I brought in my final cake from Course I to work and someone asked me how much I would charge for a cake similar to that (how exciting). I would love to start selling, but have never sold one before so I'm pretty much clueless.

It is a 10" double layer round chocolate cake with a raspberry filling (each layer is 2" high). The icing and decorations are just flavored buttercream (raspberry/almond). I did emboss the icing as well.



Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Vicki

I would probably charge about $45. You did a lovely job, by the way.

Hello fellow Michigander!!
Your cake is beautiful--Love the ripple effect on the roses (a skill I'm still trying to perfect after 10 plus years of decorating!). I think $45.00 is reasonable to charge for this cake.

Thanks Laura and Apclassicwed.

Apcslassicwed - Where in MI are you?

For pricing...
I have a 10" serves 38 (1x2x4 servings) so times my $2.50 for a total of $95.

But I would tell my customer it serves 28-38 ppl depending on how they cut the cake.

I always use 8cubic inches to figure my serving size for pricing (1x2x4 or 2x2x2 servings)

Your cake is beautiful. How did you do the embossing on the icing. I am new to cake decorating myself and have just finished course one as well. This is my off week and I start course 2 next Friday. I love it so much I am making a cake this week just to decorate it! I love the way you did the icing. Please share that secret with me. Thank you so much, Ashley

Leily....wow, I'm totally underpriced, but that's okay for this time. I'll work on the pricing some more. Thanks for the tip on the serving size. Would you cut this like a wedding cake - circle in the center to you have two rings?

Ashely - first smooth out your icing, the with an embossed paper towel, lay the embossed side against your icing and smooth it out again with your hand or fondant smoothing tool. HTH and enjoy your classes. We must be on the same schedule. I start class ii in two week.

WOW!!! I am from Canton,MI too! Not enjoying having to clean my driveway to get out today...
My base price for a 10 in single layer is $21 and the charge for the extra layer and filling... I have been doing double layers and filling at no charge but today it just hit me... I can't do that! Today I charged $18 for a double layer strawberry shortcake filled with bettercream,strawberries and strawberry jelly in the middle, topped with lots of strawberries
ha! I think I spent more than that!!!!
Where did you take your classes??

Hi fellow Cantoner! LOL.

I go to the Michaels on Ford Road in Canton. They are GREAT!

Dang, you need to charge more for your cakes. I'm a novice, but geez, that seems way too cheap for a double layer cake.

Yeah, wasn't it fun driving in today?

That's where I took my classes too some 2 1/2 years ago while pregnant with my 3rd child! The teacher is very nice...
Yes I have to charge more... I will update my blog right now LOL

If you want to see it:

sheila-cakesandmore.blogspot.com

I'm always a cheapy but I think $45 is a fair price too. I estimate this to be 22 servings. If I were to make this cake, without the embossing and special filling, I would charge $30-35

I'd charge $60 for a 2-layer 10" round, extra charge for the filling. Don't under-price yourself!


BTW, beautiful work!

Sheila - nice cakes. you do a very nice job. how long you been doing this?

Who did you have, Carla or Annette, as your instructor? I had Annette, but Carla had to instruct the last class of Course I b/c Annette was on vacation. I really like both of them.

Thanks Tippy for the tip. I certainly don't want to underprice myself, especially starting out. I have heard people start out that way to gain business but then back themselves into a corner when they go to raise their prices. I hear it's harder doing it that way. Set your pricing right the first time, eh?

I'll have to do some market research in my area to see what other bakers are charging and price accordingly. I don't want to overprice myself either.

Thanks for the compliments. I truly impressed myself ....now lets hope that wasn't a fluke and I just continue to get better and better.

I had Carla, I thought she was the only one there...
Nice to meet you!

Have you done edible images? I go to Belleville because they charge $5 and here in Canton they charge $10 so if you come across somewhere cheap let me know!'

Sheila

Sheila -
The cake you see in this thread is my first "real" cake. If you look in my photos, you can see the cakes I've made for my daughter's birthday - so not professional; hence, the desire to take cake decorating classes. What you see in my photos is the extent of my cake decorating experience So to answer your question, no I have not done an edible image. Where in Belleville do you get your images? I was going to ask if you bought a printer. I just assumed you printed your own. How cool tho. I would love to try one one day.

Carla actually trained Annette, but I'm not sure how long ago tho. Annette's been doing cakes for years.

I take Haggerty South all the way to Belleville then turn right at the end (if you keep going it's the entrance to the Metro park). After the light there is a small strip mall and the cake place is the last one. They also rent pans and sell boards, boxes, bettercream etc.

That's good to know. Do they sell the bettercream already whipped or in the liquid form?
Thanks!

It's in the carton, you have to whip it...
The Sam's Club one is already whipped. I loved it!!! and it's about $16 for a huge pail. My only problem is I have no space to keep it, I need a new refrigerator/freezer!

Trixyinaz---
Sorry for the delay, just getting back to my computer today!
I'm in Farmington Hills, 12 mile/Orchard Lake area

You have mad skills woman!
This cake is flawless....
Congrats and goodluck on your new journey of Cake Art

Thank you for that "mad" compliment.

For what it is worth, I was in one of our bakery's yesterday and they sell their 9" double layer cakes for $65. It had no decorations on it....just icing. Some were plain and some had coconut or nuts on the sides. I'm definately going to have to go around to the bakeries around town.

Sorry, i know nothing about pricing, i just wanted to tell you i think your cake looks fantastic, and i love your roses.

Trixyinaz---
$65 for a 2 layer 9 inch, Really!? Boy, I've gotta update my pricing; And you're not very far from me, about 20-30 minutes. Since the weather is good (for now anyway) it's time to go visit some bakeries.....

Hello,
It has been many years since I've made cakes. And, I have never made one using Fondant. That is what I would really like to try. My questions are many, but, for starters, what are the tools I need to purchase(basic). I live in Michigan and was going to sign up for a Michael's class. Anyone in the Farmington/Novi have any better ideas??
I look at all of the work done on this site in AWE of all of you.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Susie

Thanks Sasporella! I'm clueless on pricing too!

Apclassic - what is your name, by the way. I hate calling you Apclassic...LOL. Yep, it be true. Now, this was in Ann Arbor and you know how they can be over there . I looked on their website and their cakes (wedding or party) start at ....

$6.00 per slice



I thought I was seeing things. I'm gonna call around. And, I tasted this new cake they had and it was awful. To me it was dry. They wanted $35 for this thing and it was no bigger than 8 inches long, 4 inches wide and 3 inches tall. Of course I'm guessing at the size, but I know I'm not too off on the sizing.

Hi Susie and welcome! Apclassic is in your neighborhood. I'm in Canton. There seems to be a few of us over here. I am just starting out and took some classes at Michaels. I am not new to baking. I actually took culinary classes for 5 years (from the age of 12 to 17). I've always loved to cook or bake, just never knew how to decorate. I would definately start with Michaels. I've learned so much from the one course and being on here. Thsi place is GREAT.

I've never worked with fondant so I can't make any suggestions. I bet if you post your question in the cake decorating forum, you'll get more information than you know what to do with. Wilton's has a fondant class. You have to take course 1 first and after that our instructor said you can take the remaining courses in any order. I start Course 2 next week and can't wait.

Again, welcome. You'll love it here!!!!

Thank you so much for the welcome. I love it already. I'm going to Michaels right after work and signing up!!!

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to say "HI". I also live in Canton!! Small world. This is turning into a "Who lives in Michigan thread". LOL.

You did a great job on the cake, especially getting the buttercream so beautifully smoothed and embossed!!

Where I live.......no less than 45.00 since it is all BC. If your roses were fondant/gumpaste 65.00.

Just a quick "hello" to fellow Michigan cake fanatics! I am on the other side of the state though. I am in Spring Lake, just outside of grand Haven. I grew up in Dexter, just outside of ann arbor.

I don't sell a lot of cakes (yet) because I don't have a licensed kitchen. Personally I think Michigan can handle prices from $2-4 a serving. The higher end being fondant or carved cakes. I don't think $6 a slice is out of line for experienced decorators who are doing a lot of gumpaste work like flowers and such. For a beginner I would probably start in the $2-3 range. Of course you also need to factor in what your serving size is. (wedding vs. party servings) and if you would charge differently. Though I would recommend not underpricing yourself too much because believe me you will resent the time you spend baking, decorating and CLEANING while you are earning $2 an hour!!

Indydebi has a much better way to cut cake servings then the "circle method". Here's her web site with instructions http://cateritsimple.com/_wsn/page19.html