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Original poster

Do people realise how expensive baking is?

198 replies

nikkylou · 04/04/2019 19:46

I went shopping today, I'm making cakes for work tomorrow for my last day
It got me thinking, as it always does every time I bake on request. That people who don't bake don't realise how expensive it is.
Once I make the terrible mistake of baking for my workplace, I open the floodgates...
Every charity cake sale, half of the birthdays...I bake. Don't get me wrong I don't bake for every request and I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it.
But even a victoria sponge can set you back £5-6 quid for real butter, cream, eggs and nice jam.

Is there any fellow bakers that regret revealing their talent and are paying the price (literally).

Is there any bakers that have negotiated this hurdle?

Or is it just me that spends £10 on various ingredients and then forks out another £1 on the day for a slice of their own cake...

OP posts:
formerbabe · 05/04/2019 12:26

The trick is to have a constant supply of baking products in the house. I bake fairly regularly (mostly healthy muffins etc) and I always have a press full of various flours/sugar/baking powder etc. Just throw something in with your shop each week and you'll have a press full of basics - and buy cheap stuff in Aldi/Lidl

That's not a trick. It's just buying some stuff over time and in advance. It's still cost you the same amount.

NWQM · 05/04/2019 12:26

I bake for charity sales often & sigh a little at the prices charged. The same people who won't pay more than 25p supposedly are often seen in Costa etc. I do suggest pricing but based on just the ingredients.

My son is doing the opposite today and made me smile. He worked with his Dad on popcakes for a charity sale & said it was hard work so he is charging a £1 each!

ClashCityRocker · 05/04/2019 12:28

My one foray into baking was for a charity bake-off competition. I was allocated bakewell tart and given the recipe.

I think it cost about £15 for the ingredients in total, but we had to make our own jam too.

It did taste bloody good though. And I suppose I should have used the leftover ingredients for other bakey things which would have meant it was better value.

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TinklyLittleLaugh · 05/04/2019 12:34

I think the divide here is between everyday cooks who have a storecupboard of basics and knock up a quick traybake while waiting for dinner to cook and hobby bakers who bake a complicated recipe once a year with a big Ta Daa then waste the rest of the ingredients.

clairemcnam · 05/04/2019 12:36

And if you bake a complicated recipe, it will be expensive.
I make things like white chocolate cookies. They are not expensive to make, but taste delicious.

NotMeNoNo · 05/04/2019 13:23

I find Splodgetastic's comment a bit worrying. Do most people think like that, ie home made must be "bleurgh" unhygienic and dangerous. What has it come to when we have so little trust in each other? I just feel its excessively precious to not only decline the food but deliberately spoil/waste it.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 05/04/2019 13:25

I wonder what people think they'll catch from a home made cake?

BarbaraofSevillle · 05/04/2019 13:27

To be fair, it's probably a record on here to get to well over 100 posts on a thread about home made cake before the germphobics 'only factory cake for me' lot turn up.

FindPrimeLorca · 05/04/2019 13:32

To be fair Tinkly, your own Madeira cake would have about twenty ingredients once you’d specified all the components of the flour, raising agents and jam. No palm oil though.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 05/04/2019 13:34

wonder what people think they'll catch from a home made cake?

Margarine. Grin

Hate the stuff. Also hate palm oil with a passion, so the solution is to bake at home.
I make an exception for Gail’s and some Scandinavian fancy stuff.

Splodgetastic · 05/04/2019 13:36

I have to admit, I never used to be like this until I saw two things: (1) my friend, who had invited me round for dinner, sticking her fingers in what she was cooking then licking her fingers (no hand washing) and (2) my neighbour's cat walking all over the kitchen worktops from my kitchen window.

NotMeNoNo · 05/04/2019 13:40

I thought you must have had a bad experience! Sorry was just having a "hygiene /safety defies common sense" moment, really gets to me on MN from time to time.

I'm now going to make some careless muffins for family consumption so my kids thank you all!

YouBumder · 05/04/2019 13:48

The trick is to have a constant supply of baking products in the house. I bake fairly regularly (mostly healthy muffins etc) and I always have a press full of various flours/sugar/baking powder etc. Just throw something in with your shop each week and you'll have a press full of basics - and buy cheap stuff in Aldi/Lidl.

Yeah but that still costs money it just means you aren’t buying it all in one go.

YouBumder · 05/04/2019 13:51

To be fair, it's probably a record on here to get to well over 100 posts on a thread about home made cake before the germphobics 'only factory cake for me' lot turn up.

Yup because these are all the cleanest places on Earth aren’t they. I don’t get it either. Do people think other people piss and shit in their cake mixes?!

I love home baking but I must admit I do prefer it individually wrapped. I never used to bother individually wrapping my own cakes etc for work bake sales until one time they set it up behind me and a really rank bloke from another department kept licking his fingers and slurping before picking up more cakes. 🤮

BlueMerchant · 05/04/2019 14:02

I prefer a factory made cake unless I know the person who has made the cake and I'm happy they will have good hygiene standards.
School cake stall- not a chance I'd purchase anything.( I know most of the families who do the bakingHmm)

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 05/04/2019 14:11

I think the divide here is between everyday cooks who have a storecupboard of basics and knock up a quick traybake while waiting for dinner to cook and hobby bakers who bake a complicated recipe once a year with a big Ta Daa then waste the rest of the ingredients.

It's my DC birthday cakes that are expensive - last one was 3 x 8" vanilla extract cake, I bake frequently anyway but I still had to buy extra eggs and enough royal icing to cover it plus extras like specific sprinkles and sugarpaste cutter which is costly but i don't mind as it's part of my gift to my DC but I wouldn't be doing this for anyone else as I know they wouldn't appreciate the cost/skill/time.

Yogagirl123 · 05/04/2019 14:19

I don’t bake regularly, but make the effort to make a homemade birthday cake for my sons, yes I agree more expensive than picking one up in the supermarket, but tastes so much better. Worth the extra cost once in a while.

Myusernameisunique · 05/04/2019 14:27

This has been exactly my thought today! Made a cake as a favour for an acquaintance over the past couple of days. I'm a hobby baker nothing more. But it customer me £20 for ingredients and then £20 for toppers, box, board etc. I will asked for an extra £20 which basically covers electric and my time which I don't think is unreasonable but acquaintance is shocked. It took me about 5 hours to make! I don't think they realise how much just materials cost. It's an expensive game. Tastes way nicer than shop bought though!

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 05/04/2019 14:29

“I always use butter for home baking. Don't see the point in using margarine as it does not taste as good.”

For most cakes I guarantee you won’t be able to tell the difference in a blind tasting.

@BertrandRussell, totally agree. I find you need butter for shortbread, buttercream and cheesecake base, maybe brownies, but I'm experimenting with that one!

As for home baking hygiene, I do trust it, well, other than an aquaintence who openly admits to using any sort of baking as an activity for her kids, 2 and 4 yr old's who are very keen nose pickers.

Ihopeyourcakeisshit · 05/04/2019 14:34

As an old gimmer I remember the 'butter mountain' in the 70s, the price of butter now does indeed make baking bloody expensive.

stucknoue · 05/04/2019 14:38

It depends, baking doesn't have to be expensive, I use baking margarine as recommended by Mary Berry for instance

Ihopeyourcakeisshit · 05/04/2019 14:39

Yeh, but it's full of hydrogenated shite though (no offence)

scaryteacher · 05/04/2019 14:41

nikkylou Freeze the butter if it's a good price, and use it when you need it.

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 05/04/2019 14:44

For most cakes I guarantee you won’t be able to tell the difference in a blind tasting.

That’s rather patronising, wouldn’t you agree?

And it’s not the point. I don’t want it and that’s my prerogative. —and BTW I can tell whether it’s butter or Marge—. I wouldn’t taste the difference in flour, that’s true, unless it’s off.

somuchinfo · 05/04/2019 14:48

I agree it's cheaper to buy! But less enjoyable I guess. We were saying the same about a Roast at the weekend as we went out for Mother's Day. By the time you buy the roast, cook it, clear up. May as well just go carvery!