Hi everyone,
I make character cakes, sometimes its by itself and other times I place it on top of a 11x13 in cake. I charge $25.00 and I want to know am I undercharging because it's so time consuming with all the decorations, let me know what you all think. Thanks

my understanding is that you can't legally sell character cakes!! Licensing and copyright issues...........are you talking about the character cakes like the pans from wilton where you pipe the stars on them??? They are time consuming and make my hands cramp ugh......I think I would charge at least 35-40 for the character cake (if you were allowed to sell them LOL) and if it's on top of a half sheet cake......you're talking at least 70-80 that's a lot of cake!!

Hi Nesha,

KHalstead is right on..I charge $35.00 for the character cake alone..if I am putting it on top of an 11x15 it is $80.00

I think you could get away with $45.00. NOT EVERYONE OFFERS THOSE.

Thanks, what I'm talking about is buying the charater cake pans and then decorating them with the stars. I appreciate it.

I charge $40 for the character pans. If I'm stacking it on a sheet cake I only charge $15 more because there's not much decorating to do on that one.

The character pans aren't legal to sell, as far as I know. Copyright infringement, etc, so I'd be cautious.

You don't want the Disney or Nickelodeon police after you.

OOPS! Did I imply that I'm selling character cakes? I'm sure I meant to say that's what I would sell them for if I did sell them! LOL!

hi there, quick question....if i were to do a disney character out of fondant and set that atop of a cake, would i be able to charge for it or is that illegal?

Yes, that is also illegal.

Where are these designs on this site, and how would transfre them to the cakes?

I've already asked this in a separate thread and didn't get much of a response. How is everyone selling them (including bakeries and legal bakers) if they're illegal?

Just to clarify, I'm assuming there is some way around this b/c way too many ppl are doing it.

I think the ones who are selling the character cakes are just taking a chance that they won't get caught. Most are small time and harder to track down. I think the ones who are prosecuted were probably turned in. I have heard lots of stories of this but don't know anyone personally.
Why take the chance? I only do characters for family and close friends. Everyone else is happy with my designs. You can search this site for ideas(in the cake gallery). You can transfer the designs in lots of ways. You can use piping gel, edible ink and frozen buttercream transfers or a projector.

You can sell the characters if you pay the copyright fees. You can buy the kits that these companies sell, also. That is how the bakeries do it legally. It is only illegal when you don't buy the kit or pay the copyright fees to use the design.

Can you plz elaborate about making my own designs? You're using a character or logo? Just not the pan itself?? I'm confused. You can use the character or logo but not the pan?

Some of the places I'm thinking of are widely known (like Wal-Mart or Winn-Dixie). That I know they aren't just taking that chance.

For example, IF I brought in a napkin to (let's say) Winn-Dixie w/a character on it. And I told them that I wanted a cake with such and such on it. They'd do it.

You can't use the character or the logo without paying the fees. You can design your own cakes of other than copyrighted characters.

If you use a napkin with a design to be copied, as long as it is not copyrighted, it can be done. If you are asking for a character, such as Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Poo, they would have to have a letter of permission on file from the owner of the copyright in order to legally copy the character.

There are lots of colouring book pict out there, would using one of those pict be illegal?

OR....

you could say that you only charge for ingredients and labor and NOT the design!

I read a thread that even not charging for the decorations is still an infringment. They own the image.

But what I did read was that as long as you don't use the name ie Winnie the Pooh becames bear cake, you are ok.


Stephanie

If you reproduce a copyrighted design and place it on anything that you are making for profit, it's still illegal.
I'm still trying to figure out a way to make an edible Jack Skellington figure for a cake without having Tim Burton chase me down.

So coloring sheets are out of the question right? Anything with a charactor or logo will be copyrighted right?

O.K. guys, so that there is no confusion I am talking about buying character or shaped cake pans like: elmo, dora, football, soccor, basketball, mickey, minnie etc. things like that. I'm not talking about doing anything illegal. Talk to you all later.

Nesha, don't get upset....you can go to wilton.com and they explain this on their website. You can not make a cake in a character pan (mickey, dora, winnie, spiderman ect), decorate it and sell it for profit unless you buy the license to do so (like HEB, Walmart, ect). It is against copyright laws. Ridiciulous? Yes. But that's just the way it is.

I buy the pans & make other cakes with them!!!

I dont meant to add fuel to the fire, but who would one contact at Disney to report a copyright violation? Is there a department that handles such a thing?

Well there's not a link or anything. It's just something I did on my own. I'll try and scan MY pic of the shoe an post it. I took pic with reg camera so I don't know how to add it to PHOTO'S. When my son comes home today I'll ask him if it's possilbe to download.

This is what I do Client calls wants CAKE ....GOLD FISH SHAPE, So I look at my pans & see what ones looks closest to a FISH. VOILA.............. It's BARBIE pan turned sideways! I hopre this makes since....I'm not good at explaining things.