going rate around here, give or take a little. Then if you go 1 hour closer to Washington DC prices go up. A baker I know who lives there would charge around $720 for that size cake. But then if you go two hours west of where I am the economy in the area is so depressed you might noe be able to charge more than about $400-450 for it. There are a lot of variables even within a two-hour area in the same state, so if you ask online you'll get twenty different answers from twenty different people depending on what their situations are and where they're located.

@costumeczar  yes that is why I told her to research her area, its her best bet. I am i Staten Island  (the good area) and people still complain about what i feel is a reasonably priced cake :/  people feel like they should get a huge discount because your not a "bakery" but i still rent a kitchen so i do have overhead and i explain this..still some peole will be reasonable and some wont. Eventually you will get customers who appriciate your work and and know your prices, it just takes time :)

@Laurafs22  don't you love people who feel like they should be able to decide what your expenses are for you? :/

@costumeczar  yeah i love it :/ case in point: i just got a request for a wedding cake feeding 250 people, sugar flowers, fondant ...guess what the brides budget is? $300.00 I told her to talk to a bakery in Chinatown maybe they could help her...smh...unreal.

I think a purchase of Costume Czar's e-class on business would be VERY prudent.  She is always helping people here on CC and has a head for business that is invaluable for newbie cakers.

why, thank you @Apti  

I really appreciate all the comments @costumeczar  do you have a link for your etsy store. Or the name so I can look it up very very interested. Thanks again everyone for the advice.

My website is listed in my profile on here, you have to copy and paste it because the link isn't working, but it's there. You can get to my shop through there.