I did it pro-bono for a friends daughters birthday but ive gotten alot of requests for it now. what would you charge? btw...the fondant balls along the bottom werent missing when i delivered it...the kids loved them and was sneaking them off the cake haha

$4.50 per give or take

Pretty cake.  This question comes up all the time on this forum, with the same basic answers.  How much were your ingredients?  How long did it take you?  What would you like to charge for your labor?  What is your overhead cost, such as electricity, transport to grocery store, dishwasher, clean-up time..e.t.c.

Answer those questions and you have what you should charge.

Legally, you can't charge people unless your kitchen is Board of Health certified, you may know this already though.

Who's kitchen is BOH certified??  So you can't sell baked goods from a home?

concerned citizen dials 9-1-1

dispatcher: "police, fire or ambulance"

concerned citizen: "police"

dispatcher: "what's the problem"

concerned citizen: "someone just paid for cake"

K8, in my state, NO you can't sell from your home.  Legally that is.  Not ever.  Advertising has nothing whatsoever to do with anything.  Unless you have a kitchen certified by the BOH.  Which I do.

Same here in MA, you can't sell without a BOH certificate under the CFL.  But don't let that scare you, a BOH certificate is not expensive and relatively easy to obtain in most places with a CFL.

sure you can--if my mom wants a cake and i make it and she pays me i'm not going to jail i'm not going to be arrested

i'm making a distinction between selling a cake and having a business

yes i believe there is a viable difference because there is

AFrom what I've read on here in Most states its illegal to sell cakes if your kitchen hasn't been inspected by the BOH. The OP was asking how much could she charge for her cake because she's been having people ask her make them, odds are she can't legally sell her cakes unless her kitchen has been inspected by the BOH. K8 the cake police are gonna come get you you naughty girl.....lol

Good point K8memphis.  

A

Exactly she was asking how much to charge for her cakes so its sounding like she's selling more than just one cake

AIt says on here all the time once you sell a cake you are no longer a hobbyist you are now in business.

Away off subject people. lol. the question wasnt do i need to be certified ( which i know the answer to) the question was how much would you charge?

AThe price will depend on your costs, including ingredients, labor, and overhead (such as license fees, insurance, etc.), as well as markup based on local market values. If you do not meet the requirements to legally sell cakes to the general public in your area, the price would be $0. For a legal business the price would probably be in the $3-6/serving range.

Wonderful cake.  I hope you find an answer on pricing.  I usually price by components and cake size then add everything up.  It took me a while to figure it out but all in all it is worth it.  As for the cake police, lol, I have never sold a cake in my life.  Its funny though, people tend to lose money on my kitchen counter, or on my car seat, or my coffee table, between the cushions of my couch, you name it.  I try so hard to give it back but no one ever takes it.  It always seems to match up with what we discussed one would pay for a cake like that at a bakery.  Oh well, what can you do, right?

sorry about that paper fishies & leah & all kentuckians

but if you put up with the sh*t and jump through the hoops they later set afire you can do it from your property

here in elvistown the health department is always very courteous and helpful but they don't necessarily inform you about the zoning restrictions because that of course is not exactly their purview--if you draw up plans for them to make a finding on sure you find out then

it's always so complicated huh

but to me for most of the planet, one can sell a few hand made things whatever they may be and not be a business

the exchange of money for goods does not constitute a business to me

it is conducting a business transaction

but a business is something else entirely in my opinion

ALet's try to stick to the topic here, this is not a debate on what is or is not a business.

A

AThe OP sure sounds like she's trying to go into the cake business. ...not from just this one post but from some of her other post too. Shes pricing things out , from shimmer dust to wedding cakes. So yes this might be off the topic of pricing her cake but it sure sounds like she's at least trying to go into the caking business. And some of us have tried to give her ways to figure out her cost, from how much did ingredients cost to the over head of running her kitchen.

AOk so lemme clear some things. I start school in a few months (bakery and pastry arts of course) in now doing cakes for family and using the money to stock up my kitchen tools. Just a cake here and there. But after i get about halfway through school i plan on going legit getting all my permits needed making a Facebook page etc...i know all the legalities just think in way undercharging for my work (family or not haha)

To your original question, I would not charge for this cake (or only take $$$ for ingredients). Not because you are not legal/certified/etc - although all valid points. Apologies in advance if I sound harsh, but I don't think that is a professional level cake. There are a lot of bumps, rips, tears in the fondant and the balls are not uniform. The bow is also not fully dried and is kind of limp looking on the top. Don't get me wrong - it's a cute cake. But I don't think it's ready for sale just yet. Practice a few more times and you'll definitely be there. But for right now, if I was a customer and paid $4.50/serving I would have been disappointed.

to me there is an element of cakedom  that perceives cakes worthiness by a plumbline of competition perfection or of what used to be the wilton yearbook model of decorating--where every jot and title of the cake was, well picture perfect

however i believe that passion plays a bigger role in a great cake

sometimes perfect cakes are limp and bland to me--without the breath of life

but i like the hand crafted quality of your cake and most all cakes

i like the uneven playfulness of the balls the kids felt free to grab and eat

to me there's a time and place for every facet of cake decorating

the only cake competiton i ever entered (outside of office competition amongst non-pros)  was in arkansas and the cake had to be decorated as if it was a real cake that could be made in real time--not the kind that you take months to perfect

margaret braun, colette, sylvia, all of them display imperfect cakes in their books--and i'm not intending to imply that you are at their level i'm just making a point--if you look closely at all the cakes out there you can spot flaws, imperfections

so for what it's worth-- imo your cake is certainly worth the ingredients and the time you put into it--the handcraftedness adds to it's charm

if kerry vincent ordered that cake--you'd maybe wanna tighten it up but it's for the general public it's worthy of remuneration imo