Hello lovely ladies
I baked this cake for my son's halloween bash last Sat. I posted few pics on FB and now one of my friend's friend wants me to bake her an exact replica of this cake for his son. I have no idea how much to charge since it was for home so I din't actually count how much time I spent on it as I was doing few other b'day treat related things (cake toppers, baking cupcakes/frosting/ganache etc) along with this cake. To make it easy for you all. It's a 6" & 8" chocolate fudge cake with espresso filling & covered in bittersweet ganache. Every single thing in this cake is edible and handmade (no molds).
thanks you so much in advance.
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I only bake as a hobby but wanted to say you did a great job!! Awesome Halloween cake and I love the witch with that awful looking nose. Great job on cake!! Hopefully someone here who is more in tune with pricing cakes will comment soon. You should check into going into business and getting yourself legal with selling cakes. You definitely have talent!!
@remnant3333 Thank you so much for your kind words. I am still waiting on expert's advice. No one seems interested :( Hopefully someone will rescue me out of this situation. BTW I too am a self taught baker & do cakes for friends & family for minimal charges (they would insist) as my kids are very small. May be in the future I can think of baking as my full time profession. Thanks again!!
Minileo, I would charge at least $150 for this cake. Your detail is beautiful and even though it is a 6 and 8 inch cake it is stacked and you are going to spend a lot of time putting it together. I am interested in your bittersweet ganache! would you mind telling me how you make it.
Thanks @Natka81 & @nannytime7 . for your inputs. You are right if I remember it took me 1 hr to get that witch face right. For my bittersweet chocolate ganache Or semisweet chocolate ganache I use either Nestle toll house bittersweet/semisweet chocolate morsels OR baker's brand. My ratio is 3:1 (Chocolate:Cream) I use simple measuring cup for both. I heat my microwavable glass bowl for a min & measure my 3 cups chocolate in them. In the meantime I heat my cream ( just when I see the bubbles around the edge) and pour it over the chocolate. Shake a little so cream covers the chocolate. Wait for a min and whisk it until both are incorporated well. You can use double boiler or give 5-5 secs burst in microwave if you find the need of heating the mixture. Keep it covered over night or at least 5-6 hrs to settle down (I don't like keeping in the fridge) I never had any problem with this recipe. I just microwave it in 10 secs burst if I find it lil thick to work with. I hope it helps.
Hi Minileo, I suspect the reason nobody is answering is because this question has been asked and answered many, many times there are a lot of threads on how to price out a cake, you will need to use the "search" function and start reading. There is no - one size fits all - answer to your question. Ballpark price on a cake like this for me would be $550-$600.00. Now I know you will think that is too much, but based on my location, the award wages plus extras workers comp, super, holiday pay etc. The hour you spent getting the face right (the face is good btw) would cost me $35.00 and that's just covering costs not making profit. If you were going to charge $150.00 for me that means 23% of the overall budget has been spent on the face. Cost of all ingredients and extras (cake board etc), overheads - electricity, phone/email/internet, time you spend communicating with the other mum, plus a stack of other things, $550-$600 is what it I would quote a customer.
@810whitechoc Thank you so much for your time & information. I tried looking for "How to price a cake" before posting this comment and couldn't reach to a proper decision. I will try not to bother you all about pricing again. But I was stunned at the pricing I am told by you & others. I don't think she would pay me anything more thn $100-150. And I for sure has put enough of time & ingredients to get $250-300 for this cake. My local gourmet bakery would charge anywhere between $400-500 for this type of cake. Thank you @kakeladi I will use all these precious Information for my future cakes. Have a great weekend everyone !!
Quote by @Minileo on 21 hours ago
I don't think she would pay me anything more thn $100-150. And I for sure has put enough of time & ingredients to get $250-300 for this cake.
Well...I guess your friend's friend is looking for an (almost) free cake. People like to take advantage sometimes and if you agree to do it your friend's friend's friends will come knocking on your door soon wanting an ever cheaper cake.
Thank you @leah_s My son loved it and that's where I got the most precious smile :) @julia1812 I have read the same thing as you said in previous forums. I would love to spend my time with kids and family rather thn making this cake for $100 and insulting other baker's hard work in my city. Thank you so much everyone once again!!
[postimage id="5344" thumb="900"]How much would you charge for this cake? It's a 2 tier 8 inch 2 layer red velvet with cream cheese and the top is a 2 layer vanilla with vanilla cake covered and decorated with fondant and topped with a fondant masquerade mask. I charged $130.
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