I have been reading some of the posts here and I am really wondering if I am paying way too much for ingredients.....I see how much everyone is charging for their cakes and don't know how they are really making any profit. Of the cakes in my photos...the belly cake cost me about 70.00 and the 3 tier about 60.00 both were huge cakes but still is this too much or is that about normal????
do you bake from a boz or from scratch. I bake with box an I only buy on sale so that really helps keep costs down.
Give us some examples....can you break down your costs and see what you are paying per cup, per oz?
For example, if I buy flour in a 5 lb bag at Walmart, it costs me about 20 cents a cup. If I buy flour in a 50 lb bag from Sysco, it costs me less than a penny a cup.
If I buy my (for example) 10" cake boxes one at a time, they cost me over a dollar each. But I buy them 100 at a time (bulk) and they cost me about 25-27 cents each.
When I bought oatmeal (for cookies) at the grocery, it was costing me close to 30 cents a cup. When I bought it in bulk at Sysco, it costs me less than 7 cents a cup.
ok...I just started doing this so I haven't been buying in bulk and I also bake mostly from scratch. the bellycake that cost 70 was the "darn good choc cake" from here. So it was kinda like a souped up boxed cake 
but I have always been a all from scratch baker so it is really hard for me to use a box! 
I guess I'll just have to suck it up and use them more. 
and get a costco membership!
Oh my gosh. Those cake are amazing!! Did you use a pen or something on the belly cake? They are just so perfect. I love them.
Can we ask what you charged for your 3-tier cake? And what sizes are those tiers? Maybe it's not the cost of your ingredients but the way you are charging?
If it's a 6/8/10, then it should serve about 100 according to the wilton chart. This is a wedding cake to me, and my a la carte wedding cake price is $2.50/serving = $250 for this cake. (And I don't do fondant so your price should be higher than mine.) If your raw materials cost $60 and you got $250 for the cake, then you did ok. If your raw materials cost $60 and you only charged them $75, then it's not your ingredient costs that are the problem.
Jessielou...your cakes are amazing! If you want to be a "mostly from scratch" baker, you still can! You just need to research where to buy your raw ingredients for the lowest possible price! (good advice from indydebi). You'll have an even larger profit margin once you do! I'm an enhanced box-mix baker and now that my business has picked up, I can purchase them by the case and still save a ton!
Well....I haven't charged for any of my cakes yet. The three tiered was my first cake so I don't really like I should be charging. Honestly I have no idea what I am doing... I just decided one day that it might be fun to decorate a cake 
I have always been very in to baking and am always doing it but until now have never even tried to do this kind of thing.
indydebi~ I almost choked when I read how much I could have charged for that cake 
and it was actually a 8/10/12. I didn't even get reimbursed for that one!!!!!
cambo and sunflowerfreak~ Thank you for your sweet comments and I free handed the belly cake dress in BC
Thank you everyone for your advice!!!! It was all very helpful!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%