Hi all! I wanted to see if I could get your opinion on if you think I asked too high of a price for a cake. I've been making cakes for people I work with for several months now & everyone there really likes them. (I've had several repeat orders) On Monday I had a girl to ask me if I would be able to make a small 2 tiered anniversary cake for this Saturday. She was very excited about it when she was telling me about the party & said she couldn't wait to get the cake for it. She told me she just wanted about an 8 inch bottom cake & then asked if I could give her a price. I didn't have time to give her the info right then but I e-mailed her later in the day & I told her I could do a 2 tiered cake with an 8" bottom tier & a 4" top. I said with just icing & a border, it would be $40 & with flowers, or other decorations, it would be $50. She e-mailed me back & said she would check with her relative & let me know. Well, since then I've not heard anything from her. I think she was thinking I wouldn't ask for that much because she kept stressing she just wanted a 'little cake'. What's your opinion of this & if my price was not right, what would you have asked for? Thanks guys!

I don't think that is unreasonable at all! That is what I would have charged as well. Maybe you could email her back and just ask her if there is a problem, or ask her how much she wants to spend and then tell her what you can do for that amount. Let me know what happens!

That sounds about what I would have charged, too, if not a little on the low side. I had the same thing happen once, someone asked me to do a 1/4 sheet for a baby shower, I told her I could do something fairly simple, like a quilt, for $25. Never heard from her again. I try not to worry about it. This isn't a business for me, but on the rare occasions that I do sell a cake, I need to make it worthwhile.
I agree with heiser73, maybe you could ask her budget and work with what she wants to spend. Maybe you could do a 6" and 4" since she wants such a small cake.

I have had people ask for "little" cake too. I don't think they realize that it take almost as much time to bake, clean up after, and decorate a "small" cake. You were very reasonable with the price.

I agree.......no matter how small the cake is it is still a lot of work. People just don't realize how much work a cake actually is. I think that price is very reasonable!

Oh gosh, I HATE little cakes! Same baking time, same electricity, same number of cardboards, same number of boxes. Just how many "seconds" do we save when applying icing around an 8" cake or a 10" cake? Same number of pans and utensils that need washed by the dishwasher that we are paying by the hour (even if you do them yourself, it's part of your time and therefore part of your hourly rate).

And they think these should cost next to nothing????

I didn't even add in the charge for the PITA factor!

I think your price was very reasonable. I would have charged around the same.

I do agree that it would be a great idea to find out what the budget is for the cake and decorate around it.

Don't cheat yourself. You are investing your time and talent. Make it worth your while...

Thanks everyone! I feel better about that price now. I'll let you know in a few days how this turns out.

Well, here's what happened with this. She had never gotten back with me about the cake so I asked her about it on Thursday & she told me that her relative had decided to get one at a grocery store bakery. I'll bet she didn't get that much of a better deal because the Wal-Mart in my area charges $65 for a 2 tiered cake (10 & 6 inch) & you have to stack them yourself. I don't think a grocery store would charge much less. Oh well, they'll be more orders to come!!