I am constantly baffled by the amounts that I hear people would charge for cakes, especially fondant. Why is fondant priced so high?
I use MMF, never the premade fondant, and when I did my raw material costs for mmf, it was cheaper than BC.
So is it just the time factor? I know that if someone wants something complex, obviously I would increase my charge, but I would never be able or want to pay 500-800 for a cake. I know that celebrity bakers can get this, but do y'all actually get people to pay this?
Please note that I am not a liscenced bakery, so I don't feed my family making cake nor have overhead to consider, just raw materials and time.
Can anyone unravle this mystery for me?
Stephanie
I just got married. Around here, a wedding cake is going to cost $500 - $800. Go to theknot.com and start looking around for cake prices around the US. They aren't cheap!
Plus, after being at a lot of weddings, most of them don't taste very good either. (Boxed mixes and shortening frosting.) So if I were making a cake from scratch, Italian Meringue buttercream, home made fondant, and a filling, I think it could easily be more!
Just my two cents : )
Time and Talent. If everyone could bake and decorate a cake they would be super cheap. People that do this for a living want to be fairly compensated for their time. Some cakes take days and weeks to make when you consider gumpaste flowers and planning and baking and decorating.
I do this as a sideline and am by no means nearly as good as most bakers on this site. But, I want to get something for my time.
Cindy
It is called overhead. Thie time, the utilities, the gas, ingredients and so on. You need to think about everything not just the cost of fondant. The time it takes to plan and shop all the way to the extra trip just in case you forgot something.Everyone has a different food cost also. I use all butter Swiss buttercream. Butter is almost $3.50 a pound. As far as fondant it is not always offered and if you can do a real great flawless fondant cake then you have talent.
The national average is $5.00 a slice. If you have a great product that not only taste great but looks great it is well worth paying the money for it.
I would think that fondant adds an extra charge because you still use buttercream first and then add the fondant on top of it.......I also make MMF but only my 5 year old niece will eat the MMF so I have to make sure there is plenty of buttercream so that when the mmf gets peeled off....the cake is still yum. This is the reason I typically use MMF only for decorations....
I am just now starting to come up with my cost spreadsheet.....would be interesting to see what i really have in some of my cakes.
So true, Cindy! My best friend is extremely artistic and I thought she'd love doing cakes and she hated it! She did practice and practice but she just thought it was too hard and could never get the hang of it. I can't tell you how gratifying it is to hear her tell our other friends how much she respects my art because she knows first hand that it takes skill and talent!
Smbegg, that makes me curious, do you sell your cakes and what do you charge? You have lovely cakes!
Time and Talent. If everyone could bake and decorate a cake they would be super cheap. People that do this for a living want to be fairly compensated for their time. Some cakes take days and weeks to make when you consider gumpaste flowers and planning and baking and decorating.
I do this as a sideline and am by no means nearly as good as most bakers on this site. But, I want to get something for my time.
Cindy
Cindy couldnt have said it any better!
Next time you make a cake, keep track of all the ingredients you use AND keep track of all the time you spend on it. Figure out the cost of ingredients and then pay yourself and hourly wage and figure out how much that cake REALLY cost you to make. As home bakers, we often don't account for the amount of time it takes and we severely underpay ourselves. Would you go and take a job that paid $3 an hour? If you take the price you charge for a cake and figure out how much you made per hour are you even making that much?
I don't make or sell too many cakes, but I started charging a LOT more than when I started. I enjoy making cakes, but it still has to be worth my time. I don't have a problem with people who want to charge very little because they just like to make cakes and they don't care if they make much. I have four kids and my time is valuable and I want to be paid accordingly. That doesn't mean I don't make the occasional free or cheap cake just because I want to. I decided a few cakes ago (which is a few months ago) that I won't do a cake for less than $30 even if it's a small cake because it takes a certain amount of time just to get everything ready and to bake and make icing.
On these expensive cakes also comes elaborate decorations, which
like myself uses lustre dust which is also expensive, and all the
expensive tools used to produce such a cake. The ingredients for MMF are cheap, but it's the amount of time put into making the entire cake in making it look so pretty. Just like going to an auto mechanic. The parts cost let's say $50.00, but the mechanic is getting paid $80.00 an hour to install or change a part on the car for a two hour job.
I am not in the cake business, but I can totally understand why good tasting and good looking cakes are pricey. 
On these expensive cakes also comes elaborate decorations, which
like myself uses lustre dust which is also expensive, and all the
expensive tools used to produce such a cake. The ingredients for MMF are cheap, but it's the amount of time put into making the entire cake in making it look so pretty. Just like going to an auto mechanic. The parts cost let's say $50.00, but the mechanic is getting paid $80.00 an hour to install or change a part on the car for a two hour job.
I am not in the cake business, but I can totally understand why good tasting and good looking cakes are pricey.
Luster Dust is one of those things also!! So true! I use a ton! On my wedding cake for OSSAS I think I used about six jars!
smbegg,
I make over $21.00 at my full time job and I am worth every single cent of it or my employer would not keep giving me a raise each year.
I also got my undergraduate degree in studio arts and got then my masters in art. That was over $80,000 in school tuition and eight years of education. I prefer to make my cakes as my "ART" but, if someone asks me to make a cake for them, then they are paying for my time and talent period!
When I started creating my works of art, I invested in tons of material that cost a lot of money! Think KA! And some pricey ingredients that I have to keep replenishing.
Never have I assumed we are paying our teachers, doctors, lawyers, police officers etc too much money for their time and talent so why should an artist get paid less then poverty level wages?
I am a snob, but I also believe in paying someone what they are worth and standing in my "studio" kitchen for $2.50 an hour is not my cup of tea and is down right highway robbery! 
I have also struggled with the problem of what to charge for cakes. I am sure that I tend to undercharge because I don't get to do a heap of cakes and I am scared that someone out there will undercut me and I will miss out. I would love to make a business of it but I think its just too hard.
I am constantly baffled by the amounts that I hear people would charge for cakes, especially fondant. Why is fondant priced so high?
I use MMF, never the premade fondant, and when I did my raw material costs for mmf, it was cheaper than BC.
MMF is cheap to make, but it's a relatively new thing. Regular homemade fondant is quite expensive to make (if you use a recipe that calls for things like glycerin and glucose) and premade fondant is quite pricey.
Plus, for me at least, kneading and rolling fondant is quite time consuming. I also have a full coat of buttercream under the fondant for those who don't want to eat the fondant.
If I were charging for my cakes (I just do this as a hobby), I would absolutely charge more for fondant cakes.
I live in a BIG metropolitan area. I've had people drive 2 hours to come pick up a cake from me because they CAN'T FIND anyone else to do it. That means that my services are at a premium.
Also, I have 3 small children. If I could be spending my time with them at the park instead of in my kitchen, then what is my time worth? It's priceless. Life is way too short to spend all day slaving away over a cake that you're getting $40 for.
Cakes (just like everythng else) are worth whatever people will pay for them. If someone is willing to pay me well for my work then, heck, I'm going to take it!
I really wish that bakers would quit undercharging for their skills! Your materials aren't why people are coming to you. It's your talent!
I use premade fondant, most cakes here in Australia are covered in fondant. The cakes cost so much because they are time consuming and because they are not cheap to make either. I bake all my cakes from scratch, my fondant cakes usually have a buttercream or ganache crumbcoat. A wedding cake never takes me less than two days. Why would i charge pennies for it. My free time is precious, if it's going to be spent making a cake, then i'd better be paid something for it, even though my cakes are not cheap by most people's standards, most of the time when i calculate how much I'm making out of it, it's actually not that much.
I make a lot more in my regular day job 
Nati
Besides time, cost, energy....
...how about wear and tear. Rolling out fondant can be extremely physical. If you have carpal tunnel or arthritis, it can be excruciating. If you don't have carpal tunnel or arthritis, it could be coming. It can put a lot of strain on your wrists, elbows, and shoulders, especially if you are doing large wedding cakes week in and week out. When things start wearing out, it takes you longer to do them. Buttercream is way easier on all your pieces parts. My ultimate dream is to get a sheeter...it would make things a lot easier...but then again, you'd have to cover the cost of a new (expensive) machine.
I am sure if you do your cost analysis and you figure out how much you make per hour on a cake you will change your mind about cakes being too expensive.
Your cakes are wonderful. I hope you are doing something, like your day job, to use the skills and talent you have developed. There is no way one person could pay enough for you to be completely compensated for your work, far too much attention to detail and quality is included in each cake. Beautiful!!! They are works of art and love.
Although a newbie, I agree with everyone here, your time is worth the expense. When people hire you they want a "WOW" cake. They want it to be beautiful and taste wonderful. If they want a "WOW" they need to be prepared to pay for it.
Personally, I just finished my first time catering an event complete with a special cake, and it was spectacular. People are still commenting every time they see me and emailing me to cater their upcoming events. But I didn't charge enough and I ended up feeling taken for granted! Never again! I ended up making less than my daughter does to babysit, so I sat down and worked out a price scale, making it quite high (in my opinion), but if I am going to give up my time, it needs to be worth it....my kids need clothes to wear and food to eat, too! And you know what, I sent this pricing out to someone last night and they accepted it without even blinking! If your customers want to impress everyone, and let's face it, that's why they come to you and don't go to the grocery store, then they need to pay for it!
Just my two cents,
Kathi
People in this business don't realize certain customers will pay for the WOW. I have owned my shop for 11years and have been afraid to charge double what the grocery store charges. The past 2 years I decided I would only do the cake if I will make money. Guess what? every weekend I am making tiered birthday cakes, in addition to my wedding cakes.
My cheaper sheet cake sales have fallen back somewhat, but I have people "men and women" dropping $100 to $400 on these birthday cakes for the childs first birthday. I can't believe they are paying for this. Of course I am spending a lot more time on these cakes than I would have for the sheet cakes.
I have learned you have to charge. I have been doing this for 30 years, shouldn't I get paid like a master at my craft.
I have more experience and they don't have to worry that their cake will fall apart or look amatuer.
Thanks,
Lora
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