Does anyone have any idea how much I should charge for the following: cupcakes, cake pops, cake balls, giant cupcakes, etc? I am baking out of my home and just selling to family, friends and co-workers. I may bake out of a commercial kitchen sometime and sell at craft fairs and farmers markets, but if I do that, I will definitely have to consider the price of using a commercial kitchen.

Thanks,

Mary

Hi Mary
No one can tell you what to charge. Lots of people ask these types of questions but I have no idea what your ingredients cost you, what type of recipes you use and how much they cost you. For example my buttercream costs me about $9 a batch which is a little high because of the ingredients I use but not as high as others who use even more high end ingredients and live in more expensive areas.

You are going to have to sit down and do the math. First create a list of all your ingredients, costs including taxes and throw in some money for gas to and from the store.
Second cost out your recipes based on the ingredient lists. For each recipe determine how large of a cake, how many cupcakes and how many cake pops you make per batch.
Make sure you do the above for your frosting as well.

Then after that start costing out your time, include pan prep, baking, decorating and clean up. Determine how much you want to pay yourself and if you want to make profit above that and that will determine your cost.

If you don't mind the initial expense, the Cake Boss software does ALL of this for you as well as order tracking, invoicing and lots of other great stuff for just under $150. That software is WELL worth it to me.

The next few people to respond will also ask you if it's legal for you to bake from home and sell your goods. Even selling to family and friends is illegal in most states in the US unless you have a cottage food law.

Pricing is tough but it's worth really taking the time to get it right. Otherwise you're giving all your stuff away and that's just not right. Your time and talent are worth money.

ok, thanks for responding to my e-mail. I know there's a lot to consider with pricing.

Mary