Would $55 Be Too Much For This Cake?
Decorating By heavensgaits Updated 21 Apr 2007 , 1:36am by LittleBigMomma
This is a last minute birthday cake we made for a friend of ours from our Sunday school class who is turning 70. He asked us to make it a week ago, keep in mind we're(my best friend and I) are in the middle of making our other friends wedding cake, grooms cake, and petit fours. We were just throwing ideas around for how much this cake would cost us if we are ever able to go into business. It's a 10" double layer german chocolate cake with chocolate decorations. Thanks for the help everyone! Oh, any comments on the cake would be greatly appreciate. Please be honest, constructive criticism only helps us to improve.
God Bless!
julie
I agree with pjrm... I would think as a customer, $40-45 would be a bit more reasonable. Cake looks delicious though!
Your cake looks beautiful but I have to agree with the others that $55 is too high. At least from where I am from, I can't imagine anyone paying that much.
I would take the cost of the ingredients and your supplies (cake box, card board round, etc.) and add that up first. At least get your cost figured up. I was told with craft items to charge 3 times your cost. I have a hard time doing that with a basic cake though. I just made a (homemade)butter layer cake with homemade chocolate frosting and my cost was $9, but I can't imagine charging $27 for it. You have to consider your time, clean up, oven use also. I think pricing is hard, especially for those who don't bake to fully appreciate and understand.
darkchocolate
I don't think the price is too outrageous, I have standard 9in, 2-layer scratch-made dessert cakes (i.e plainly decorated), that I sell for $38 each, so with the addition of the chocolate decorations, I'd sell this 10in for around $45-$50.
I personally don't think it's too much, even though I do have a hard time charging for the cakes that I make mostly for friends. This is a 10" round that serves 30 people so that comes to $1.83 per serving. I know there is no difficutly or many decorations on this cake, but this might have been what they wanted. I have a minimum charge of $45 and that is for an 8" round. Even if you just want a 6" round, it's still $45.00. If you consider ingredients, electricity, water and the hours that you spend, I think is worth it. But again, that's just my opinion!!
I agree, $55 is probably too high. I charge $42 for my 10" cakes but they usually have more decorations. The cake sounds Yummy! I agree that the writing is hard to read it blends in with the background a littel too much- maybe a much darker brown or contrasting color would have been better. Looks and sounds Yummy though- nice job.
This one is a toughy! I would think that from a customer's point of view that it might be too high (but then I think all the prices I charge are too high and no one has batted an eye at paying for any of my cakes). But knowing how much goes into making a german chocolate cake, I would think that $45-50 would be very fair. A 10" is a good size cake plus the added chocolate decos. When I made a german chocolate cake from stratch, it took FOREVER! There were so many steps and it took almost 30 minutes just to get it all mixed and ready to bake! Maybe it was just my recipe but if I ever had to make one again to sell I would definitely raise the price compared to my regular cakes.
HTH,
HeatherMari
I'm no good at this.........this cake in my avatar
<--------- I charged 50 bucks for it........and was hoping they wouldn't cancel the order once they heard the price because I really wanted to try to make it!!!! my cake was an 8",9",10" on the bottom tier and a 4",5",6" inch on the top tier with gumpaste roses and fondant decorations......so from that stand point I would say that's too high for this cake (though I'm dying for a slice).....just because there isn't a lot of decorations on it. I would probably charge around 25-30 for this cake.......even though I way undercharge.....and of course your cost of ingredients HAVE to be accounted for!!!!
KHalstead, I can't believe you only charged $50 for that beautiful cake. You definetely have a lot of talent and that cake is way undersharched. I know what you mean about being afraid of not getting the order when you want to do it sooo bad, but you'll come to the point when you'll realize that your time and talent are worth a lot more. If they can't afford it, then they will have to go to the grocery store to get an ordinary cake!
I charge $35 for an 8 inch round specialty cake with minimal decorations. This is a specialty cake - not just a simple cake with a few decorations. I would charge about 45-50 for this cake. German chocolate cakes are not cheap to make because of the pecans being more costly. To help you figure out the costs of items just add up how much it cost you for ingredients (plus electricity) and times by 4.
Thank you to everyone for your honest comments. I understand that the decorations are simple and the writing does need to contrast more with the frosting. The reason I suggested a price of $55 is because it did take my best friend almost 30 minutes just to mix up the frosting, it's not a typical cake - it's a specialty flavor. I had read on several other threads that people were suggesting to charge more for specialty flavored cakes. It also took an hour to make the crosses and allow them to set up. Anyway, thank you again for the comments.
God Bless
This is not a typical cake, specialty flavors and ingredients - at $2.5 per serving this is a $60 cake. I don't think $55 is really too high, but then I am a mix baker, not scratch, so just the thought of trying to make a cake like this from scratch is worth $55 to me! LOL!
$55 is WAY too high.
I personally would say $20 - $25.
It sounds high, but when you think about all of your pricey ingredients and your time...it really isnt. I do most of my cakes for friends and family and their friends and family, lol. So, I always undercharge and have a hard time charging them for anything. 
Thats why I'm always in the hole on all of the stuff I buy!!!!! Maybe my New Year's resolution next year will be to ACTUALLY make some money on my cakes!!! LOL I certainly pour a lot of love and attention into them.
I don't think the price is too high, if it's a scratch cake it is time consuming and has more ingredients than basic cake. It is a specialty cake. I charge $45 for a 10 inch round with basic yellow cake and bc. I would charge more for a specialty cake.
I think the writing is probably okay when you're not looking at it from above with the glare of the camera. A little darker choc color might be better.
I think the price would have to depend on whether you used canned or packaged frosting or made your own. For a 10" two layer with prepared frosting I'd say $35 tops.
I always make my own german choc frosting. It's thicker, delicious with a great texture and made with all fresh ingredients, not sticky like the canned stuff. I'd probably charge $45-50 for mine. I make mine with 4 torted layers, filling between, lite choc icing on sides and thin layer on top with a shell border filled with ger choc icing (in this case filling). I haven't sold one of these yet, just done them for family dinners.
I can't believe 25$ was suggested!! If it were me.. a 10" round just a basic yellow cake and butter cream with minimal decorations (ie. a border and writing and maybe a couple flowers) which will serve 25-30 people would cost 2$ a serving.. that's a minimum 50$. Add a premium filling/frosting and it only goes up from there and I would charge more than 55$. A 10" cake is big. I made a 10" cake for DH's Aunt for Easter and I asked her if she wanted an 8" or a 10" and she said 10" and when I brought it.. she was shocked at the size. Most people are used to an 8-9" cake. I would charge $2.50 - $3.00 a serving for that cake.. at a minimum $62.50 and a maximum $75.00. Earlene's cake serving chart says a 10" cake will serve 30 people (I'd go with 25 for a party cake).. now if it were an 8" cake.. I'd charge much less.. but a 10" cake.. if you charged 25$ you'd be giving it away for nothing. It seems to me that a lot of us undercharge.. or maybe things just cost more around here.. I live in New England.
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