I've just recently started in the field and have some successful cakes, however I don't know if I've been successful with the pricing.  I'm starting to see that this may be the most difficult items in starting up this business.

I'm just curious as to what the cake community here on cakecentral.com would have charged for these cakes.  The round cake was a 10 and 6 in round covered in fondant and the square was a 10 and 5 inch square covered in buttercream.  I'm in California and didn't have to drive more than 5 miles to deliver these.

I'd really appreciate some feedback (and suggestions if you have them).  I'm starting to fall in love with this field because I see the absolute joy on the customers faces.  I'm addicted :-)

Thanks again,

Nicole

AHow long did the cakes take you to make, how much did the ingredients cost, and how much do you pay for your commercial kitchen?

AThey both took about 5 hours to make. The ingredient costs were about 50 for the yellow cake and 70 for the black and pink. I used my own kitchen.

ABy, "I used my own kitchen" do you mean your home kitchen? Or do you own a licensed commercial kitchen? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that CA does not permit foods to be sold to the public if they are prepared in a home kitchen. If that's the case, then the only possible price for your cakes is $0.

CA has a cottage food law, don't they?  I just recently looked because we are petitioning for it in WI, and saw CA on the list. I was glad because I may be moving there. :)

Maybe I had that wrong.  I just searched it and found a site saying WI has a cottage food law, which in fact we DO NOT. http://homebasedbaking.com/knowledgebase/rules-regulations/cottage-food-law-states/

Is there an official way to find out which states have cottage food laws?  My info about CA must have been wrong. Definitely do not sell cakes unless you are within the law, to protect YOURSELF and the industry.  If something goes wrong, what if you get sued?

See , here's just what I mean...  The link above says CA doesn't... this link says CA does: http://cottagefoodlaws.com/state-regulations/cottage-food-law-states/

Which is it?

CA recently passed the cottage food bill into law, but it doesn't go into effect until January 2013.  And it's looking like a whole bunch of counties are unprepared for it, so  it may be even longer than that before it is actually up and running in some areas.

Stop whinging and feeling sorry for yourself because you didn't get the answers you were looking for. Time to put on your big girl panties!

There are posts here every day about pricing, and they usually read like this:

-How much should I charge for this cake?

-How much would you charge for this cake?

Usually accompanied by a photo and no other information.

Providing enough background info is vital if one wants help from others about pricing. My price isn't going to be the same as your price, or his price, or her price.

Seriously though, what answers did you expect? You never mentioned in your first post that you don't make/sell cakes to the public, that these particular cakes were free for family members, that you are aware of the CFL, are planning a future (legal) business, and that you know you can't legally sell food made in your home.

A

Your comment that you don't know if you've been successful with pricing suggests that you have sold cakes before. If you have your ducks in a row, it's generally a good idea with these types of questions to include a little background about what you plan to do (including your estimated sales volume and annual overhead) to help focus the thread on your pricing questions and demonstrate that you have a plan in place to sell legally, since many people do not.

You are correct that baking cakes as gifts for friends and family is not against any current health codes in CA, but Leah is also correct that the price for said cakes should be $0.

Jason,

Thanks all for the information.  I'll keep in mind the overhead figures if I decide to start charging.  Rental kitchens in my area run about $375 a month plus a yearly membership fee of $500.  Even with the new law, with these cakes, my kitchen was taken over, so I might be using a rental kitchen simply for the work space alone.  Right now, I have a full time job and am finishing a masters degree, so this is starting out as just a hobby, but I thought "what the heck" to see what pricing would be.  I worked up some figures myself and wanted to see how off I would be.  I wasn't too far off.