How Much Would You Charge??? My Family Freaked Out!
Business By SherisEdibleDesigns Updated 6 Jul 2007 , 3:55am by cambo
Hi CCers! I recently made a cake for my niece's birthday. A two tiered 9-6, 4 inches high each tier. The inside was white cake (scratch) with homemade lemon curd and raspberry jam. The frosting was my very expensive (secret) buttercream recipe. I also added fondant pieces and gumpaste bows. When all was said and done, I asked my family how much they would pay for a cake like the one I made. They priced SOOO low!! I finally told them what I would have actually charged a customer and they were shocked. So....without telling you what I thought.....take a look at my pic and tell me what you would charge/pay for this cake. After baking and making fillings, and icing and all I probably spent a total of 3 or 4 hours on this cake.
Here where I live the market for this would be around 100$-125$
But that's just my town... I know that in bigger cities it would sell for at least 150$
$139.75 minimum. Since the fondant was just accents I probably would not have charged more for that. This price is for only one layer of filling in that cake too. (i have another option that is 3 layers of filling with the torted cakes)
This cake was torted with three layers of filling as well! Thank you for all the responses! I'll let the cat out of the bag and tell you the price i gave them was $85. And even then I figured I was short changing myself! My family guessed between $30 and $40 dollars!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha...guess they really don't realize how hard we work!!!
I did a cake the same size recently and charged $250. ( It did have a very expensive Lindy Smith cake separator rental included at $40)
[quote="SAD"]This cake was torted with three layers of filling as well! /quote]
For this option it would have been another $21.50 for a grand total of $161.25
Hope they aren't to shocked by other peoples prices! Tell them they can watch you make it for $30-$40 and then you'll sell it to someone else! But they dont' get to lick the bowls or spatulas, that is an additional charge!
For $30-$40 they can kiss my whisk!
I'm gonna use this when my family calls for the next "free" cake!! (memories of Flo from the show "Alice" - okay, I know I'm dating myself!!)
Sorry, add to last post - "free" cake with 24 hours notice! Family gets free cake as long as they respect my time limitations! I guess I can either say "No Cake for YOU! or Kiss My Whisk!
I charged for a very similar cake, but no fondant, $100, so with the fondant, I would add about $10 since it's only accents. so $110.
Melissa
For $30-$40 they can kiss my whisk!
That's a specialty fetish....I'd charge double for that!!!!
But seriously that cake is very pretty and has the different elements of 2 icings and homemade fillings too. Deff a 100.00 cake by my means and figures!
I love it - "Kiss My Whisk" !! I definitely have to use that one from now on.
That cake would be priced in the $200 range, without question. Let your family members see you do a cake from the beginning to end. Let them see how many hours it takes to make a cake. Hopefully this will change their mindset and no longer be surprised on how much it takes to make a scratch cake.
I don't know why family and friends think it takes nothing to make a cake.
Around $100. Don't worry, I get the same reaction from friends all the time when I tell them how much I would have charged them had they been a regular customer!
Wow reality check! I am actually in the opposite boat with my family in that they feel like I charge WAY to little. I am sure that a lot of people would be upset to hear that I only asked for $30 for the castle cake in my photos- but in the end the lady that ordered it gave me $60 plus a gift cert to a restaurant that I love for $25- so $85 in all! That is by far the most I have ever got for my cakes!
I have such a problem with pricing! I am a really cheep person and have had to be because my husband and I got married really young and had kids young too, so we have always had to budget and look for deals. Maybe when my kids start school, and I can work, I won't be so cheep. But for now I have to remember that there are others out there who can afford to pay $100 for a really unique cake!
I got the Cakeboss software and although it's a pain to put in your recipes & such, it's helped me with pricing lately. I like to figure up pricing and then see how much each slice costs to put me in perspective.... for instance, if a cake serves 40 and you're charging $2.00 a slice (which isn't much), then $80 for the cake doesn't seem so unreasonable..... (i hope my math is right there!)
I went to an ice cream, pie, and cake place last night and they had slices of cake for $2.95 - and that's not even decorated - just a single slice of cake in one of those little plastic box containers!!!! Granted, it did taste good - I had a bite of my mom's carrot cake.... but I still like the recipe I use from here better (Awesome Carrot Cake recipe)
However, they also have to pay for workers and rent and all the other stuff that goes into having a legal business... mine is just family and friends right now.......
I would charge $60 for this cake, however, I do not bake from scratch, they would only get one layer of buttercream in each cake. I also don't know what your "expensive" butter cream is made of, so that would cost more. I would of used mmf, so that is a cheaper way to go too.
If I did all that you did, then I would say probably double that!
i'm just starting to sell cakes for a little extra $. i've been giving them away to family members for YEARS. they really have no idea what they'd be paying if they weren't family! i'm still hearing it about not doing 2 cakes for my aunt last weekend because i was out of town. i really wanted to tell her what she would owe me if i added up all the free stuff i've done for her.
just feeling a bit underappreciated. had to vent. whew! am i the only one being taken advantage of? apparently not!
I was thinking in the $125 range, especially with your scratch cake and fillings! Sounds delicious!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%