Good morning fellow bakers! so I am no professional by no means and still pretty new to the game, however I have been asked to make cakes for coworkers and family. When I bake a cake I don't do low quality and I strive to make a delicious and moist cake and I don't like fondant but I do decorate with Fondant. I always use my go to butter cream recipe which I use high ratio shortning , that being said I don't know what to charge for a layered or tiered cake? I know most goes by the servings but I don't know how many servings you get out of a cake either. I know this is a question that varies due to decorating and such but if I could get a general idea that would be GREAT! Thank you!
Hi Sassyinky,
There are just too many variables to be able to say off the bat how much you should charge; least of all, how big the cake is, what people in your area charge, how much you pay for the basics etc etc etc. If you do a search for pricing on the search engine you should be able to get more help. For how many servings you get per cake do a search on the wiltons site - they have a good chart that a lot of bakers use.
Good luck!
serving numbers: http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-serving-guide.cfm
Like any product, it is priced for your region (check other local, similar bakers) and your quality/style. Regionally, the cost of living/rent in Manhattan is higher than Who-knows-where, Ohio or Kansas (no offence) so obviously THE SAME cake in Manhattan will cost more.
Skill? "I made it with love" and "Mom says it looks awesome" doesn't help. Do you have a finished , professional product? Clean, decorated board, straight sides, smooth icing, detailed decorations, rich taste, etc.?
So I can tell you Sam's club sells a 48 serving, 1/2 sheet cake for what...like $30? Less than $1/ serving. Your must look better and taste better. Can you get the $20/ serving some of the most famous bakers get? Maybe...someday. Any price from $1/ serving to $20/ serving may be reasonable.
This question comes up everyday and the poster gets frustrated because they don't get the dollar amount or range they're looking for. Rather, they are told to do some homework as clair and johnson have suggested. Posters often get upset because they feel like they didn't get the help they were asking for, but we want all newbies to know this is the best help they can receive. It's like the addage: Give a person a fish and they eat for a day, teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime. So rather than tell you what to price what you are receiving is how to price. Hope this makes sense to you!
@sassyinky I'm fairly new to the baking world myself and I want to assure you the pricing thing gets easier :) I don't sell yet we are working towards that but I do research and price out each thing we do as if we were selling them. Also a fellow baker in my area shared with me her full detailed price list (awesome right?) and believe it or not our work is fairly close to hers she has about 20 years experience on us and we have beginners luck lol but with that being said we put out a good quality and she is a fan of our work and we intend on referring customers to each other in the future.
Anyway the point I am trying to make is maybe find another baker in your area that you admire their work and see how your products compare (skill wise) to theirs if they have a price list review it and compare it to your costs etc. I'd like to encourage you as the others have to research and learn as much as you possibly can. I found a free baking calculator tool that helps you figure out cost and include what you would pay yourself. The servings will come easier too eventually. Sheet cakes sometimes confuse me still lol. Hang in there and keep reading that's the best thing you can do.
http://thecakestation.com/Pages/CakeServingGuide.html
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/making-cakes/baking-serving-guide.cfm
http://www.docakes.com/PricingCakes.html
The docakes one I used in the beginning to get a basic idea and I generally use the Wilton guide but like a visual chart as well which is why I included the link to the cake station. Good luck and hope that helps :)
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