I am just curious how much a baker/decorator would charge for custom cupcakes like this?
The answer is that only the person making the cookies can tell you how much they cost. Prices vary city to city baker to baker. If your looking to purchase them you'll have to contact a local baker and ask them or if you are making them and wanting to charge for them I recommend this:
or
are those cupcake toppers or cookies? can't tell --
sure i can tell you what i would price them at -- somewhere between $7 and $10 each plus the cupcake/cookie -- they seem quite detailed -- i'm in memphis tennessee --
it looks like fondant cut outs but you could cut some work time by substituting edible ink markers for some of it --
you'll still have to make templates and pipe the net and i can't tell what's on the logo under the initials -- there's a lot of expertise to pull that off --
best to you
Thank you for the feedback. It's super helpful. The are fondant toppers for cupcakes I created them using an exacto knife mostly. I was curious what I should be charging for something like this. I am constantly struggling with how much to charge for such custom items. I'm in Toronto, Canada.
Oh my God, 4 1/2 hours with an exacto knife...I'd charge a bundle for the crick in my neck I'd have when I was done!
Those are really detailed, and if they take that long to do you're going to have to charge a high amount for them or you won't be making much money. Say you think $10 a cupcake...That gives you $60 for 6, then you have to take out the cost of ingredients (say $8 as an estimate, it might not be that high for 6 but you have to bake more than that, most likely.) That takes you down to $52 net. Then take out the cost of your overhead so give that another $5. Now you're at $47. You took a couple of hours to communicate with the client, shop for ingredients etc, then an hour to mix and bake and 4 1/2 hours to decorate. So you're at 7 1/2 hours of labor which would mean you're at $6.27 an hour wages, and that doesn't even account for any profit.
Even if the ingredients don't cost that much you're not earning much. if you had NO expenses at all 7 1/2 hours of work and charging $60 means that you only earned $8 an hour.
So you have to either charge more than $10 a cupcake for those, or reduce the time that you spend on each one. I did a pricing e-class that might help, or you can just figure it out yourself, but the only way to increase your net income is to either increase your pricing or decrease the time you spend working. You can also decrease expenses, but in the case of 6 cupcakes with toppers that take that long to make, the labor is going to be your main consideration.
What costumeczar said, pretty much. How much are you paying yourself per hour work? Honest wage? Is this for business, or pleasure? For business, i recommend to always negotiate appropriate price upfront, before making the product. what you are describing is a very time consuming and labor intense product, and it looks great! So should the compensation.
There are nany factors - discussed and fussed over here a lot, from what i can tell in my short time on here. Main things:
Do not sell yourself short.
Get paid for your time.
Work smarter, not harder. Ok, that last one was actually from Duck Tales :-)
Thank you for all this helpful feedback I had originally started out thinking I could do this as a business but ppl where I live will not pay the price. I have just continued to do cakes and cupcakes for friend and family but after I complete a project like this I always feel like I should have charged more even though they are friends.
Another question: how do you get this same type of toppers with the same detail but less time consuming. What do ppl use to get this result?
Do NOT feel bad about realizing your talent is worth its price. You can still consider business, just not as elqborate EACH time. Sometimes a eimple swirl and sprinkles would do, on a made from.scratch, or box mixed order. Just make sure you know your time's price, according to difficulty level, and work out the price with that in mind.
Use cookie cutters that fulfil at least part of the shaoes, if
Use cookie cutters that fulfil at least part of the shaoes, if
Sorry, phone posted before i intended to.
Parts of the shapes can be done with cookie cutters.
I definitely try to use cookie cutters wear ever I can. Do ppl really pay $10 a cupcake though? I know most of my clientele wouldn't even think of paying that.
This particular customer ordered 12 cupcakes. The first 6 cupcakes will be the photo above and the next 6 are in this photo. I have severely under cut myself again. :( Live and learn. I won't do it again. Lol
That's part of the pricing issue that you have to take into account. People probably won't pay $10 a cupcake, so what your'e making probably isn't viable as a business if you want to make a profit. If that was another kind of decoration and it was made out of polymer clay people might pay for it, but attach the word "cupcake" to it and you have a hard sell.
Use cutters and streamline where possible, but if you can't do something at a profit it isn't a good business opportunity.
Plus, even if you're only taking payment for ingredients or whatever, and only doing it for friends and family, you're still running a business, so make sure you can sell food legally where you are.
working smarter could include using edible ink markers -- the americolor gourmet brand is really good and if you need a finer point just trim the tip so for the $7 to $10 plus the cost of the cupcake/cookie i mentioned above you should be able to produce the decor for each one in 10 -15 minutes -- add in that you bake the item and assemble -- it ultimately takes more total time but only 10 - 15 minutes per each one on making the decor
If you really want, you could look into one of the cutting machines, be it a cricut cake etc. if you keep your eyes open, you can find a good deal, on eBay or craigslist. It could help with some of your shapes, especially if you find a cartridge that has some sports shapes or what have you
Sounds like you are not struggling with pricing, instead, you are struggling with YOUR desire and passion to do finely detailed, extraordinarily complicated, in-your-face, over-the-top, fabulously adorable creations.
Since you are very good at creating tiny little creations, and apparently, enjoy the heck out of both doing it and getting the resultant praise from others, keep doing what you love, but don't expect others to pay for YOUR passion.
Here's my response to this same dilemma on another forum:
http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=166739
"Sounds like you got caught in the home-baker dilemma. "I wanna make
cute stuff and sell it!" Instead of, I want to be efficient,
profitable, use the minimal time and expense to create a product that is
"good enough" to generate further orders.
There is an outstanding thread on CakeCentral.com with superb advice
from the representative for CakeBoss software, KelleyM. The entire
thread is pure gold for home bakers who sell product.
http://cakecentral.com/t/748799/cake-prices
Here is an excerpt:
"Remember Ruth Rickey's rules:
1. Will the customer notice?
2. If they notice, will they care?
3. If they care, will they pay?
So while you are poring over every minute detail of a cake or cookie , it's likely that what you are doing is taking time away from your
home, your family, your sleep, and your sanity, to add details that
only you care about."
good stuff apti -- goes right to the point/heart of it
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