I just did my first wedding with mini cakes........question: how do you charge for these cakes........by the way, it took ALL DAY to decorate them........I notice several bakeries in the area charge $55 or so........after spending so much time on them, I totally understand the price.......any suggestions?
It would depend on the cake. The wedding I did with 23 cakes ~ I charged $45 per cake. If I did it again I would charge more. Not so much for the expense of the ingredients as for the time involved in making the cakes. My cakes are posted on the site.
Debbie
I think many people on this site (and other sites) know my feelings on this subject, but you asked, so her you go:
Your cake (or cookies for that matter) prices should be based on the cost of materials (raw ingredients plus packaging), add 3-5% of that total for waste and small, hard-to-price items (salt, dragees, etc.) plus your labor (based on an hourly rate; $10.00 an hour is usually a good starting price). Once you have this figure, you should AT LEAST double it. This is the price you should charge, if not more.
Example for cookies:
Dough = $1.50 (I price out all my recipes)
3% for waste etc. = $.05
1 hours work at $10.00/hour = $10.00
Total = $11.55
This recipe yields thirty 4" cookies (depending on shape). Therefore, each cookie costs $.39. Multiply this by 2 and you come up with a cost of $.78 a cookie. (Keep in mind that this is for an undecorated cookie. Decorated cookies would of course include costs for icing, etc.) I charge anywhere between $1.50 - $4.00 per decorated cookie depending on amount of extra materials and work.
For cakes, if you feel more comfortable giving the customer a price per serving, then take your figure and divide it by the amount of servings.
This is a basic rule of economics. Picking a price out of thin air or asking someone what your cake is worth is not the way to do it. You will inevitably lose money along the way. And basing your prices on those of bakeries is not a good idea. How many people do they have on staff there making the cakes? How many of you are there? See what I mean? The time spent on a cake by a staff at a bakery is going to be a lot less than all the time little ol' you puts into a cake.
That said, if you are in the cake business to break even or just for fun, disregard all that I've said!
You hit the nail on the head Cookieman!! That's so right!!! Thanks for your imput on this. It take time & talent to do what we do. You just don't plop icing on a made cake & spread it out. It is art! That's why people ask you to do their cake for them in the first place because your work of art was a hit for them! For me it takes lots of prep time & I also research. I really like to get to know the persons personality before doing a cake for them. So far I've got it right but then again I'm really good w/ people & really see the inside of everyone. They have got to understand everything you mentioned before you do a cake for them. Then the whole experience is just great! Good advice Cookieman!! 
The centerpiece cakes I made ~ the brides future mother-in-law (she was paying for the cakes) squawked about the price comparing my total price to what the total price would be for a cake using the bakeries price per serving. I had to explain to her that I would be using much more icing, fondant and gumpaste to decorate 23 cakes compared to one big wedding cake. I also had to trim each with black edible ribbon (fondant) as opposed to one cake and 23 cakes took a whole lot more swiss dots than one cake would have too! Then you add cake boards and boxes and time for the loops for 23 loopy bows... Oh ~ and the fact that the bakery wouldn't even make 23 centerpiece cakes ~ She couldn't figure out where I "got off" charging almost $300 more than the bakery wanted to charge for one cake until I explained all of this to her.
Debbie
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