I Had So Much Fun Doing This Cake! , But...(Pricing)
Decorating By brnrlvr Updated 26 Aug 2007 , 12:39pm by Cake_Mooma
I had so much fun doing this cake,but, once again I am stuck on pricing. It was made with 3-11 inch rounds,and took me about 4 1/2 hours. I am pretty slow at decorating, so I hate to go by hours, I like to put. The semi truck cake in my photos was made from a 9x13 and 11x15 and took me 6 hours. 1/2 sheet cakes at grocery stores around here go for around $30 unfilled. So there is more than a $30 cake into each of these. So to make it worth my time, I would have liked to have gotten say, $90 for the truck and $75 or $80 for the basket. I charged $45 for each. I'm cheap and would never pay $90 for a cake, but if it wasn't something I could do myself,maybe I would feel differently. I pay $90 every 6 weeks to have my hair colored!
I haven't been quoting people before I make the cakes a price, because I'm new at this and really have no idea how long it will take, so then I feel bad springing a $90 cake on them. Do I quote a high price up front and then not feel bad if they are shocked and don't want a cake? My room mate said she would easily pay $120 for the basket cake. She said " If I didn't want to pay for a basket cake, I would have to be happy with a $30 sheet cake. I would be willing to pay that if I wanted a cake shaped like a basket. Where else would I get one!"
So do you hold out for the clients who will pay the big bucks, or do you give your work away?
I think at some point or another, especially at the beginning, we all kind of give away our work. I'm also working on my pricing. I will give you a tip that was given to me by a wonderful baker in my area regarding the sculpted cakes. She said that you should charge them the same price as it would have been if you were giving them the cake you started with whole. Does that make sense? So if you started with and 11" cake and you price by serving, quote them the price that the cake would be if you weren't carving it. I think the logic behind that is that they'll be getting close to the same number of servings even after it's carved. Then of course you add on for any time consuming details. I hope that helps. I have only done 1 sculpted cake up to now and I don't even know if I want to make that a part of my repertoire. Your cake is really nice by the way! It went right into my favs 
. Oh and like most people say here, if people balk at your prices, let them go elsewhere. If your prices are competitive in your market and you feel that they would lead to you being fairly compensated, stick with them! I say all this but I'm going through it with you. I just hear all the wise things people say and try to implement them when I'm figuring my prices.
That is an amazing cake! I would say it depends on how badly you want to make cake or money or both. I started out giving them away practically and now I tell people what I charge and so far no complaints. They seem to have done their homework and if you're in the market value of your area then people WILL pay.
I would say $120 for the basket cake. Would I want to pay $120 for a cake? No. But, as you said, that's because I can make it myself. Thankfully, most people can't or don't want to so they are willing to pay for it.
If you feel you would lose business, you could offer to make the basket for $120 or a 1/2 sheet for less and then let the customer decide. That way, either way, they'd be ordering a cake.
Good luck.
Edited to add, that cake is gorgeous! 
I got so wrapped up in the pricing question I forgot to mention that at first!
I work hard for my cake money and do not give my cakes away! There are LOTS of people that would happily take them for free but why should they get paid to do their job and not me?!
Your roommate is correct in saying you should be charging 120.00 IMO. Although 90.00 is on the low end it is certainly much better than 45.00! Your work is very very nice and you should be paid fairly for it! This basket cake is extremely well done in every way and it is a very large cake too. Your work on it is fantastic and well worth a c note or more!!! 
Great job on the basket!!
I usually tell people up front that it's at least $100 for a sculpted cake, and starts at $150 if I have to build a custom stand for it... People usually are totally fine with that pricing and if not then they don't order it and that's fine b/c I don't have the time to do this kind of cake for any less $!
Courtney
First of all..........gorgeous cake!! That cake is a specialty, one of a kind cake..........and in looking at your pics, you cannot even compare yourself to the grocery store bakeries- you have amazing talent........there are those that will pay $30 for a grocery store cake, and those who want better, hand designed cake that will pay the $120 you should have charged for your cake..........don't undersell yourself, even if you think you are overcharging.........
First, the cake is wonderful, it looks great.
Now for the pricing, I think that $90.00 is to low. $120.00 is better but not great either. I know that it is so hard for as to put a price on something that we enjoy and that at times we don't feel as it is work. So with that in mind you have price your actual work, not the hours, like you said your are new and slow, so keep in mind the quality of your work. Regardless of the amount of time. Lets say that, I can make 5 roses in one hour (which I can't 
), and you make 1 rose an hour, the idea is still the same, we are both making roses and putting the same effort into them, the same work went into them, we still had to cut them out roll them, thin out the edges and will used the same type of "glue" to stick the roses together, regardless of the actual time that it took to make them. So with that being said why should I price my flowers more or less than the ones that you made because they took less time than the ones that you made. I really hope that you understand what I am talking about.
So you should price your cake on the work itself not the amount of time. At least for now. Once you get faster you will start adding that into the price because the time that you invest has a price too, but when we are starting out we tend to just price the cake and not the time because of our speed and at the beginning I think that is just fine to do.
I have a starting price on my sculpted cakes. I start mine at $50.00 and than I go from there. The more details the more it will cost, the more products, and so on. So you might want to add a base price to yours and don't feel bad for charging for your work.
Hope that helps.
Vicky
RRGibson
is right go by what the cake started as not what it ended up. this will give you a great base for the charge and then there wont being guessing on how much your work is worth.
you did a great job and should be paid for it.
Agree. It's called "scrap factor" and it's a legitimate business consideration in pricing.
I've posted this before, but I worked for a powercord mfg'r. When making cords, we frequently have to strip the end of the cord about an inch or so to expose the jacketed copper wires (for hard wiring). We have to pay for that stripped rubber that goes right in the trash can. When you're making 100,000 cords, that cost adds up! So even tho' the customer wasn't getting that 1" strip of scrap, the customer had to pay for it.
Look at it this way. If for some reason, you baked two 12x18's and carved them down to the size of a cupcake, you wouldnt' sell it for the price of a cupcake! You'd have to factor in all of your expenses, which is the cost of two 12x18's!!
And if you start thinking of it as "a cake for $90!" then you'll never 'get it'. That's the mindset of someone who is used to paying $15 for a walmart sheet. This isn't a walmart sheet. If they don't want to pay the price of a Cadillac, then they go across the street and buy a Saturn.
To follow up on this with another question or two.....so regardless of the number of servings you end up with on a carved or 3D cake, you're saying you should charge by the total amount of servings you start out with?
Which brings me to ask this question, if you made a 3D car let's say and it starts from a 12x18" sheet cake, you cut and carve it to shape, disgarding some of the scraps which then makes less servings overall, how do you determine the price to charge?
I love the basket cake but never in a million years could I charge $90 or even $120 for it. ( NO offense to anyone at all, don't get me wrong! For me it would probably be more in the $60 range.) I realize pricing is such a hard subject and has so many variables. I think I find it hard because *I* personally wouldn't ever pay that dollar amount for a cake even when I know full well how hard they are and what goes into them.
Lastly, some people mentioned they set a base or starting price for carved/3D cakes. I don't quite get how that works because each cake is so different, the number of servings can vary widely, the difficulty can be anything from very hard to not hard at all. So how do you actually determine a base price and then how do you determine the price to add on all the extra details?
Sorry for all the new questions but I am very interested so read the replies!
Thanks!
KimAZ
Because you're not paying for "cake". You're paying for the time and talent it takes to turn "just cake" into a work of art like this basket cake.
A blank canvas at MIchaal's will cost between $5-10.
A Picasso costs millions.
You're not paying for the canvas .... you're paying for the talent that turned it into a Picasso.
So you can sell a canvas cake for $15.
Or you can charge properly for your time and sell the Picasso for it's real value.
Yes, there are people who won't pay millions for a Picasso. They'll go to K-Mart and buy a picture to hang over their couch for $19.95.
But don't let YOUR personal budget and spending habits dictate what others are willing to pay. You're cutting out a heck of a big market if you do that.
Thanks for all the compliments and advice. Very good analogy(is that the right word?) Debi!
So for those of you who have been doing this longer, do you see a customer once for a $100 special ocasion cake, or do you get repeat customers who are looking for $100 cakes?
I do have repeat customers with $100.00 cakes. I have different prices so not always is it $100.00 but they have come back after a $100.00 cake. I hope that answered your ?.
Vicky
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