This is my second professional order. I am still trying to figure out the right pricing strategy while not trying to scare customers away by asking too much. I kind of cringed when many people started talking about how "nice" of me to make such good tasting cakes at such a small price. I charged $65 for this 11"X15" 2 layer SMBC cake with some fondant decorations, am I charging too little? What would you charge for this one? 
yes that's not enough -- oh gosh that serves 82? wow you're not even charging a dollar a serving -- i would charge at least $4 a serving -- like $250
oh wait -- i can't multiply -- that'd be like over $320
You paid the customer to make you work :( It has been said on this site and many others that there is much to consider when trying to price. What kind of area do you live in - rural, small town, city, BIG city etc; how much is invested in making it - including ingredients, packaging, insurance, utilities, etc, etc. K8 is right......that should have been somewhere nearer to $250 to $350. Are those toys or did you hand make the figures, fence etc? All of that needs to be figured into pricing.
65 dollars is not enough for sure!! I agree with the others about prices being more like 250 to 350 dollars. You are giving your cakes away and you work too hard not to make any money on them. You cake is cute!!!
11x15? I didn't know people actually did 1/3 sheet cakes, where I am the standard options would be 1/4 or 1/2 with nothing in between. My boss only has one 1/3 sheet pan and we only use it for tray bakes like walnut bars.
A double layered cake of that size, with a premium frosting like SMBC, with extensive fondant decorations, I'd have said $200 as a rough estimate.
There would be so much less confusion in the caking world if people would stop using the terms of 1/4; 1/3; 1/2 ect sheet cakes. Just post the size! If there is a pan available out there someone is bound to use it and let others know it's size/shape causing it to become more 'typical :) Calling a 11x15 a '1/3 sheet' makes it very hard on newbies to understand the difference.
One of my most ordered sizes was a 12x18 - a 1/2 sheet? On oversized one? If one matches the pan with the board & box available your much better off. That 12x18 didn't leave any room for a bottom border :( I had to use super small tips & pipe on the side of the cake rather than the board.
I mean, all those sizes are standards, though, so I don't think it's confusing at all. I just literally have not heard of anyone offering a 1/3 sheet before. It's just not usually a thing. No reason it can't be, it's just uncommon.
12x18 is definitely a standard 1/2 sheet size. But it sounds like you weren't chopping off enough of your cake to give yourself room to work. I think the whole idea behind sheet pan sizes is that you're going to carve off the edges to give yourself a 1 inch buffer on every side of the cake.
So Wilton's 1/2 sheet board measures 13x19 inches. If you don't carve anything off of your 12x18 baked cake, that's only a half inch on each side to work with, both for your frosting and a border. That's a nightmare. So the whole point is to carve off your browned edges and just have nice cake underneath.
My advice is to never feel like you are going to scare someone away by telling them A REAL PRICE of your work. It is what it is. Numbers don't lie. I know losing a customer is bad, but gaining customers who expect you to produce a fanfare-worthy cake for under cost of ingredients is much, much worse. "Nice" is not how business works, it works on "polite, but real".
Also, my policy is to never start or complete the order, then debate how much I should charge for it. I am not cheap, and I know it.
I have lost customers before, and even just this week, from them trying to drive the cost down, while simultaneously running out of enough "advance notice" for me to accept the order... I do not want to lock in a specific date, and make it unavailable for another potential order, while someone is trying to figure out how to lower the price. My answer is simple: "This is how much it costs, and this is how much time I need; no, I am not being rude, but as of this date, the negotiations have to come to a conclusion and an agreement one way, or the other".
Again, I am not being rude - trying to help here (and yes, it has been said on this site many times over). Undercharging hurts you, and the market you are trying to work in. If "people started talking about how "nice" of me to make such good tasting cakes at such a small price", than you are already earning a reputation as a "cheap cake lady". It happens fast, and it is hard to get out of later.
You have the numbers in front of you - those are facts: the ingredients receipt, your labor hours, your oven/dishwasher/other overhead expenses. Facts are hard to un-see. Don't sell yourself cheap.
Thank you everyone for your valuable input and advice. Yes, reading all your comments, I understand I was being really unfair to myself. People generally likes the taste of my cakes, so I should be confident charging standard price for it. I do not want to be the "cheap cake lady".
I agree with you Kakeladi , I have no clue what 1/2 sheet cake or 1/4 sheet cake is. What size is a whole sheet cake? if I someone orders a cake from me I go by inches.
Here is a good example of something that happened to me recently:
A lady wants a $750 worth of a cake, but has a budget of $400. I produce several less expensive ideas and options for her, explaining that sacrifices will need to be made in either servings amount, intricacy, complexity (for example, a smaller decorated cake + a sheet cake for extra-servings), or a bit of each - less cake, less design. I manage to give her some options - for just a bit over her budget, but in all honesty to myself and to her I could not make it any less expensive.
She sounds optimistic, but as soon as details are discussed, she asks if some tiers of the cake could be made bigger, and details added here and there - getting closer again to her original vision of final product. I tell her, it most certainly can be done, but the cost will go up accordingly. Which, of course, is not what she wants. This goes back and forth a few times, all the while the time is ticking. She's a nice lady, simply unfamiliar what is involved, and I did my best at explaining things to her, understanding that she honestly has no clue.
The clock is ticking, and there comes the time the discussion has to either move to deposit, or to amiable quits. A deadline is good in this case, as I do not wish to cut the time so short that making a cake turns into a rushed mess, nor put a client into a mad hurry to find an alternative cake-buying option.
Now, would I like to land a sure $400, instead of definitely missing out on the $750 contract? Of course! Unless, that is, the profit I would make while earning those $400 will only buy me a bag of peanuts... If a cake - with due profit - costs $750, than making it for $400 is a financial suicide, and a lot of unrewarded effort.
I am only writing this example to help anyone in such situations, and to dispel the worries of "am I charging too much/enough?!". Think of all that affects your costs, and stick by the price you calculated. There are less expensive options you may have on hand to "compromise" and reconcile the clients' wishes with their budget. But these should not mean your business should hurt in the process.
Good luck.
I totally am baffled at how to charge. I know when you have a licensed business you should be competitive, but it's hard when you live in a rural area and everyone wants cheap. I use the very best ingredients and put my soul into a cake. For example these are some I've done recently....can I get suggestions on what some of you would charge for these?
i don't know but they're beautiful -- the bride for that wedding must have been deliriously happy with that beauty --
charge as much as you can get away with without getting run out of town 
is the chocolate the groom's cake or a different wedding? it's wonderful -- are those little mini reese's cups? ganache drips and rosettes can't go wrong with that -- i can almost smell it from here -- mmmm
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