I'm sure this has been asked before, but I am new to the world of charging for my decorated cakes (I've been doing cheesecakes for years). So, my question is, how do you guys charge for your cakes? I was told by some people that you always charge "at least" $35 for a cake. ok, this makes sense for an 8" round, 4 layer (4 1/2 inch high finished product) cake, but then you get in to bigger, more elaborate cakes and if you go by the $3 per serving "rule of thumb" for a wedding cake, then what do you charge for all the cakes in between? Like say a 2 tiered baby shower cake or birthday cake? I'm soooo confused! It either seems like I am undercharging for the 8" cake or over charging for a non-wedding cake? And speaking of which, which serving # do you go by- the "party" servings or the "wedding" servings (in the Wilton book). Please help!!! Thanks in advance!
It soooo depends on where you live! Market is everthing.
Try to get pricing for those items from bakeries, stores, other decorators, etc, in your area and then you can get the best idea of how much you can charge...
like stated above it depends on where you live.
i do not go by what the supermarkets charge, because they are too low. i dont feel i am in competition with them. they cannot do the same things that i can because they are limited by their store policies.
i have a per serving charge for classic flavors like white, yellow, vanilla and chocolate with buttercream icing. speciality flavors are slightly higher and fondant even higher.
i do have a basic sheet cake price. basic meaning..classic flavor and classic icings with message and simple design like cornelli lace or basketweave..anything other than that get priced higher
I concur with the above: Market area is a big factor.
I have sheet cake pricing and non-sheet cake pricing. A non-sheet cake is self-explanatory but a one-tier or a 5-tier cake is the same per-serving price .... $2.50/serving. I'm not putting myself in the position of having to explain why a 10" round birthday cake to serve 30 is a different price than a 10" round wedding cake to serve 30. Once you establish a base price for your cakes, then you can add add'l charges for any items you would charge extra for, such as fondant, gumpaste, FBCT, etc.
I have a price per serving for each of the following descriptions
1) Single layer cake
Buttercream icing
2)Double layer cake
Buttercream icing
Buttercream filling
3)Double layer cake
Buttercream icing
One layer filling
4)Double layer cake
Buttercream icing
Three layers of filling
If they want fondant, ganache, Cream cheese icing, or one of my specialty cake flavors or specialty fillings then there is an additional price per serving listed out on my pricing sheet.
HTH
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%