AHi everyone! I have a question for you. I am always trying make sure that I price my cakes and cupcakes. Recently someone emailed asking for a quote. This person wanted a 10 inch round Minnie Mouse cake (covered in fondant) and 20 cupcakes featuring Mickey Mouse Club House characters. Now, for something like that I usually charge $2.60 per cupcake HOWEVER when you order by the dozen I charge $2.08 per cupcake. This person specified that they exactly 20 cupcakes so I charged my per dozen price ($2.08 making that $25) + $2.60 for the other 8 (making those $20.80). For her cake I charged a flat $50 (even though a few other bakers adviced me to go higher). Im still working on my spread sheet for figuring actual cost per recipe but thus far I have learned that I charge a bit less that I should. What do you all think? Was that too much to quote?

AHow much would the ingredients cost for the cake, and how many hours do you think it will take to make (including prep, baking, decorating, and cleanup)? What about for the cupcakes?

FYI, before you accept this order either you or the customer needs written permission from Disney to reproduce their copyrighted characters, otherwise it would be copyright infringement. If you don't have this permission you are limited to using licensed cake toppers.

AWow, thank you sooo much for telling me that because i had absolutely no clue about that and copyright. I see so many people doing it but i will def use caution. As far as how much it would all cost and all that i would really have to do some figuring. I do know that it would take a while given i would have to bake all the cakes, allow them to cool, i bake everything from scratch and my frostings are from scratch. I also use pure vanilla and vanilla beans. Then the fondant is a factor as well. Not to mention the characters I would create by hand, their drying time, frosting time, letting the frosting set...and i work alone. Now it seems as if i was being pretty cheap. Lol especially after the copyright info.

Honestly, I wouldn't even touch this order due to the copyright infringement issue (because you are not going to get permission from Disney), but for a standard size cupcake, filled, and with a simple swirl of frosting on top, I get $3 each.  Dozen price is $36.  It does not cost me any less to make a dozen.

A 10" round cake serves 39 so that alone would be about $150.

I charge $2.50 for a swirl of frosting on a cupcake, no decor, no matter what. Average cost of ingredients for a cupcake is around $.50, not including labor or overhead. I price out the decorations separate from the cupcakes. I also wouldn't make Disney brand items, I'd look at buying them only for cake and cupcakes.

I'd probably talk the person into buying a Disney toy/figurine to place on the cake so that comes out of her pocket and time shopping for it, then I'd do some cute/basic decor on the cake.......price around $80. for the cake. If they wouldn't supply a toy caricature I'd do something like the mouse ears for $20. additional..........when I tell them that, they usually opt to buy a toy.

Glad to see this post...I find myself having the same problem.  I try to charge what I think is fair, always charging to little.  I am not a professional, but my cakes are good, I always get great comments about them.  I always make my own fondant, I haven't found any store bought that I like, so I will not use it on my cakes.  I'm go to check out the pricing guides.  Right now it sound like I'm doing it just for pleasure because I'm not making a profit, I am defiently under charging.  I love this site, I can always get great information...thanks everyone for being so open with comments and suggestions.

AThis site is really helping me a lot on the business level. If you start figuring all of your cost and considering the time you put in you will probably want to go up on your prices.