How much do you pay for celebration cakes?

[Spotsbeforemyeyes]

Full disclosure, I run a home based cake business.

I'm not a large business but in order to make any kind of profit I do need to charge sensible money for bespoke cake. I've been in business 4 years but don't make an annual profit. I'm just wondering if it's actually worth it.

I'm in the Midlands but close to a large city.

Do you buy bespoke cakes? If so, what event would you splash out for?

Thanks.

I've spent £40-45 for a birthday cake that feeds 12 from someone with a similar set up to you. Bespoke design etc. Happy to do that for a big birthday. Same lady did my wedding cake to feed 150 in a bespoke design for £300.

I just spent £55 on a birthday cake to feed 20.

Where in the country are you GMtoBe?

needallthesleep do you know what size your cake was for that price?

I spent £60 on dd’s birthday cake. If something is well made and professional I don’t mind spending more. I’m in Norfolk.

Are you fully registered and insured?

poutysprout yes, fully registered, all certs up to date and inured for £5 million.

For dm birthday cake we paid £120 it was to feed 40 and was 40cm in diameter. Lovely design.
For ds we used the same lady to make his cake in the shape of 12 and paid £150
We're in the north west

I'm in the Midlands too, not too far from Birmingham.

GMtoBe my locality then.

On cake groups I'm in bakers start around £60/5 for a 6 inch cake simple design then go up from there.

There's a lot of talk about how we should be similarly priced in order to make it a level playing field for the bakers to get business so I try and keep in line with others. The problem now is that people don't want to pay £85 for an 8 inch cake to feed 20 people in my area. Others say well these are not your customers then. I'm struggling to find a place. This is my own bit of pocket money so I don't want to give it up but I'm basically working for a couple of quid an hour.

I'm in watford and paid £80 for a bespoke cake to feed 50. It was really huge and everyone was so impressed by it. It was for my DD's 1st bday so worth it. For her next bday I probably wouldn't spend as much and there will be less people.

The other thing you're going to have to bear in mind for profitability is volume of work.

If we assume you & a competitor have the same fixed costs, eg insurance, light & heat, purchase of equipment etc (And assuming you're accounting for these in the price you charge), then someone creating 100 cakes a month will have more volume to soak up those fixed costs than someone selling only 10 cakes a month.
So, conversely, are you having to add "too much" of the fixed costs to your cake price because you are selling so few (comparatively)?

drquinn that's a good point.

I do try and include everything in my costings.

My daughters wedding cake, 3 tiers, red velvet, chocolate and vanilla sponge 10,8 and 6 inch deep layers plain white fondant iced with boards cost me £120 from a small local cake bakery shop i did the flowers and ribbons on it myself so with flowers would probably have been £150

isseywithcats that's dirt cheap for a wedding cake 😲

I charged £150 for mates rates on a cake that size where the big cake was fruit!

Suppose it depends on how intricate the cake is (as well as the size). I am in the SE and use a local woman who started up her own business 3 years ago. I wont use anyone else because I am so happy with her work and think the cakes justify the prices.

I have had a playstation 4 with controller (£80).

Louis vitton handbag surrounded by make up and lipstick (not real make up- all made out of fondant or whatever is used) £80
Football pitch with players £90 (cake was bigger)
Cake with chocolate fingers round outside and maltesers and other sweets in the middle £50
Anniversary cake (two tier) with little diamontes around edges and fondant roses on top £90

I think it depends how many hours or how much work is involved, (plus size of cake)

I'm paying £60 for my daughter's pony stable-themed birthday cake. It had better be a showstopper!

Here it's £45 for an 8 inch fairly intricate cake, a simple design would be less.

I Think that for the skill and time required these are all a bargain! Not to mention the cost of ingredients plus running costs.

That said, personally I could never pay out that much for cake so I think it's a very tricky business model unless you're working for the mega millionaires.

I agree fusion all of the above are less than locals around here charge. Also agree about client base.

Maybe I need to rethink my options.

this is the cake I commissioned for my DH's 60th birthday

Dead chuffed to see they feature it on their website!

£210 to serve 40, SW London.

BIWI that's a great cake. Looks big.

That cake would have been £150 from me but I'm in the Midlands.

There's a lot of talk about how we should be similarly priced in order to make it a level playing field for the bakers to get business

Isnt that price fixing and illegal?