Please Don't Shoot Me, I Have A Pricing Question.......
Business By The_Lil_Cakehouse Updated 31 Jan 2010 , 7:50pm by The_Lil_Cakehouse
I have already charged for this cake I am doing this weekend. However, I wondered what the rest of you do for hand molded figures/accents to your cakes. I am doing a first birthday cake that has 6 Hand molded fondant animals on it, plus a gumpaste 1. And then some fondant Vines, and Coconut trees, and then various items to surround the cake. It is a buttercream with fondant accents.
All that said, I'm not asking what you'd price the cake itself, I am wondering if you would charge seperately for the animals? Would you give them a quote on the cake and then say and each animal would cost this? Or when giving your quote would you take in to consideration the animals and make your price per serving more?
These are my first fondant figures on a cake, so I've not had to think about this yet. Any helpful input is much appreciated 
Again, I don't want to know an exact number per se, just what would you do?
I think what you're asking is how do you invoice the client?
I would list the cost of the cake, then list "9 fondant figures @ $15 = $135". THe reason is that I would want them to understand where the cost is. If they want to cut costs somewhere, it's easy for them to ask you to only make 5 figures instead of 9, for example.
I can envision the client at the party, when confronted by someone who is shocked at "The cake was how much?????!", being able to say, "Yes, but it was because of all of the detail work. That part of it was $135 alone!"
I agree with Debi. I would price the cake at my normal price. The accents, such as vines, trees, etc, would be included in that price. I set my price per serving to cover reasonable design work, that way you aren't nickel-and-diming the customer.
The fondant animals would be charged separately, and per figure. How you price those is up to you, depending on how much time it takes you to do them! I personally charge $10 each for animals, and $25 each per person. Hope that helps!!
We charge $25 to $35 per animal and $75 per person in addition to the cost of the cake.
So, yes, I bill out cakes with $600-$700 in design charges all the time.
Take a look at Mike Mccrarey's site, Mike's Amazing cakes. His cake prices are an amazingly reasonable $2.75 a serving, which is where we start our party cake pricing. The additional is all design charge.
Wow, I was shocked at Mike Mccarey's cake prices. If the servings went up, he lowered the price per serving. You could get one of Mike's cake just iced in buttercream, and then add fresh flowers or buy a gumpaste flower yourself, and it would be cheaper than a cake at a supermarket. His talent is beyond Duff, or any other cake decorater I have seen. He is such a perfectionist, and I know his elaborate cakes are probably really expensive. Maybe its because we are in the pacific northwest, the pricing is lower than other places
To figure out how much to charge for a fondant or gumpaste figure, add up all the ingredient cost, then multiply how long you work on the figure by how much you want to make per hour and add that total to the ingredient cost.
Just as an add'l FYI ... this will give you your break-even point. Kinda.
You spend $30 on ingredients.
You spend 4 hours x $10 hour = $40.
Under the above theory, the baker would charge $70 for the cake.
Assuming and/or pretending the baker is functioning like a business, the baker will write a check for $30 to pay for the ingredients, and will then write a check for $40 to cover payroll expense for "the employee". The employee, in this case, is most likely the baker, but for argument's sake, assume the baker runs a business and pays an actual employee for their time.
how much is left over as "profit"? Nothing.
As a matter of fact, the baker is in the red because there was no factoring in for overhead (utilities, insurance, cost of facility use ... and even if it's your own home, there's a facility use cost, vehicle expense ... and I don't mean just gas, advertising expense, etc.)
Just offering these thoughts to give bakers something to think about.
thank you!! that is exactly what i was asking!! I was really scared to post a pricing question...although it was more of a how to rather than a how much, I didn't want to get a whole lot of unhelpful information You guys are awesome!!!
I agree with Debi. I would price the cake at my normal price. The accents, such as vines, trees, etc, would be included in that price. I set my price per serving to cover reasonable design work, that way you aren't nickel-and-diming the customer.
The fondant animals would be charged separately, and per figure. How you price those is up to you, depending on how much time it takes you to do them! I personally charge $10 each for animals, and $25 each per person.
Hope that helps!!
This is what I was thinking, so I am glad others were along the same line. Unfortunately I priced the cake, and then thought about this. Learning experience, and I'm getting to practice the figures.
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