I am new to charging for my cakes so im not real sure how to price them. for example i have a harry potter character cake with buttercream filling on top of a sheet cake to do and i have no idea how to charge for this.

Help!!!

Thanks

The best way to start off is to call other bakeries in your area and pose as a customer... find out what they charge for similar sized cakes with the same type of decorations. There is sooo much variance from city to city, it's almost dangerous to use someone elses pricing from another part of the country!
There is a pricing matrix that some of the members here use, I don't know that I have it anymore. Someone could send you this if you're interested, but you'll probably have to work with it a bit to get it personalized to fit your operation.

Here it is

I tried calling around to other bakerys but they all said that they dont use character cakes pans or make character shapes so it was hard for me to compare. I guess im gonna have to just guessestimate. Im in sacramento CA so if anyone is familiar with prices around here that would be great.

That's probably true. I would probably charge the same for a character cake that I would for an 11"X13" sheetcake. I charge about $27 for this size cake, using a 2" deep pan and simple buttercream decorations. I charge more for extensive designs or decorations, so maybe $33-$35. I'm guessing in Sacramento you can charge a lot more than this though.

Thanks alot that was alot of help. yeah, 11x13 sheet cakes out here are about $40 with no decoration just white buttercream so im thinking for mine maybe 60 but thanks for all of your help