Hi! I am a newbie cake decorator and need a little help with pricing. I have read several pricing guidlines and I am fairly confident in charging $3-$4 a serving for my cakes. The cake below is one I did for family, it is 8 inches round, 3 layers of vanilla almond yellow cake, whipped chocolate ganache with strawberry filling. Going by my priceing I would say this cake is about $65. What do you think? Am I over or undercharging? No one in my area does fondant, and the "premier" bakery in town has horrid tasting (and not too pretty looking) cakes but everyone goes to them anyway....and I think they would charge about $50 for this cake.

Any help is appreciated! I have a wedding cake for 200 to plan and I would like to have my pricing structure in place before I consult with the bride.

Depends on your area but $3-$4 per serving, depending on complexity of design, etc. is reasonable for fondant cakes

again, it all depends on your area, your skill and how complex you cakes are.
others can advise you better than me...

my prices are $4/serving for what ever you want (including fondant).
you cakes are very nice and clean, but pretty simple. I think that if you can make $3-4/serving work (which may not be unreasonable), you should be able to charge more for more complex cakes.

I live in an affluent area and my cakes are pretty complex, so I'm wondering if I should raise my rates at some point. (I'm covering costs, but only half my labor)

one thing that I would suggest is using nicer foil or fondant for your cake boards. it gives it a more professional look, warrenting a higher price.

It's a lovely (and quite delicious) looking cake but, unfortunately, I would never find someone around here willing to pay $65 for an 8" cake. My 8" is $30 with basic decoration & I am increasing it to $35. I charge $2.25 for buttercream tiered cakes......I guess I am way too cheap.

At these prices, I get business and still make a profit that I am happy with (I am the most devoted bargain shopper you have ever seen) so I do well trying to keep ingredient costs to a minimum. I would love to be able to charge more, however.

Sounds good to me. My base price for cakes is $4.50/serving for buttercream cakes.. and an 8" is 20 servings.. that's $90.00. It depends on what your market will bear. Call around and see what the average per serving price is and price yourself in that range.. or higher if you think you can get it.