Why are people prepared to pay so much for cakes?

[SnowyLamb]

The beautifully done handmade birthday cakes etc?

I understand why they cost much with the hours of work that goes into them, but to the end user, why are they worth paying so much more than a decent supermarket cake? I appreciate that they are "better", but 10 or 15 times better?

They look incredible!! And if they’re done properly they taste really good too.

And make a GREAT instagram picture. Wait, that’s probably it. Yes I’m guilty.

Although I do love a Colin.

My cake lady makes incredible cakes, they taste amazing and they're much bigger than we'd get in the supermarket. They taste soooo good. Her buttercream is Bob on. And she delivers them to me without them being bashed about.

I like supporting a local business. Also the size and quality is so much better than the supermarket. I don’t do it for social media, didn’t even take pics of the last two we had.

I've ordered a birthday cake from the woman who did Harry and Meghans girls christening cake for the party 6 weeks ago

It feeds 12 and costs £76 - that's £6 a slice, not much more than a mass produced cake in a coffee shop made with probably not great ingredients

I'm expecting it to be really nice in a way that cheap cake isn't - I bloody love cake and want a good one for my big birthday

More money than sense

Because they want to and it's their money. Is a Toast dress 10 times better than a Primark one? Is a top of the range iphone 10 times better than a cheap android? Is a house in London 20 times better than the same house in rural Scotland? People buy what they want to and what they can afford, they don't do a precise calculation of whether each extra pound spent delivers an equivalent return in improved product. Which would be subjective anyway - I'm guessing that you don't think home made cake is much better than supermarket, whereas I actually think it's so much nicer that I would rather eat no cake than supermarket cake.

Because they look and taste incredible. And because my cakes always look like they've already been digested.

I buy smaller things from an amazing independent bakery and I'm happy to pay for the quality of the ingredients and the flavours, but I actually agree with you about the larger celebration cakes. I feel the same about other expensive food and alcohol too though. I'd rather buy a dress I can wear for years than something that is eaten in a few hours and then gone forever. 😂

The only time I've had birthday cakes "made for me":

1st, the cake was too big and too dry, covered with packet roll-out icing and they forgot to put any butter cream layer in it. Inedible. Got an apology and a refund.

2nd, dry/burnt. 2 normal sized sandwich cakes with jam and butter cream (made with stork I think) they "iced" it with ordinary (wet runny) white icing and piped it with pale pink wobbly writing & spelled my name a normal one, not made up wrong - a friend with the same name took it back and gave them both barrels and got a cash refund - she also told all her customers and everyone in our village not to buy cakes (or anything else) from there

I only every buy M&S, Sains etc cakes now.

Yes, it's paying a fortune for something that hours have been spent on to make it look beautiful, only to destroy it in minutes that seems odd to me.

A good quality dress/car/piece of furniture, that will be used for years is different IMO.

Yes I agree op . Falls into the same category as expensive wine for me .

Can't beat a Morrisons triple chocolate layer cake. Amazing. Now I want one...😐

Many people like to have something really nice for a special occasion.

It boggles me too. I make my own and think they taste loads better. The bought ones are all about the look, not the taste. I know mine look dreadful but I think it is all about the love I have put into it!

Because she don’t have time or skill to do it myself and because I appreciate the time and skill someone else has. And I like the taste of the homemade cakes a lot more than the mass produced ones

Because I, not she

We're about to get a new oven. The one we've lived with for nearly a decade heats unevenly. It's OK for most things we do, but not cakes. I'm looking forward to making cakes again!

You mean from Violet? I live nearby and ordered a cake for my first post-lockdown birthday. Delicious (but very rich). Her cakes are excellent. Not as good as Victoria Yum but better than Lily Vanilli.

Must admit that I don't buy supermarket cakes as they're not in the same league as proper handmade cakes. It's a bit like comparing a Premiership footballer with a Sunday pub league player.

People just have different priorities, I don't need to spend a lot on cake to emojis it and I don't do fancy parties that would justify a fancy cake.

My wedding cake was 3 round chocolate cakes in different sizes that I got from Tesco and put on top of each other 😂 it was lots of chocolate so I was happy.

I'd love to but my budget is supermarket

If you think it's about the look rather than the taste, you've been buying cakes from the wrong place. They should taste amazing! (and usually look amazing too)

Supermarket cakes taste like shit! You cannot beat a freshly made cake.

I regularly pay £16-25 for gluten free cake from Sponge for my daughter , it’s way better than any you get in a shop .

Yes, I'm talking about the decorated cakes at £100+