I have been making cakes for about 5 yrs. or so, off and on. I am a self taught decorator always looking to expand my knowledge with mew methods and ideas. Now that I'm at full time stay at hom mom, I want to focus more on making cakes again. Lately I have had several request but I find it so frustrating when I quote a price, seems like consumers want "Sam's Club" or "Walmart" or local grocery store prices!! I want to be compensated for the time and effort I put into these cakes but I dont want to sell myself short either. How does some of the CC Community come up with their prices for their services. Sometimes I wonder if this prevents me from gaining more buisness because I really want to grow in clientele but I dont want to start feeling like this isnt worth it because I'm not making it, it kinda discourages me from continuing if I can't profit from all my hard work. Please view my pics and critic and, help with any advice!!!!

I usually price out everything it will cost me to make a cake and figure out a round about of how long it will take me. ( I add at least $15 an hour) There will be a ton of people after me that will probably give you thier pricing sheets. You can't forget about cake boards, paper towels, and all those other random things people don't think about.

Looking at your pictures, walmart doesn't do what you do. If they want Walmart prices tell them to go to Walmart. Don't cut yourself short because people don't want to pay for quality.

Just be sure to not underprice yourself. Figure out your costs and add on how much you feel you should be compensated per hour that it takes to make the cake. I know that it could be frustrating to not compete with a sam's club price, but remember, some people prefer Bloomingdales, and some prefer Target. Keep making beautiful cakes and it will be worth it. You don't want to be known as the "cheap cake lady". Pricing yourself fairly now may make you lose a few potential customers, but pricing too low and then having to raise them significantly later, will perhaps cause you to lose faithful clients. And you don't want to start resenting the time you spend decorating- when you price yourself too low, you won't enjoy it as much and it will feel like a burden. Best of luck!!!

Get the Cake Boss software to figure out how much you should charge - it helps too by being to break down the pricing for the customer - ingredients, overhead (electricty, water, etc) and your labor.