Do people realise how expensive baking is?

[nikkylou]

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...

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

Yes that's what I do. When ASDA has Willow on for 80p a pack I stock up and freeze.

Well I priced up my 18 chocolate muffins, if I had bought all the ingredients including paper cases I would have spent about £12 but scaling down for using part packets it was about £3.30. Since you can buy 4 muffins for a £1 then maybe there's not much in it!

We have stopped buying chocolate and ready made cake and have started baking once a week, it isn’t cheap but if you bake in bulk it’s not too bad. We are baking 2 different things to last the week so tomorrow I’m baking lemon drizzle cake and flapjack. Things like butter are expensive but flour and eggs are reasonably cheap. Oats don’t cost much to make flapjacks, I use coconut oil instead of butter (probably the same price or slightly more than butter). Home made tastes so much better though.

Willow isn't butter though.
Lots of butter substitutes often have hydrogenated fats or palm oil in amongst other things.

No, willow isn’t butter. I prefer to use real butter in things like butter icing, I use Marge for cake as it just works better.

Margarine in cake bleugggh
I’d be annoyed if I’d be charged ££ for a homemade margarine containing product!

Home baking is comparatively expensive - I like to bake something once a month (would like to do more but conscious that everyone in the house will be consuming all this)
But the thing is I don’t want to make boring Victoria sponges which might be cheaper.

Last cake I made was a pistachio and almond one - so good but obviously the ground nuts added to the cost.

Also it might be cheaper to make at home one massive cake but sometimes all you want (and need) is one nice slice! Which is where a quality shop one is fantastic - eg Gail’s carrot cake.

Margarine in cake bleugggh
I’d be annoyed if I’d be charged ££ for a homemade margarine containing product!

Oh pish! You'd comment on how light and fluffy my sponge is and ask for the recipe. There is no way you taste one of my cakes and sneer.

Sponge made with butter is greasy and heavy in my opinion, margarine makes it light, fluffy and moist. If your making cakes with ground nuts instead of flour than that’s totally different but a Victoria sponge should be made with margarine 😁 and I make cakes for money.

My mum and I have always used stork margarine. I was v v pleased when Nigella said in one of her books that she does too . My family has super simple cake tastes so we only make victoria/chocolate/coffee sponge with buttercream and they are delicious, receive great comments and are inexpensive to make.

I have always made cakes with butter. But I prefer home made biscuits as they taste so much better than shop bought and are quick to make.

Baking is only expensive for you because you choose to buy expensive ingredients. You can make a cake / box of small cakes for under £1 if you want to.
Don't make them for colleagues and begrudge the cost.

If you think expensive fancy ingredients taste that much better, then use them when you make for your own family. If you are contributing a tin of cake to a fundraiser, then use the perfectly palatable, cheaper alternatives.

You can make a cake / box of small cakes for under £1 if you want to

You can't.

Yes people dont realise how expensive cakes are but I'm finding it easier to ask for money for them. Why should I be out of pocket because someone fancies a treat.
Sometimes if I making cupcakes or a cake for someone who's paying I'll make extra and take it to work.
I only bake sponge with margarine it gives a lighter moister cake. I only use butter for my butter cream but most of my cakes are covered in ganache now. I'm lucky my husband can access 4 pint cartons of double cream and boxes of butter through work at cost price sometimes I grit my teeth and have to pay shop prices

I always use organic eggs, good butter, good flour, good quality cocoa and good quality chocolate bars for the covering

“I always use organic eggs, good butter, good flour, good quality cocoa and good quality chocolate bars for the covering“
Great news! There’s no need! Obviously free range eggs, and good quality chocolate. But as for the rest? Makes no difference at all.

It does make a difference. Some people have different palates I guess.

I've ranged from callebaut chocolate to sainsburys own brand Belgian chocolate from the cake aisle I get better reviews from the sainsburys one

“It does make a difference. Some people have different palates I guess.”

I can formerbabe

Please tell me how you'd cost that up because I can't see how.

I can do a decent sized basic sponge for under 2 quid. So I could probably do a smaller one or 6 fairy cakes for a quid. Mumsnetters would be able to taste the own brand flour, though!

Flour lasts for ages, so does sugar and baking powder... Keep it all in the cupboard.

We always have butter and eggs. We also always have bananas.

When one or two bananas get overripe, we have all the ingredients on hand for banana bread. It's not expensive.

I use 6oz / 6oz /6oz / 3 eggs.
I've just googled and apparently that is 170g

Stork marg is 24p / 100g (according to Tesco) = 40.8p
Sugar (2 for £1 in Farm Foods) so 5p / 100g = 8.5p
Eggs (£1.15 for 15 in Aldi) so 7.6p each = 22.8p
SR Flour 60p for 1.5kg so 4p / 100g = 6.8p
So cake = 78.9p

Icing - a further blob of marg.....(? I never weigh so guess about 8p?) and icing sugar with - if you like flavouring from vanilla essence or cocoa powder or coffee - and icing sugar at 1.38p per 100g

I do have access to cheap chocolate buttons for the decoration which others might not, it is true, but I think even if people went over the pound, , it is still clearly nowhere near necessary to spend £5 - £6 on ingredients for a cake that is being made to for a cake sale / coffee morning .

oops £1.38 is per kilogram of icing sugar..... clearly you aren't likely to use more than 1/5th of that, maybe less - don't know for accuracy, I just 'judge'

BackforGood thanks!