Hi! This is my first post on here. I started making birthday cakes JUST for my boys, but lately people have been asking me to make cakes for them. I am completely lost about what to charge- I feel guilty since they are friends so I say “just the cost of materials”. But sometimes “just” the cost alone makes me nervous to ask my friends to pay since I dont do this professionally or buy in bulk.
This cake I made for today. He didn’t have a specific request so I searched the Internet and copied as best I could. So I ended up doing 9in round on the bottom, Wilton ball pan with a 6in round and a teeny “smash cake” since it is the child’s 1st birthday. All said and done I spent like $45 on materials. Is that reasonable to ask of him? He didn’t specifically ask for what I did, he told me to decide.
Also- what would you charge for a cake like this? The birthday hat is a bit big- but overall it came out cute I think.
Thank you!
Both of those cakes look phenomenal! A lot goes into what is a reasonable price to charge for cakes. Location, price of materials, and competition can all factor into a 'fair market value'. Without knowing a whole lot about where you live and the cake market there, It's really hard to give advice on what to charge. I will tell you that I would charge 125.00 for the two tier but I live in the great, desolate, northern frontier- Wisconsin.
You did great work the cake looks awesome. $45 is WAY to little to ask for. You need to be compensated for your time, plus fondant alone cost $40 plus so I would really take the time and add up all your cost, including batters, butter, fondant, tips, boards, boxes. Make sure you do not go under and loose money on this.
For asking how much people would charge is such a broad statement, I would suggest looking at other forms on this site and read what other people have posted. The list can go on and on, location, hours of time put into the cake, box cake verse scratch cakes, etc, etc. Look into the past forms and it will give you a good idea on how to charge.
not really reasonable -- cakes like that cost a lot more -- at least $150 rock bottom price -- it's a sculpture
Wow you're good! Really well done work. As the others said, pricing is very 'localized' - so very much goes into coming up with a fair price - some of which is: your skill level, cost of ingredients, where you live and much, much more. I also agree w/the others that what you produced should have been no less than $150.
You shouldn't even consider doing a cake like this for anyone (unless it is your mother or sister and you just want to) for less than $100, and I don't care if you live on the moon, and a whole lot more if you are somewhere on earth! You did a great job, paid a lot for the ingredients and spent many hours decorating. If you continue to supply folks with near free cakes, they will expect you to continue and get offended when you decline. You will wind up being resentful and not enjoying your hobby.
I seriously do not believe that you only spent $45 on materials. That price includes everything? Ingredients to actually make the cakes and frosting? The fondant alone (unless you made it yourself) would cover the $45 price easily. I think you really need to re-evaluate the actual amount you spent to make these cakes. The cost of making cakes doesn't just mean the decorating part, you have to remember all the items and ingredients you use to actually bake the cake.
But like everyone else has said, I would not charge one cent below $100. Even that is on the super low end. Do some research around your area on what these types of cakes go for and price yours accordingly.
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