Hi all!

New to this forum, but I need to get it off my chest. Cake pricing! I was a baker for eight years, registered and health inspected, and proud to be. However, I just gave up eventually. I had clients phoning me, asking if they can supply their own cupcake decorations, glitter, or even the papercups in which the goods were baked, in exchange for a lower price. My prices were not extreme... R5 each, (South African rand) which was the regular market price, for vanilla, choc, red velvet.. the mainstreams..  cupcakes in a nr 14 papercup with buttercream icing. (cake filled the papercup all the way to the brim, and topped with a nice big swirl of buttercream).

I could not pay the utilities anymore, I accepted as many orders as I could manage.  I could not handle the constant begging and argueing over cake prices anymore. I honestly could not.

In away, it destroyed that sense of pride I had, in my work, in producing something I wa so proud of, only to have people bickering over prices..  every recipe was tested by a professional cake decorator, and I got good feeback, every time! I took four days off in a year. Worked ridiculous hours. All to have clients phoning me with these silly stupid requests.

I missed out on Christmas with my family, so many times... birthdays, get togethers. I am upset and sad and angry with all these people, and with myself for not just ending those calls, for eccentially being bullied.

I guess this is my rant.. for those people that ever ask.. why is a custom cake so expensive? It's not! bake it yourself then, and tell me how much you would charge... pay the prices the baker asks for. Do not phone in and ask for cheaper prices for work that has to be done.. and would most likely take the better part of a day. Dont phone and ask for donations. If I feel the need to work and donate, I would. Do not guilt trip bakers.

Honestly, if I had kept the phone numbers of the cheapskate people who asked for all these extras , I'd be texting them right now.. (actually wondering now how to restore my deleted phonebook on my phone)....