How much would you say I was asking for this cake?

[Cosmos45]

Just out of curiosity really.. I make cakes as a hobby, they are buttercream decorated rather than fondant and I have made some recently for a few local people (NHS workers and stuff). Someone local asked me if I would make them a cake, I do not know this person but it was someone who knew someone type of scenario.

I sent this message:

"I don't actually have a cake business but I do make cakes for family and friends. I have been asked recently to do a few for people - the ingredients, box and board come to about £9 and I am starting to ask for a small amount (say £10) to cover a bit of my time. I only do swirly icing types ones and I could do you pink swirly one, I will send a picture of the type of thing I mean"

Reading that, how much would you have given me for the cake when you came and picked it up?

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@Gingerkittykat - I think to be fair my costs are much more expensive than they need to be. Because I’m not professional as such I by a board from a supermarket for example and boxes from hobby craft.. I’ve just ordered 10 much cheaper boards and boxes off amazon. I’ve also done stupid things like make my own passion fruit curd and I buy good quality jam from M&S rather than the bargain jam which would undoubtedly taste the same! If it ever turned into a commercial venture (doubtful) I would be looking at getting those costs down.

Thank you for the nice comments everyone about the cake..

Who charges £1 to make an entire cake? If the buyer has seriously given you £10 I would be delivering it directly into their face

It sounded like you were asking for £10.
You should have been clearer.
But I would have checked with you if I was them.

Op supermarket value jam absolutely does not tase the same as a ‘proper’ jam. This is why homemade or luxury cakes cost a lot more.
Anyone can go and spend a tenner on a cheap mass produced supermarket cake - they use the most basic of ingredients to turn as high a profit as possible.
Ps, not to add fuel to the fire but I agree with a pp who said hobby bakers like yourself selling homemade cakes very cheaply are part of the problem where people won’t pay for people’s time because they know they could spend £20 (or £10 in your case here) and get a really delicious cake from a ‘friend of a friend’ without the appropriate hygiene and other relevant certification.
It looks great, I’d have been embarrassed paying a tenner for it!

£30!
I asked a cake maker to make a12 inch (30cm), about 4 inches high, two tier, with a thick layer of sugar icing (I only like sugar icing) in the middle, sides and top. Today, I would expect to pay at least £50. The downside was that everyone eat the whole lot that day; it was scrumptious!
Therefor, £30 is fair. Your time and effort has to come into it too.

Reading your intial message, I would have said £10. Slowly reading it I can see you mean £19.

It is a beautiful cake, however, whilst you can earn a small income before declaring to the HMRC, I am pretty sure that you need to register with the Local Authority and meet all the hygiene requirements/be inspected if you are making a business out of this. You would also want liability insurance in case anyone came back saying they'd got food poisoning.

I would say it's just not worth it.

YOUR time is your MOST valuable asset.

I know a nice simple cake (3 sponger layers) with the buttercream done nicely, would take up approx an hour and a half. An adult basic wage is £8 per hour, and rounding.up that's £15.

£25 for a handmade simple cake is not a big as. Your time should never be given away.

Maybe with enough practise (all experts made mistakes and learned to do what they do) you'll find you can do more complex cakes. Then you could yp your prices, but £25 is a good and DAIR price to start.

Mates rates don't exist, well not in reality anyways.

So the message is fine, but change the price to £25. Obvs if doing more than 1 cake you may decide to reduce it to £20 a cake (no lower mind)

Have a sliding scale £25 for a single cake, down to £20 per cake if ordering 4 or.kore.

You really should have been more forthright.

"I'm starting to ask for £10 to cover some of my time" is so wishy washy it sounds as if you're unsure your time is actually worth anything.
She clearly thought it wasn't!
Lovely cake, btw. Make sure you don't get ripped off again.

I would have assumed £19. But maybe you should have been more specific, sorry.

I think it’s pretty bloody obvious that you were asking for £19. But I guess some people just skim read, or have poor comprehension skills, or just see what they want to see! So lesson learned , and next time simply state the price that y out are charging.

It looks like a delicious cake. I much prefer buttercream to fondant.

It reads to me as asking for £19, and I'd have given £20.
It's only some PP's interpretations that have made me wonder about the wording - otherwise it seems obvious you'd want more than a £1 to make a stranger a lovely cake like that!!

You really shouldn't be charging anything except ingredients if you aren't registered with your council and have insurance and done a basic health and safety course. Your time taken is irrelevant.

I read it as £10, but would have given you an extra £10 for your time regardless. In fact I just read to my dh and said what would you give them for that cake - she said her costs are about a tenna, his reply was ‘about £20’

I would have read it twice (as I did) and worked out that you were meaning £19.
(so I’d have given you £20.....or probably more because I’m a nice person and would’ve really appreciated your time & help!),

But I can see how someone, perhaps not so switched on...or even a bit stingy....would’ve interpreted that as £10.

Well, I'd have given £20 also, but op made the extra £10 sound optional. Hardly surprising when some brass neck then opts not to pay it 🤷🏻‍♀️

But these are really easy steps to take, and your cake looks great by the way. Once you have registered, you can start trading 4 weeks later regardless of whether they have been out inspect your kitchen. It can be very stressful though, making cakes for a living is harder than it looks lol

Do you really not need to have your kitchen passed first?

I could eat that whole cake right now. I would have given you £20 and asked you to make me a few more! Where I live, a cake like that could set you back £80-£100! In fact, my civil wedding cake didn’t look anywhere as pretty as that and cost me £85

i pay 10 for 6 cupcakes and 30 for a cake that looks like a giant cupcake with swirly butter cream and added bits snd bobs from a friend that makes cskes as i know materials cost and time im a knitter /crocheter and have always undercut myself so im prepared to pay whats right . be careful though as selling food does need a health and safety certificate because of allergies and the likes

Next time anyone asks just say "£20 which includes ingredients, board, box and my time"

She was a CFer.

Your cake looks wonderful op. To me, it reads obviously that you mean £19. I’d have given you £25 as I’d feel tight only giving you £19 as it looks lovely.

I read hi as £10 but would have paid you more as I thought you were offering your time for £1 and underselling yourself.

The way it was worded I would have thought £10. The cake looks well worth the £20 though after seeing the photo you attached, it’s beautiful xx

Wow your cake looks gorgeous - I don’t think you have factored the oven costs etc into it so think you need to charge more than £20