I got my first cake order 2 days ago from the church I go to (and use their kitchen for free) It's for 4 in. individual cakes with filling and decorations of snowflakes. There where 46 people invited so they said to make enough cake about for 35 people. Well...I talked to them today and they said that a 4in. cake could be cut in half to serve 2 people so they will need less cake. They will only need about 12 ruffly now. I already priced way below what I should have in order to actually make a profit. I should be charging at least $5 a cake and since I use the kitchen for free----you guessed it, I ripped myself off at $3.50 a cake (with a filling) I feel like such a fool! I'm doing this to make money to pay for next semesters tuition and now I feel like a fool. The church doesn't know about cake prices since they go off of Sam's club prices, so I didn't even tell them I'm basically doing this for free now. I'm so bummed!!!! I know it's too late to turn back now since it's my first payed cake order. When it was 35 cakes I would have made $122.50 now with it being 12 I get a whole $42 I was going to give them cake balls for $6 a dozen but forget it now it going to be the $8 normal price. Has this happened to anyone else with their first order or am I the only sucker!??????????

Oh, that's is sad. The best you can hope for is there will be orders from the people that eat the cakes you'll be making.

Just wanted to say keep your head up! I havent really have that happen to me, but I know how you feel obligated because it is a church and you get to use it free. Good luck with them and post a pick! Dont be Sad!!

Oh, I'm sorry this happened to you! That's alot of work for $42! If they're cutting the cakes in half, it doesn't sound like enough for 35 people? I always undercharge myself, so I can't offer any advice. Maybe you'll be able to get some orders from it?

I've shorted myself, too. It was my own fault, really, but it sucks just the same. Sorry this happened to you.

I just recently made 2 doz mini cakes (see in my pic gallery the fireman b-day cakes) for $3 bucks a piece and the bigger one that was an 8 inch cake for $10. And threw in a doz creme puffs for free. Slightly underpriced after it turned into two fillings with three layers of cake in each little itty bitty cake. Allot of work, more than expected but I know that more work will come out of it. Thats all you can hope for, and breaking even.

I'm a fellow sucker...."hi, I'm Grape. You?"

Sam's sells 4" cakes?

I don't understand, YOU are using the church kitchen FOR FREE and you are bummed because you are only going to be making 42 dollars on this order?

Does it at least cover your ingredients?

I wonder what would happend if they decided that you didn't give them enough of a discount and decided to charge you for using the space?

I'm not trying to be mean to you, but, there are things to get bummed about and things to get BUMMED about, and I think this one is not one of them.

I would've KILLED For the opportunity to have a free place to bake from when I first started and would've been happy to give them my work for free just so I could have pictures of something like that in my portfolio.

Now...Figure out how much money and time you spent making these small cakes and set your prices for the NEXT order.

When I do my pricing I have a donation factor included into my products. Every now and again I get asked to donate a cake or gift certificate and since my rent is sooooooooooo high I cannot afford to give away my work.

So, I factor in the cost of my donation as MARKETING and PROMOTION and incorporate the cost, which actually is just pennies into my products.

So, I'm never giving anything away, I never resent being asked and I get paid what I'm worth.

HTH for next time.

I guess I should explain I don't technically get it for free. I'm giving them a % of each order. And it took me 9 hours to clean the kitchen since it was horrid ( 2 hours for the fridge alone) I have put $80 of my own money just fixing things that I won't use to be nice. I should also say that I do A LOT of work for the church. I can't even hardly go to the services anymore because they always need help somewhere and know I will do it. I just said I get the church for free to save the time of explaining the arrangement I'm on (it's a little complicated) The church is wonderful for letting me use the space but in all honesty they told me flat out that I'm loosing more because of everything I do for them. I just think when I'm doing stuff for the church though that it's God's work so it doesn't bother me. Don't think I'm complaining about the church ripping me off, I'm not. They don't know how much stuff costs. I ripped myself off and I'm Mad at myself. The ONLY reason I'm doing this is to make $ for tution because otherwise I can't afford next semester and I'll be dropped from the program and student loans are OUT of the question! I have 4 very small children plus I go to school full time and volunteer a few hours a week to church and my kids schools, so if I'm spending time doing something I would like to make at least some $ at it, since it takes time away from my family. I only want to do a few orders a month for this reason. I definantly have learned not to except an order when you don't even have a price list yet. I'm not making $42 once I factor in cost, since I use a high quality chocolate and other somewhat pricey ingredients (haven't heard back from the supplier yet) I'll make around $28, but like I said with the time away from my kids and paying a babysitter for watching all 4 of them I end up breaking even. With a big $0 to show for it. I do get to do a good deed I guess in the end, and it will help get my reputation started out so there is the upside, but it does kind of defeat the purpose of trying to earn $ for school. Oh well, lesson learned.

Well, like they say...

The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions.

Keep your reciepts, everything that you mentioned may be a tax write off for you, so in the long run...you really are NOT losing anything.

Good luck with your endeavor...I don't understand why you don't qualify for student loans, but I guess that is another issue.

I just got my degree and got full financial aide, between loans and scholarships and grants...but now...it's pay back time..lol

I think I'm asking for a deferral so I can get myself on my feet.

My DH makes to much $ for aid, just by about $400. They don't take in to consideration all the $$ he pays out for his business and all the medical bills we have. Unfortunantly someone my DH use to work for took all of the $ we paid into insurance and benifits and ran off, leaving us with debt and bills out the butt! We are struggling right now even though my DH makes good money because of how much we have to pay out each month. We don't qualify for some assistance because we are married and other assistance because he makes just a hair more than the cut off. I am a junior member of the ACF and will hopefully be up for one of the chapters I belong to's (3) 1,500 scholorships in April. I have had a 4.0 for the last 3 semesters so I hope that will reflect well for me. Anyways, I forgot about tax deductions, so you are right there, that's good news. I feel a little better now since posting org. I guess this happens to more people than I realized, so I don't feel as dumb now.

thanks for making me feel better CC!

Please don't beat yourself up for feeling like a fool (unless you wollow in it instead of learning from it).

I made the same mistake as I am sure everyone does. I still am not getting paid for my time because then my partner and I would have to of charged at least $2,000 for our first wedding cake instead of $500. We broke even and that is without taking our time into consideration but we were so happy to have the opportunity to challenge ourselves, get our work out there and to have the opportunity to get great pictures without using any of our own money.

If there is a good chance that the order will lead to other orders I don't worry too much if I undercharged (which has been happening with less frequency) but if I know that he order isn't going to lead to any other orders then I try ot be very careful not to undercharge and if I loose the person as a client because they perceive the price to be too high that is fine because in the beggining it is all about word of mouth. Who wants to cultivate a client who is going to spread the word that you work cheap?

You'll do better next time. Continue to be generous to the church with your time and cake but don't give so much that you and your family life suffer.

Maybe you can talk to the people again and tell them that you based your price on the amount of cakes that they originally ordered and that you purchased your ingredients on that. Maybe they could meet you half way on your price. ?? If they think that is fair, then good, if they don't then say alittle prayer and chalk it up for next time. If they already know how hard you work in the kitchen with you cakes and stuff then maybe they'll understand. Good Luck to you!

Don't feel I did this all the time when I first cakes started charging for cakes. I still fall victim to it. Just takes time to figure things out. On the upside at least you get word of mouth without Good luck [/code]

thanks for the advice, the word of mouth seems to be spreading quickly throught the church. Every time I'm there someone comes up to me and says " I didn't know you were in college again and you make desserts, I heard they look good and taste even better" Which makes me feel good because I know I'm getting a small reputation going without me saying a word, but then it makes me wonder about all the food and cake I've donated that these people have ate at events through the church and could have cared less I won't hopefully underprice myself again anytime soon but I'm just starting out so I'll chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on. I don't know if anyone at the bridal shower will order in the future or not since most of the small # of people are from out of town, but I'll try my best anyways just because.