Hey Everyone!

I am new at starting out with actually selling my homemade cupcakes. I've always loved baking and I would bake for people but never ask for anything in return. Well, now that I do I am so stuck as to how much to charge.  I don't want to "stiff" my friends and family but at the same time I don't want to leave me in a bind. 

What I usually do is take the recipe (I never use a book recipe, I always make my own...my own way) and I add up how much each would cost (flour, eggs...) and then give them the total.  Should I be adding extra for the labor it take me to make all the cupcakes and frost them?

Any advice is greatly appreciated and I am so glad I finally found a spot where I can learn and people can ask questions :) What a great site!

you absolutely should charge for your time...time planning, shopping, baking, cleaning...whatever you think your time per hour is. You want to figure in how much licensing and insurance is costing you. Set a set fee for utilities. Figureout exactly how much it costs you to bake a cake...$.11/cup flour, $.10/egg etc...don't forget packaging, cupcake wrappers. Starting a business is soooo much more than baking a cake and selling it. Doing it legally could save your from losing your home, savings and all of your assets if someone gets sick for some reason.

AThank you so much!! It does take a lot of work to bake cupcakes and a TON of prep time! No one really knows until they have to make dozens at a time! Thank you again for the help :)