Wondering If I Charged Enough Or Too Much For These Cakes
Decorating By ahmommy Updated 19 Dec 2006 , 7:24pm by nicoles-a-tryin
I have no idea what to charge for my cakes. I always scratch bake and if I do have to say myself, the cakes taste wonderful. I charged $40 for each one of these cakes, the lawnmower which was 11"x 15"and lawnmowers made from MMF, tinkerbell 9" round and 6" round both 4" high, castle same size as tinkerbell, and christmas present was 11"x15" and all bc except for the bow which was MMF.
All your cakes are beautifully done. I think that $40 would be your starting point. Someone else should be able to give you a better range. 
Wonderful job on the cakes. There is a pricing matrix, but I find adding the cost of the raw materials, including structural stuff like the cake boards etc, then multiply the total by 2% and add this total to the total cost of materials. Then multiply this by 4.
IMO you sold them at a bargain price!! Your cakes are beautiful and custome made!! The 2 tiered cakes I would've sold them at $70-$85 each, at least!
What I also do is multiply my cost by 4 (in your cost include everything, down to a small % of your electric bill, cake boards, paper towels, etc) and if you have to much detail in the decoration, like all those cute flowers in you tink cake, I would add an extra fee for them. HTH and LOVE your cakes!
From me: Tinkerbell & Castle cake - $70 each minimum
Lawn mower sheet cake: $65
Xmas present cake: $75 ( for the extra bow time)
Do you bake from scratch or mix? I scratch bake, so do charge a bit more than most ( for the extra time, ingredient cost and skills it involves). Even if I baked from a mix, I still think $40 is way too low for any of those cakes! They are lovely!
Okay dokey ahmommy, your cakes are lovely and you will not see them at your local bakery.....
As for pricing, I'm premium and start at $2.50 a slice for a plain Jane white buttercream cake without boarders and go up from there. Upgrades such as: fondant, torting, special filling, special requests, modeling, carving, special new designs, anything fussy and etc all will add more cost.
Some people here on CC go by a pricing matrix.
Others go with standard cost of ingredients and then times by 3 or 4 for their additionals like electricity and cake boards & boxes.
Too bad you only charged $40, because it is too late to go back and get more money now.....
I'd up your price for next time on your lovely cakes..........
I think that you have ripped yourself off! Those cakes are beautiful and I think they are definately worth more than you have charged!!
Sorry I have no answer to the pricing question, but I just had to tell you how beautiful your cakes are!
I really appreciate all of the wonderful things you had to say. I just started decorating cakes 3 months ago, so I am flattered by your compliments. I will have to take them into consideration when selling more in the future. I do have to say that I just started handing out business cards in the last couple weeks so I am really trying to get customers right now. So maybe it is best that I don't charge too much for now so they will tell their friends and keep coming back. Again, it means so much to me to hear compliments on my cakes coming from a bunch of people who really do know what they are talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Your cakes are wonderful...love Tinker Belle.
When I started out, my prices were really low and as my business grew, so did my prices.
Your cakes are beautiful!!
I usually charge between $40 and $50 for the big sheet cakes, and for the two tiered cakes, you could easily get $75 or more.
I understand wanting to keep prices low to get the business, but then you run into people that are used to getting extraordinary cakes at discount prices, and it gets harder and harder to increase your prices.
Good luck!
You totally undersold yourself. When I first started selling cakes, I did the same thing until my sister got wind of it. She took the time to sit down and come up with some basic prices for me and then explained how to adjust it depending on the type of cake.
wonderful cakes! I know this is a hard area. What to price. I had a cake last week, basic 11x15 border, 6 roses, writing, I charged $35 then another $5 for the fondant nurse hat. (no colors on it, just plain white.) So that was a $40 cake, your lawn mover cake i would have charged more for. Maybe $40 for the cake and $10 for the lawnmower, present cake, $35 and then $10-15 for the bow, and the other two are so gorgeous, I would definitely start at about $65. I think that's what they would go for around here in small town iowa at least! Keep up the great work.
Your cakes are Gorgeous. I agree you are charging less then you should. It is so hard to figure it out eh?...I also feel bad when it is a friend calling...I feel like you should give them a better price. But really, people don't realize all the time and ingredients in making a cake. If they want a plain and 'ugly' simple one.....They can just go to the local gorcery store!
Yours are very pretty...keep it up. Love looking at them,
Nicole
I am curious also, i am in Canada....Can we use that matrix here too? Anyone know?????
Thanks
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%