What's The Most You've Ever Charged On A Cake?????
Decorating By mocakes Updated 3 Dec 2006 , 2:05am by vixterfsu
The most I've charged for a single cake was $100 which was to serve 40. It was fondant covered and I charge $2.50 per serving. It was for a store's birthday party and I also charged them $70 for 200 mini cupcakes that had just bc frosting and I cut out tiny crosses to put on the top of each cupcake.
You mean you are actually suppose to CHARGE for cakes??? hmmmm...I'll have to remember that...LOL
lilsis, you are too funny!!! 
Bturpin...are those skittles on the stadium cake? They looked more like nerds to me. That is a fabulous cake!!! 
It seems like there is a common problem with several cake decorators....why do we always feel so guilty when it comes to charging for our cakes??? 
I have seen such unbelievable talent on this site...including those who said they are new to this and are just starting out. Amazing and worth every penny!!! 
The most I have charged so far was a cake for a bridal shower that fed 100 people. I charged $104.00 That is what I charged for my dowels and cake board. I do however think that when dealing with friends and family I charge $1.00 per serving, and for others $ 1.50 per serving for wedding and buttercream. Birthday cakes are usually $ 1.00 per serving. Very cheap, but I am working on going up on my prices.
I normally don't charge for cakes. I feel like I'm not at that level yet. I do it as a hobby and enjoy it. But one of my daughter's friends asked if I would make a cake for a baby shower she was having. (Leap Froggie theme). I have a real hard time saying no, so I did it! She gave me $50.00. Probably not really enough for a cake with fondant figures, but it was fun to do.
I charged $109 for the 50th wedding anniversary. The ingredients were expensive (whipped frosting and fresh, out of season, strawberry filling from this site) and it was my first paid stacked cake. I gave myself a pep talk to go ahead and charge it, even though I was sick to my stomach and had spagetti legs when I gave them the invoice. I wanted to take it out of her hands and say "HA!!! Just kidding!!!!", but I made myself stick to my guns and they paid it no problem.
I always quote some outrageous number and tell them I want total creative control, but I would ask questions to make the right cake.
(I never want someone to tell me I quite the little baker and would you make this hideous Teddy Graham Woman's Day cake for me!) It happened, but only once and lesson learned. Not Suzy Q baker here. Those stupid teddy grahams on that hideous cake had me swearing with each little eye I piped on the stupid little heads! Teddy Grahams - bah humbug!
Honest to goodness, nobody bats and eye and they are happy to pay it and get the cake. I actually think they get a kick out of it!
TipTop, yep, that's the one I charged $109 for and it was only my second paid cake period. But everyone loved it and theyare still ordering cakes from me (it is the restaurant I work at). They order custom cakes for catered events and special occasions.
Thank you for your nice comments! Stunning??? Wow! Thank you so much!
TipTop, BTW, where are pics of the hideous Teddy Graham cake? I need to see that!!!!
sweetviolent
geez kritian does that even cover your costs???
The supplies are around $5. It isn't a carved turkey, did you look at it? How much should I have charged?[/quote]
Your turkey is very cool! and time consuming, how long did it take you to bake, make the frosting and make it? Not to mention the other time you spend thinking about it and time away from your family. Value your talent more!!! $25 would definately be a minimum! Here in CA minimum wage is almost $9 so since you are obviously skilled and talented you should be earning much more than minimum wage! Figure out how much your time is worth and multiply that by how long it takes you and ADD the cost of the ingredients!
My giant cookies with Tinkerbell and Hello Kitty FBCT were done for twins. (friends of family). I wanted to give them to the girls as a present, but their Mom gave me $30 "to at least cover supplies." 
I guess that was my first paid order...
I'm doing the wedding cake (baking RIGHT now) for my DH's brother. (my BIL and his wife to be--MY SIL. I'm an only child, so they are my bub and sis!)
I'm doing this as a gift to them/wedding present...and I also did the bridal shower cake. I did 3 cakes for their bachelor/bachelorette party, too. BUT I've worked for supplies. I got a set of pans--14, 10 and 6 that are 3" deep. Lots of new tips and bags and one of the huge cake saws and lots of other stuff to work with. I also got a huge square pan to make the bridal shower cake in. I made two cakes from it for a full sheet.
She buys all the cake mix, conf. sugar, crisco, butter, oil, eggs, icing colors...
SO, I get to do this for them, and now I have all the supplies to do wedding cakes with in the future!
Just starting out myself but love reading all the replies. Learning so much from here. Everyone keep up the great work.
I really wish I had the nerve to tell people how much I wanted for the cake! I have been given donations. I was given $100 for the marine corps sheet cake. There were 2 of them actually. So $50 a piece. I was given $40 for the tiered cake with the #1 on top. My roomate asked me if I was crazy! I'm just not good at pricing I guess!
Speaking of not being good at it. I have people asking me what I would charge them for the #1 cake in my pics, it's a 10" and a 6". What would you charge?
Jenn1978 - Is that cake is all BC correct or is the number 1 fondant? IMHO without fondant you should have charged 95.00 and if the number 1 is fondant then 100.00 to 105.00.
strawberry0121 - That ugly teddy bear cake is the eight one down the middle row of my gallery. (You can also see it the the worst cake thread - LOL.)
Candy177 - I took a peek at your gallery and am not sure which cake you are talking about. Can ya help me out?
Jenn1978 - Is that cake is all BC correct or is the number 1 fondant? IMHO without fondant you should have charged 95.00 and if the number 1 is fondant then 100.00 to 105.00.
strawberry0121 - That ugly teddy bear cake is the eight one down the middle row of my gallery. (You can also see it the the worst cake thread - LOL.)
Candy177 - I took a peek at your gallery and am not sure which cake you are talking about. Can ya help me out?
The one is made out of styrofoam actually filled in with butter cream. So $95 huh? Hmm....note to self! Thanks!
ok so i just found this topis. the most i got for a cake (keep in mind i am in NY) was $3,000 for the cake in my photos with the fountain. and rose arch. was delivered to new jersey. when i got that check i drove to new jersey to cash it, heck even took the day off work. to do the drive! lol
the 2nd cake was pretty close in price to the first 2,300
Completely unbelievable! You deserved every single penny of the 3000 you got for it and maybe more
alicegop
Your turkey is very cool! and time consuming, how long did it take you to bake, make the frosting and make it? Not to mention the other time you spend thinking about it and time away from your family. Value your talent more!!! $25 would definately be a minimum! Here in CA minimum wage is almost $9 so since you are obviously skilled and talented you should be earning much more than minimum wage! Figure out how much your time is worth and multiply that by how long it takes you and ADD the cost of the ingredients!
Thanks! I'm guessing it took me around 4-5, but I'm slow. I don't have that speed thing down yet. It didn't require much planning, a CC member (vitaAl) uploaded a pic of hers, and I just went off that, but changed a few things. I haven't even done 10 cakes yet, and I only finished Wilton Course I. I'm at home w/ my family (mom, dad, brother, dog) all the time (I'm 16, I graduated early), so I do my cakes at home. I guess that is why I charge so less. Here in Arkansas minium wage is $6.??, I think.
I'm in a small Ohio town. The most I've charged is $600.00 for a fondant cake with mousse filling and sugar people that looked like the bride and groom (It's the pink & green thing in my photos.) As for sheet cakes I try not to sell them for under $30. tho every once in awhile I end up giving one away. I've had the "too cheap" thing too. I just quoted a lady a price for 7 different desserts, like mini cheesecakes & eclairs, etc. I charged $3-$4 per piece and quoted her just over $750. Her reply was, "No way! I was expecting well over $1,000!" Sigh. Oh well.
I am finally getting better at pricing what I feel my cakes are worth! Here's what finally cured me of underpricing...
A lady called me and said her daughter was getting married in 4 weeks and their cake lady backed out. I met with her and her daughter and they picked the wilton cake that has 11 cakes!
Then she wanted me to incorporate in the design names, dates, songs, sayings that were special to the couple and then brush on edible glitter to ALL the accents on ALL 11 cakes!! (I think I charged her $475)It was soooo time consuming. But to see the bride and mother cry when they saw the cake, made it seem all worthwhile. UNTIL......I saw the mother the week after the wedding and she went on and on about how gorgeous and delicious the cake was and said, "Honey, you just don't charge near enough for your cakes! We were prepared to pay at LEAST $800 for that cake!" What??
Deep down I knew I wasn't charging enough....and that confirmed it!! (She still could have given me a nice little "tip" then, since I technically saved her over $300!!!
)
I am getting ready to do this cake in June and am charging the bride $650 for it. It will be just like the book though.
I think the most I've charged is the scrapbook cake in my photos. $150. It was a pretty large cake, and the scanning, retouching, and edible printing was time-consuming and costly. Honestly, I am getting better with pricing only b/c of the info I am learning here (skill-wise and determining cost). I was even thinking that when we upload photos maybe there could be a space for writing in fee charged for cake- that is totally optional. I know so much depends on location, fillings, skill-level, etc. but it is helpful none-the-less. And of course, simply interesting 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%