I gave my first decorated cake to my mother, who took it to work with her, because my father is on a diet. And now I have people asking me to make them cakes!

Ack!!!

I've been playing with the pricing matrix, I added my homemade recipes and price sheets for them. And if I charge 9.50 per hour (1.50 more than I made at my last cook's job) it comes out to roughly 35-40$ for a two layer 9 inch round cake with buttercream frosting.

Does that sound right? I really don't want to overcharge. But I don't want to undercharge either, My time is precious.

But these aren't big special cakes either, just simple let's throw a party cakes. And I don't know if 1.50 a slice is too much for that.

I live in a relatively rural town in northern NY if demographics matter.

But I don't even know if I'm going to do this. I've been looking and I need to rent a kitchen and get licensed and everything...

You might check prices of your local bakeries to see if you are close. I think it depends on the area and what kind of decorations you are doing. I try to price my cakes similar to some of the popular bakeries in my area. I charge extra for more difficult decorating.

To answer your question...$30-35 sounds pretty close to me!

The only local bakeries I know of are tings like Hannaford and Price Chopper. And for that kind of cake they only charge about 15-20.

Man this is so confusing!

You might check online for bakeries in that region, maybe in a nearby town and call them up.....You can't compare your cakes to store bought.

I get $16.00 for an 8" & $22. for a 10".

Things to think about when calculating your time...
-Are you charging full price for oven time for one cake?
-If so, are you using baking time to make icing, colors, tubes, decorations?
-Are you charging more because you are a beginner and it takes you longer?
-How many cakes can you make at one time? What does this cost you?

Bakeries can charge less and make money because they can buy in bulk, produce in bulk, and (sometimes) have more experience and speed. I would charge more than a bakery, but not calculate strictly by how long it takes you to bake one cake.

If you have only decorated one cake, you can't expect to get premium prices yet. Keep practicing and don't charge huge prices until you have more experience!

Good Luck & have fun with it!