Hi fellow bakers,

A few months ago I taught myself how to decorate using fondant, what started as uploading a few of cake pics to facebook slowly turned into people wanting me to make cakes for various occasions. I really enjoy fondant, I make cakes all week even for no reason just so I can try out new ideas and designs. My questions is about the pricing, I have made about 4 cakes (for "customers" so far and charges about $20-$25 they varied from tiers to custom detail. While we all know how long fondant cakes can take to be made considering I prep them days ahead of when the cake needs to be finished by is this a fair price? Obviously I'm not a professional and everytime I make one I see something I can do differently for the next cake but friends and family are telling me that my prices are extremely too low. Right now I don't mind because I am learning and actually have fun doing this. What do you guys suggest? Any info helps THANKS

Have you ever added up what it actually costs you to make a cake? I bet it is more than $25. More than just the cost of ingredients goes into the price of a cake. Boards and boxes, dowels/supports, utilities (water, power, gas), fuel and wear & tear on your vehicle to shop for the supplies, etc. Then there is your time consideration.

If you are selling cakes, you will want to make sure you have insurance to protect yourself should anyone try to sue you for getting sick or breaking a tooth on a dragee, or some other reason. You don't want to lose your home to a lawsuit.

Also, make sure you have the proper licensing, if needed in your state/locality, to make and sell cakes from home. If you don't and a customer has a problem, your insurance would not pay out the claim, and you could also get in trouble with the health department or IRS (if you don't claim the income.)

There are tons of threads in the business forum about all of these topics. Pricing, licensing, insurance. Poke around in there and you will find everything you ever wanted to know.

Good luck and have fun!