Answering The Question "what's Your Pricing?"
Decorating By Cakey Updated 3 May 2006 , 3:38pm by Cakey
Hey there everyone,
I just brought this cake in for the nurses at the hospital where my hubby had surgery yesterday, and the charge nurse said several people had asked what my pricing was and were interested in ordering from me. I was thrilled but I didn't know what to tell them. I actually told her I'd have to check with Cake Central and get back to her!! I am just flailing without this website. 
My instinct was to say $2.00 a serving, but then I realized that maybe I shouldn't just give her a per-piece price like that as a flat rate because people cut pieces differently and a birthday party sized piece would be bigger than a wedding cake sized piece, right? One nurse said she wanted a cake exactly like the one I brought in for her daughter's 16th birthday and asked how much it would be, and I couldn't even think of a price with the cake right in front of me. I couldn't even remember how many cake mixes I used or how many servings it was. 
How do you guys answer when people just ask a general question like what's your pricing? Thanks for the help!
The cake is beautiful!
What size pans did you use and did it have any filling??? Buttercream or fondant???
It looks like a 10in and 6in heart. I charge 55.00 for an unfilled buttercream cake of this size...and 60.00 or 65.00 for filled(depends on type of filling). I would charge more for a fondant cake.
A lot also depends on your area. This is about right for my area...but some other areas in downtown would charge a lot more. You can call local bakeries that offer "specialty" cakes to give you a guideline.
Good luck...I can see why you will be getting a lot of cake orders. You are very talented! 
Hi Traci,
Thanks so much for the compliments and for taking the time to answer! You are right, it is a 10-inch and 6-inch heart. It's filled and iced with buttercream, and the roses and leaves are fondant. $60 or $65 sounds about right to me. What types of fillings do you charge more for? Thanks!
Lovely cake! I wish I could do buttercream ruffles as good as you!
I agree with the pricing...
Its hard to come up with a price on your feet...I'd say next time, think of a price before you leave the house LOL...otherwise, if someone is ordering a cake, try telling them you have to get back with them. When you do custom cakes, you can't always come up with an instant price. Maybe have a basic price list for rounds and sheets but then if they order extra fancy stuff, or something custom, you'll have to come up with a custom price.
Thank you, Kitagirl. Your cakes are just gorgeous!! I have looked at them many times and admired them. I especially love the cheetah and the holiday Barbie! I think you have a good idea to come up with basic pricing and then adjust from there for custom or specialty stuff.
Just to get a starting point for pricing, I looked at a box of cake mix and it says it's 12 servings, so if I go with that and charge $2.00 a serving, an 8-inch round layer cake would be $24.00. Is that a good way to do it, by the number of servings on the box of mix? That would bump up the price of the pink cake to $72 since I used three boxes of mix. Does anyone use that as a starting point and then adjust from there? Like maybe an 8-inch round you would charge $30 for but the pink cake you'd keep at $65?
I have my basic sheet and rounds priced under $2/serving and then add an "art fee" of like $10 if they want edible image or fancier art. If the cake is bigger than just a plain cake, then I start doing it per serving. If the cake is too fancy or the design is too difficult to figure per serving, then I just put a price on it that will cover my time and I don't tell the customer how much it is per serving. Kinda goes up in increments depending on the amount of work put into the cake.
Thanks for your nice comments! 
So I guess the real answer to pricing is it just depends. Now I don't feel so bad not having prices already set! I'll check out the local bakeries and see what their prices are, too, just to get a ballpark idea of what people are paying for non-supermarket cakes around here.
Now I need to rent a kitchen to do these cakes in because I'm not supposed to be doing it out of my home here in Florida if I'm selling them. The woman I spoke to at the Department of Agriculture told me that I could ask churches and schools about renting their kitchens. I've already been to two churches asking about renting their kitchen with no luck.
At the first one the pastor acted like I was bothering him and said his church had only rented their kitchen out for wedding receptions when someone was using the whole church for a wedding. When I just point blank asked him if he would be interested in renting it to me, he described the process of bringing it up before the church board for a vote like it would be a nightmare for him to do. Then I went to a rummage sale at a church and asked about renting their kitchen and they couldn't have been nicer. These ladies were so sweet and said come on in to the kitchen and look around and everything. So after we talked for a while, one of them suddenly said, "Oh, two of our ovens aren't working. That might be a problem for you." 
I guess it hadn't occurred to her that I would need the ovens for baking!! Oh, well. Unbelievably, there are about 8 churches within 6 blocks of me so I've got my work cut out for me.
Never mind pricing....how do you get your tiers so perfectly smooth?????LOL They are great!
Thanks Helen! I use a spatula that I dip in boiling water and wipe off so it's hot but not wet, then smooth with that. After it crusts, I go over it with a Viva and a fondant smoother. One thing I forgot to do that works really well is go over it with copy paper and a fondant smoother after the Viva, just plain old printer/copier paper. It works great, and that tip is from Sugarshack here on CC. Here is a link to her photos if you haven't already seen them.
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-photos-by-sugarshack.html
Your eyes will pop out of your head when you see her perfect cakes! 
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