to ask how much you would pay for homemade Christmas cake

I have made Christmas cakes to sell. This was around 2007 and I had orders for around 23. I can’t remember exactly what I charged but it was at least £25 each.

It was A LOT of work. I baked for days on end and then spent days icing.

I don’t think the money covered what I spent in ingredients or time even back then.

It’s not going to be the nice little earner that you hope, I think I can guarantee that.

Make your own, enjoy it and save yourself the hassle!

Christmas craft fair - yes

Car boot sale - hello, no

Honestly, I think you’d have difficulty turning a profit. I make my own and it’s a terrific faff to do well.

Don’t know about large ones, but a friend of mine makes lovely little individual iced Christmas loaves and they go down a storm at Christmas craft fayres. I’m sure she makes more on them than she would using the same mixture for a large cake.

I’m not as harsh as some of the posts, I don’t think a car boot is the best place to sell them but, I think if you made small ones and put all the ingredients on a tag and wrapped them in cellophane and rented a stall at a Christmas market in a church hall or something you could sell them, marketed as gifts for elderly relatives or single people.

There’s no way I’d buy a cake from a random at a boot sale - your home could be unhygienic. If you have a reputation for making good Christmas cake among your family and friends then offer to make for them only

I’d only buy if I knew you tbh and not random and certainly not car boot sale. I’d pay £15 probably

Years ago I made an apricot loaf for a charity fundraiser. They sold it for £4. I'd guess that the ingredients were around £10.

I loooooooove Christmas cake and I cba to make it.

I’d potentially spend quite a lot (£40/50?) on a really swanky home made one that I thought would be amazing. But if I’m not getting something amazing, it would be M&S all the way.

That size Christmas cake would be very expensive, I think you would have better luck making them a much smaller size and in squares and simply decorate them ( no figurines)
Not many people want the big Christmas cakes any more and sometimes they are just hanging around for weeks as no one eats that much Christmas cake

I ❤️ Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.

I would buy a homemade cake. However, I’m sorry to say that yours look a bit basic. All you’ve done is plonked some decorations on an iced caked.

@ReignOfError gives good advice regarding costs.

Maybe just sell cupcakes at these fairs. You may get more sales.

If I had tasted and liked your cake, I might buy one off you directly.
But I wouldn't buy one made by a stranger.
And I wouldn't dream of buying one at a car boot sale!

As PP said, if there are some people in your life you could give them to as a gift, or if you could donate them instead of something else, that might work.

It's tricky, my cousin make those chocolate biscuit plum puddings and her entire family seem to expect free ones every year.

I think you might do better taking orders on your local Facebook page rather than a car boot. You could offer different sizes and see if any takers and would remove the risk of making cakes that didn’t sell.

That's just mean. They look lovingly home made.

and you're not 'sorry' so don't dress it up.

Absolutely nothing, I hate Christmas cake! I think people are just being polite and there isn't actually a market for this.

As someone who has done it, there is a world of difference between making cakes for friends and family and making them
professionally - the stress is much higher for a start. If you calculate how much the ingredients and gas/electricity cost and then a decent hourly rate for you (because you could be using the time for paid work), you’ll be horrified at what you’d need to sell each cake for. I made a very simple cake for a small birthday gathering at the weekend, and I’d guess at £20 ingredients etc and three hours of my time, which even at minimum wage would be £36, so if I was selling it’d need to be good enough to charge at a minimum £60 for, and I doubt many people want to pay that for (sorry to be blunt) a fairly bog-standard Christmas cake.

Quite a lot of people don’t like marzipan or royal icing, and lots more don’t want a fruit cake, so your pool of buyers may be smaller than you’d think, too.

Many years ago I made cakes. The cost of ingredients for a rich fruit cake make them almost impossible to to make any profit.

But I found small Christmas cakes sold very well, as people would buy them as small presents. I used to sell them for around £10 -£15 each, and the actual cake, inside the box, fondant icing and marzipan was only about 3" diameter. However they did look very professional, with homemade decorations, piping round the base etc. You need to factor in the price of boards, boxes, ribbon as well as the ingredients. Practice piping and getting a food finish.

In my experience, people want something for nothing at car boot sales, and given the cost of ingredients, the cost of fuel (gas/elec) to cook, your time, and the cost to do a car boot (lots of organisers charge sellers to set up a pitch) it wouldn't be worth the effort. Realistically, it’s unlikely you’d even cover your expenses, let alone make a profit.

Well, I wouldn't buy a cake from a stall at a car boot sake. You only have to be in MN 5 minutes to know other people's hygiene standards vary wildly. It's properly put me off buying homemade food at any kind of fair/fundraiser etc there's a woman near me who sells cakes/bakes from home & they look lovely. But I just can't bring myself to buy them...

However, if I knew you & especially if I'd tried your cake before I'd pay up to about £30 as a homemade Christmas Cake is a treat & they're expensive to make.

Sorry OP, but i don't think your cakes (based off your photo) are aesthetically pleasing enough to sell.

I think this post sums it up perfectly.

Would it be an option to give them as Christmas gifts? (Not sure who you buy for and how much you spend but it could be an option? If you spend say £20 on each of your siblings but could make them a cake each for £10 then you could make a saving that way?)

Honestly OP, I wouldn’t take the “you should sell them” comments too seriously. I also bake for family and friends, and get a constant stream of “you should go into business “ and “you should go on bake-off”. People are just being nice, I’m a good baker and they enjoy my cakes because they’re tasty and fresh and have no nasties in them*. But in reality they’re not that special and I’d certainly never make any money as a professional given the cost of ingredients.

*By nasties I mean UPFs, preservatives, artificial flavouring ect. There are plenty of good naughty things like chocolate and cream and butter 😛

I wouldn't buy a cake at a car boot sale. Could you perhaps make them as gifts instead?

Personally you'd have to pay me to eat Christmas cake! But the village shop near me sells homemade cakes all year round, they are beautiful and go for around £6 each but I'd probably pay more.