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Original poster

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

304 replies

Cosmos45 · 12/05/2020 16:24

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?

OP posts:
Naughty1205 · 13/05/2020 22:24

Haven't read all replies but what kind of tight CF would take a gorgeous homemade cake like this one and give a tenner?!

swelchphr · 13/05/2020 22:47

I 100% thought you were asking for £10 until I looked at the comments.

EmpressJewel · 13/05/2020 22:47

Namechanger and ellanwood yes, I get that. As I said, the point I was making is that if people have never baked before they wouldn't know the cost/time/skill it takes. Particularly when you can buy a cake in the supermarket for £3.

There have been plenty of threads on here about people starting up their own businesses and customers not wanting to pay their prices eg knitting.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Baking General food
Tinkerbell1980 · 13/05/2020 23:13

Your message was abundantly clear to me, I wouldn't expect anyone to ever charge £1 for the time it takes to bake and decorate a cake!!

Motherontheedge1 · 13/05/2020 23:17

When I read it I thought a pound for her time isn’t much. Then I realised you meant £10. I think that’s very reasonable. People don’t realise cost and work involved in making things so there’s probably someone somewhere who’ll think it’s too dear.

Motherontheedge1 · 13/05/2020 23:24

Just seen your photo and that’s lovely. An absolute bargain at £19. My husband makes things in wood and has same problem as you. He can’t buy in bulk so stores can sell at less than he can buy the wood for. Quality of shop bought isn’t as good though.

grannieali · 14/05/2020 00:21

Years ago, I contributed baked goods to a stall run by the WI. The costings suggested were" one third for ingredients, one third for time and electricity and one third profit. 10 percent went to WI funds. I tried this advice but found that people simply would not pay it. On sale mornings there were long queues of women to pick up the products of other women's work for less than shop bought goods. I stopped contributing.

Choccylips · 14/05/2020 00:58

The cake looks lovely. You forgot gas or electricity to cook it.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 14/05/2020 02:18

maddy68 Tue 12-May-20 17:03:12
I would have paid £10 too I had to re read it a few times to see you wanted £19?
I do think £20 is a lot for that kind of cake tbh you can buy them cheaper than that in the shops (that by no means doesn't mean it's not worth £20! Taking into consideration your time etc) but I wouldn't pay that and would have assumed you meant £10

Firstly there is no comparison between shop bought and homemade - you seriously think that cake is worth £10? Where on earth do you live? or more to the point, in what decade?
Thats a £30-£35 cake all day long here in N London op - gorgeous.

dontgobaconmyheart · 14/05/2020 02:54

Cakes always bring out the CF's.

I don't know OP, it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Your wording wasn't actually explicit and you should have just had the confidence to set the end price instead of justifying it. The purchaser is also a CF because it is just rude isn't it to brazwnly pay a bloody quid for someones time.

I do totally respect why homemade cakes cost so much and am not arguing the toss on that one jot. I wouldnt buy the cake for £20 but simply because I would rather pay more for a professional level of finish and detail- if I were to pay someone else to make a cake at all. For family and friends though it's completely appropriate and a lovely gesture that I'd be thrilled with.

Fowles94 · 14/05/2020 08:46

Only an idiot or someone with genuinely low reading skills would not understand that you meant £19.

OVienna · 14/05/2020 08:53

You asked for GBP 19. She is hard of thinking. I can't see how you were ambiguous. Looking at the standard of cake, she's a cheeky mare handing the tenner over.

Lots of sabre rattling around HMRC pertaining to this 'transaction' - lol. Better register for VAT too OP just on the outside chance you start personally making over GBP 85K worth of cakes from your home.

Snarkiness aside, given the proliferation of CF-ers out there, definitely get the cleanliness regs in order before charging people. The risk to you is that the kind turn you do, in good faith, for a friend becomes an official problem when they try to pin food poisoning on you. People can be twats - protect yourself from them by doing everything officially.

lottiegarbanzo · 14/05/2020 08:54

A lot of people 'don't read at all. They see 'Cake blah, blah £9, time £10 blahdy, blahdy blah'.

PuntoEBasta · 14/05/2020 08:57

The sneery 'thick as mince', 'idiot' comments aren't very helpful. Firstly, the literacy standards on MN are quite a bit higher than in the general population. Secondly, everyone who has read that text on this thread has done so carefully because OP was looking for opinions, and that is not comparable to someone who has scanned it in a hurry from their phone - and even then, quite a few posters have had to read it twice and can see where the ambiguity comes in.

I don't think people quite realise the care that goes into writing absolutely clear, unambiguous prose which requires minimal effort from the reader to get the right message, but it is quite a skill. I think OP realises that her message is really very badly written - sorry OP. It's a lovely cake, though.

WobblingMyWigglyBits · 14/05/2020 08:57

It's not reading skills @Fowles94 it's comprehension that's important

bensyrunu · 14/05/2020 09:20

I am sorry but you are not entitled to charge for your time if you are a hobby baker, and if you are charging for your time then you are going against law here. I am a registered baker and I have to comply with loads of insurance, certification, council visits to be able to comply with charging my time. And you charging £10 for it just nail on the coffin for all registered baker. As people then expect it to be done in £10. Which is not the case. A normal swirl icing including a min hourly pay costs me £45 to turn around for a 6 inch cake. :(

OVienna · 14/05/2020 09:28

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 don't understand how it is unclear that the cost would not be ONLY £9. The £9 is for the ingredients.

There is, perhaps, some ambiguity around how much MORE it would be than that since the OP said "about £10" for her time.

There is nothing about how the OP phrased it that suggests it would be only a tenner.

Freddie28 · 14/05/2020 09:42

Just wondering, please don't get angry, but why do so many posters just keep repeating almost identical replies telling the OP where their wording was incorrect.

I think they got the message after the first couple of answers. All they wanted to know was the price fair.

Although charging not strictly allowed, how many people are trying to make extra money at the moment? I know a lot of people who have turned to their hobbies to raise cash. Needing to rather than wanting to charge.

Sudoku88 · 14/05/2020 10:13

That person who gave you £10 was a total utter pisstaker.

Even if I had interpreted it wrong and thought you were only charging £10, I would would have been far too embarrassed to have given you such a measly amount and would have given at least £20.

Viviennemary · 14/05/2020 10:17

With food it is a question of Health &Safety. That' why there are rules about charging. You can't charge somebody to be poisoned but it's ok if it's free. And charity stall food doesn't seem to come under the same rules.

Original poster
Cosmos45 · 14/05/2020 10:26

I was only asking about the grammar.... I have got the message now about hygiene etc and have repeatedly said that from hereon in I will be only doing it in the future as a hobby for friends and family.

OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 14/05/2020 10:37

Don't worry about it Cosmos! Even with the definitive data provided posters are still quibbling about what is and is not allowed.

If you have decided it is too much hassle then that is the right decision for you. At least the correct info is in the thread, just on case anyone else had similar ideas!

80sMum · 14/05/2020 10:49

I read the OP as saying that she was expecting to be paid about £10 for her time, plus the cost of the ingredients, which she stated was £9. So I would have given her £20 for the cake.

OVienna · 14/05/2020 11:03

OP my message was intended to be supportive!

Original poster
Cosmos45 · 14/05/2020 11:14

@OVienna - yes yours was thank you. Lots of people have been supportive and I am grateful for that. It's just that I did 1 cake for 1 person (after making a few for charity), I never intended it to be a business and just thought I would ask the complete stranger who I was baking it for for a few pennies to cover my time (I don't know this women, she is not a friend of a friend but got in touch about something else and the cake convo came up). I then asked about the grammar as I was a bit embarrassed by the confusion surrounding the message. I now have 6 pages of comments with a lot relating to my trying to do professional cake bakers out of business, not following the rules and regulations etc.. I just wish people would now stop as I have honestly got the message. I guess that's part and parcel of posting on an internet forum though. Going to go and walk the dog now. Thanks once again all.

OP posts: