Hi! I was just trying to figure out my own pricing guide. I am close to St. Louis, MO just as a reference. I am wanting to charge by the slice. So my questions are:
What do you charge per slice?
How many servings do you have per cake size? (6, 8, 10, 12...)

Thanks!

You can get serving sizes from the Wilton site which will give you sizes for party & wedding cakes.

Before you figure out how much you charge by the slice, you need to figure out how much a cake/serving costs you to make. Then figure how much you want to make hourly, and how much profit you want to make.

http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm

This is the chart I use to figure servings, for all my cakes.

Here is the chart that i use for servings. I don't care what occasion the cake is for this is my serving size. If they want larger portions then then can order more cake. But this is the industry standard and if any caterer or venue cuts it this is most likely how they'll cut it (as long as they know what they're doing)
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-wedding-cake-2-inch-pans.cfm

As for price, It's best for you to figure out what your cost are. This includes ingredients, boards, boxes, labor, taxes, overhead (utilities, rent, gas, etc..), and what profit you want to make, and your quality of work. I figured out mine for the smallest cake i could make with any of my recipes (which happens to be an 8" cake) then divide my cost for the one cake by the number of servings and i then have my price per serving.

As i make larger cakes my overheads go down so i am making more per serving, but my price per serving is based off of my most expensive recipe and the smallest size cake i can make with it (so i don't have any waste)

Once you have your price per serving you can call around to local bakeries (wal-mart, target, and grocery stores don't count, they take a loss on their cakes) then compare it to what you have to see if you're competitive, or to expensive.

According to your www link, you are in Southern Illinois where it isn't legal to sell cakes from a home-based business, so I wouldn't worry about figuring out a pricing guide.

Also, you mention going to culinary school to be a pastry chef after you graduate from college... if you are going to be opening a storefront after gaining experience, then you'll be able to charge whatever you'd like based on your skills.

I'd recommend taking some decorating classes or working in a bakery if your interest is in cake decorating specifically so that you can learn more about the caking industry rather than everything pastry related.

wow CWR thanks for being a debbie downer

thanks to everyone else who replied