I get a call last night. lady left a voicemail asking me to call her about doing a cake for her. I didn't call her back that evening since I had just spent about 30 minutes cleaning up vomit at the dojo and was kind of undone....needed a drink and a bath!

Anywho, I was just finishing eating when she called back (next morning). I let it go to VM again since I had my mouth full, and was going to call her back in like 1 minute. Then the phone rings again, and it's her AGAIN. I answer and she tells me she needs a guitar cake out of fondant, do I do that? I respond that I do, and she tells me it is for 10-12 people max. I respond that I can't do it for that few, it would be closer to 30 servings. She asks how much it would be, and I say that since it is a flat cake, I would do it for the regular fondant price of $3.25 per serving instead of the normal 3D charge of $5 per serving. She gets upset, tells me that's too much, and asks for a "regular" cake with a guitar on it. I tell her it would be a quarter sheet and that's about 24 servings, so about $75, since there is detail in the design. She tells me that's way too expensive and she'd have way too much cake so she doesn't want to spend that. I ask her what her budget is, and she tells me that you can buy quarter sheet cakes for "like $25". I tell her straight up that she could go to Costco or Wal-Mart for those prices.

She proceeds to tell me that her son likes "Cake Boss" and Costco and Wal-Mart don't do those types of cakes......do I know anybody who would? I respond that I don't know any custom cake shops that would do it for that price. She gets pushy, so I tell her someone she can call, and whaddya know?? She's already called them. (I mentioned her because I knew damn well this wonderful lady wouldn't do it for that price).

She proceeds to push me about who would do this wonderful cake for a pittance of a budget and I tell her I can't help her, whereupon she hangs up pissed.

I mean really. Tell me you don't want to pay me to do a custom job, then push me to recommend my competition? What a wench.

I can't believe that I refrained from telling her that if they were such "Cake Boss" fans, she'd have an idea what he charges for custom cakes!

It would be nice if those shows told how much they charge so people would understand just how much a custom cake really cost. People also need to be aware that they don't just start a cake and finish it in the 30 mins that the show is on. There is a lot that doesn't show up on the tv!

Yeesh, I hate it when people respond like that! If you can't afford it, fine, but don't try to tell me I am wrong for charging what I do!!! Just say, "oh ok, well I can't spend that much, thank you anyway". How hard is that???

Sorry you had to deal with that!

There's so much "duh" in the world...

At least once a day I have a customer walk into my shop and ask if I watch cake boss.

I just had an old coworker tell me she would rather give the money to me instead of the grocery store for a cake. I told her that my cakes and prices are not grocery store and she proceeds to tell me she is just looking for a 9" purple cake with purple icing and a great deal of a price. She then says she wants a "sista discount". I told her that the smallest cake I do as a single tier is a 10" and it starts at $52.50.

All I heard was, "that's an expensive a@@ cake, I will have to talk to my husband to see if he wants to spend that kind of money". Of course I knew when she called back what she was going to say.

Would'nt a slap in the face be the same as degrading ones quality of work in comparison to a grocery store ?
These people truley need to learn some manners,the less they say the better....

The funny thing is she made your point for you when she said that Costco doesn't make cakes like on Cake Boss. If she would have just stopped and thought about it for a second she may have realized thats why they are cheap!

Them: "Oh I just LUV that show Ace of Cakes!"
Me: "Oh me too!" (drops voice to a conspiratorial whisper) Did you know ...... ? That his cakes START at $1000? And I'll guarantee you that the cakes you see on his show are nowhere NEAR a lousy thousand dollar cake! The good news is that I'm not QUITE that expensive! Now .... what were you looking for today?"

Believe me .... it gets the point across!

Karateka ~ Indeed you were polite, but sometimes we have to cut a conversation short especially when it starts heading in the "I'm wasting my time" direction!

SEPARATE FROM THIS TOPIC ~ One valuable piece of information I learned from reading around on this site is that a lot of the decorators "set a base price" and they won't even go TOWARD the kitchen if their base price is not met. Doing that has saved me a lot of "NOT" filling orders for 4,5,6, etc. servings. And it's not that I feel I am above doing those, it's the client does not agree to the base price on account of feeling "that's too expensive!"

I use to try to accommodate EVERY CLIENT, and it drove me nuts!


** Debi, I love what you wrote!

I hate when people do that! A couple of weeks ago, I had someone call me on a Saturday evening, and they wanted a double layer 12x18 sheet cake with gourmet filling etc, for the next day with a theme design etc. I told them the price ($100) and they were like no no, that's too much. I told them I'm sorry that's my base for that size cake, and that didn't include a rush fee considering it was less than 24 hours notice. Needless to say they never ordered the cake. My prices are definitely fair compared to other bakers and mid-high end bakeries on island so I refuse to go any lower. I'm seriously thinking about establishing the "base price" soon though...

You should of asked her if she worked. And if she replied Yes, ask her if she works for less than $3 an hour. And if she said No, tell her "well neither do I!!"

I like that one, weirdkd!

I think people believe we just make cakes for a living, but don't want to make a living from decorating cakes. It never crosses their mind that minimum wage in the states is $7.25/hr in the states and most people want to get paid more than that, so why wouldn't we?

About 3 months ago, my mother felt the need to tell me that "cake decorating is a hobby, not a livelihood."

What was even funnier was that my mother came to visit me 2 weeks later and became addicted to my cake balls. Then, she wanted me to teach her how to make them and give her my cake recipes so that she can do them as a side job once she returned home!!! The nerve of some people. I told her she was out of her mind and to get her own hobby, at which time she told me that I should be happy that she has found a way to make money on the side."

I really hope that this apparent mental illness isn't genetic. I don't want to lose my mind when I'm her age.

Hi guys! I love this post, and I recently posted a kind of relevant one I wanted to share with you . Sometimes I am unsure about what to charge for a particular design, and am very curious to know how much someone else would charge or has charged for a similar cake. I love the pricing guides here, but would LOVE to see some of your real cakes and know how much you've charged for them, since complexity is a big factor in pricing.
I often feel "bad" for charging someone a price that may sound high, although I really shouldn't because they usually take me much longer than I anticipated! lol. I guess being a newbie, I am not sure how long a new design will take me. Indydebi, I read your post on another discussion and your analogy about having a "right" to buy an Escalade was hilarious! But, so true!! I have definitely started charging more and have stopped backing down when people ask for a lower price. If they want a lower price, they should ask for a simpler design.
It would be great to see comparable cakes and what they've sold for, for confirmation of my pricing, and also for a guide in pricing future cakes, say if someone asks me for a car cake and I can look up a few here to see the average cost.
I tried finding this info online, and it is very hard! Sucrea mentioned the show Fabulous Cakes, and how they disclose prices, and I really love that about that show too!
Well, thanks for reading, and hopefully we can get this started. My post is called "Cake pics with prices" and I will start posting my pics tomorrow.

cupcakefrost. there was a post a few weeks ago and a lot of the members actually went into their previous photos and edited the description to include how large the cakes were and what they charged. So I guess its true that "Great minds think alike!"