Hi, I made this cake for a friend's sons birthday. I have been making cakes for a few months and just started doing for not my own family. My question is what do you charge for something like this. Any guidance is much appreciated!
It was about a day, not counting that I had a yellow lab eat the first 10" bottom tier and had to re-do it. btw is the picture showing? I can't figure out how to see it. Thanks!
I can't help you on the price but I hate to read a post and not leave a comment. Both the cakes you have in your gallery are awesome! You are very talented for someone who is new to cake decorating. Great job!
Thanks! I am in WI. yes its the pumpkin one, a 10" 8" and pumpkin topper. I am trying to establish a good rate. I have made a few 8" that I have charged only ingredients for and that is a difficult pill for my husband to swallow. Thanks for all the replies I am loving Cake-central!
You should check your local state law regarding home bakeries...if WI does not allow commercial baking at home, you will need to rent a commercial kitchen if you want to charge anything more than $0 for your cakes.
WI has pretty tough regulations if I remember correctly. You can't bake from home for sale to the public. So, unfortunately you can't charge anything at all for that cake, beautiful as it is. It would need to be a gift.
I am in Minnesota, which I believe has similar regulations...and I think you would have to rent commercial kitchen space, in order to charge for the cake. Your cakes look great!
I have to say this, but the dog having access to the cake is why you need a license to sell cakes.
Thank you all for your input, I know that I cannot sell cakes from my house. I was just wondering what my cake would be worth. As for the dogs, yes I am aware of the health issues. I also have kids, also a no, no in a kitchen. Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. I am just trying to justify my hobby to my husband based on worth. again, I know. Thanks.
Wow, I am so disturbed by the dog eating the cake! But I did have my baby grab a hunk off the corner of one once!, luckily it was for a carved cake and I wasn't using that corner! It was on the kitchen table, and he just reached up and tore it off, and popped it in his mouth. It cracked me up! He was just so matter of fact about it, and then grinned after his bite! Best. Compliment. EVER!
Sorry, but having someone's kid stick their dirty little hands into a cake is disturbing to me, just as much (if not more) than having a dog get into a cake.
I am assuming that it was for a customer as you were carving it?? If so, I hope it was redone.
JMHO
Jmirek, keep reading CC and you will find that "not my own family", and "charged only ingredients", constitutes selling a cake.
The child bothers you more than the dog, comment reminds me of someone I know had a baby and a dog, and she said I need to wash my hands before I held the baby, yet the dog was licking all over the baby, and I said as much, and she told me the dogs mouth was much cleaner than my hands, and I smiled at her and said, well that may be, but I don't lick me own arse
ok honey so the best way to go about it that i have found so far is to save all your reciepts and figure out about how much it costs you to make the cake then add in your hours at what rate you want. example if your supplies cost 30$ and it took you 8 hrs at 10$/hr it would be 80 + 30 to get 110.
or cost out all your ingredients and figure out what you want to charge per serving. you can look up serving sizes per pan size on line. then add on set base charges for extra work such as fondant or special fillings and what not. Either way come up with a consistent system you can use over and over thats enough to cover your hobby and make it worthwhile hope this helped.
just wanted to add in as well a good tip is to look up bakeries in your area and see what there prices are just to give you some guidlines
happy baking!!
The child bothers you more than the dog, comment reminds me of someone I know had a baby and a dog, and she said I need to wash my hands before I held the baby, yet the dog was licking all over the baby, and I said as much, and she told me the dogs mouth was much cleaner than my hands, and I smiled at her and said, well that may be, but I don't lick me own arse
As I stated, it is JMHO. I am entitled to my opinion, as you are to yours. The point is NEITHER animals NOR children belong in a commercal kitchen.
Sorry, but having someone's kid stick their dirty little hands into a cake is disturbing to me, just as much (if not more) than having a dog get into a cake.
I am assuming that it was for a customer as you were carving it?? If so, I hope it was redone.
JMHO
Well, seeing as my baby doesn't lick his own ass, (and is so fat he can't even reach it) I feel much more comfortable with him grabbing a corner that I WAS NOT USING and cut completely off, than having some nasty butt-munching dog eating off it. No, I did not re-do it. It was a rectangle, and I cut it into an oval. He tore the corner off. Big deal!
And actually, it wasn't a paying customer. But BD if it was.
FYI
Yeah, snotty grubby little fingers are MUCH MUCH more hygenic. And yeah, it would be a BFD it it was a paying customer. No wonder people don't want to buy cakes from home bakers.
well I took a stab at a little levity in here, and i can see that didnt work lol..........same ol crap diff day I guess....whatever....lighten up
I live in Wyoming and the regulations are so lax here that you can sell out of you home as long as you don't have children or pets in the kitchen. WHAT? Anyone who has cats knows that it is impossible to control the hair. It will be everywhere whether you let the cat in the kitchen or not. If you sit on the couch, it will stick to your clothes and then fall in the cake. No permits or licensing is necessary in Wyoming. You just have to get a tax certificate.
Sorry, but having someone's kid stick their dirty little hands into a cake is disturbing to me, just as much (if not more) than having a dog get into a cake.
I am assuming that it was for a customer as you were carving it?? If so, I hope it was redone.
JMHO
Well, seeing as my baby doesn't lick his own ass, (and is so fat he can't even reach it) I feel much more comfortable with him grabbing a corner that I WAS NOT USING and cut completely off, than having some nasty butt-munching dog eating off it. No, I did not re-do it. It was a rectangle, and I cut it into an oval. He tore the corner off. Big deal!
And actually, it wasn't a paying customer. But BFD if it was.
FYI
Yeah, snotty grubby little fingers are MUCH MUCH more hygenic. And yeah, it would be a BFD it it was a paying customer. No wonder people don't want to buy cakes from home bakers.
For me, considering that "snot" is a from your nose and your mouth is actually connected to your nose, if I had to eat one, I would rather eat snot than feces. JMHO
BTW, if children disgust you so much, that you'd rather eat dog sh!t than have a child touch your food, do yourself a favor and have yourself "spayed" before it is too late. (Or neutered? Who knows?)
And FYI, it is spelled hygienic, not the way you spelled it.
Your cakes look nice. You might want to think about putting the finished cakes on cake drums instead of cake circles. You should never see the cake circles on a finished cake. A cake drum is about 1/2 thick, lined with silver or sometimes gold. Wilton sells them at Michaels.
Your cakes look nice. You might want to think about putting the finished cakes on cake drums instead of cake circles. You should never see the cake circles on a finished cake. A cake drum is about 1/2 thick, lined with silver or sometimes gold. Wilton sells them at Michaels.
A very simple lesson I learned the hard way. lol.
I only sell my cakes to friends, who know I have 2 kids and a weiner dog in the backyard, and also know I obsessively bleach everything I can get my hands on and are perfectly ok with eating from my kitchen. The only person I am acquainted with who wont eat from my kitchen is a pig herself and, ironically, I would never eat anything from her house.
That being said, I usually (illegally, so save it ) charge ingredients + about $8 an hour depending on the design. I really just kind of scratch out a rough estimate and go by that. It's a hobby for me more than anything, I'm not awesome at it, and I'm not looking to make money so that suffices. I also only charge those who insist on it for my time.
I agree with the $300+ price range on the WORTH of that pumpkin cake though! It's awesome!
Nothing wrong with market research. It'll help you when it comes time to get a business going. Knowing what you're getting into, finance-wise, is smart. Definitely save the receipts. Also, figure out how many hours you work on a particular cake, then figure in at least minimum wage.
Number crunching...always an important part of business.
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