Would you pay for this cake? And how much would you expect it to cost?

[Greensleeves]

The brief was "chocolate heaven"... would you be happy with this? And how much would you pay for it?

My neighbour bakes similar and started around £70 , this looks amazing 💐

£50-70

I would expect to pay £80 for a cake like that.

But if you were given the brief chocolate heaven that would be a very disappointing cake. A tesco sponge with some buttercream slathered on top and a few sweets added? That's like something you'd make for a birthday child's family tea.

The OPs is perfect and very professional looking.

This thread might entertain you OP http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/3829401-Fucking-70-quid-for-a-cake

That's fantastic, I'd happily pay about £60 for that.

Actually just seen the detail, I'd go up to £80.

That's the issue, I didn't want to charge anything, but the person I made it for is insisting...I think I'll say £20, that'll cover the ingredients.

The problem with this is that one of their friends might ask a professional cake maker for something similar and then think they are overcharging "greensleeves sister got one like that for £20". Look at what people are saying £50 - £100. Either charge nothing, or charge properly.

Hi Greensleeves,

I just wanted to say that it looks amazing!

I love a bit of chocolate cake and this is the best I've ever seen.

Not sure about prices though, but if it was for someone I know, I'd probably say around £30 to £40.

I think it fits the brief perfectly and I'd expect to pay 50-70 pounds for it.

I agree with just asking for enough to cover ingredients and the time/effort counts as your gift though if the recipient is insisting on paying.

It looks lovely OP😍

Theres a lot of folk with zero idea how much work a cake like that actually is.

Make and stack 6 cakes - so that means ensuring they're all the same size and level, and probably some sort of support inside so nothing slides off sideways.

Crumb coat with buttercream.
Outer buttercream layer.
Drippy poured top of whatever that is (chocolate? ganache? no idea)..

That alone without further decoration is a fair chunk of work and ingredients and probably minimum £50.

Then add all the other stuff, some of which is handmade chocolate work I think, so thats probably another £30-£40.

I would at the very least, cover cost of ingredients and a couple of hours if you want to give a mate a discount.

To sell it properly, double or triple the cost of your ingredients/overheads to come up with a profit making charge.

I think it looks very good, professional quality nearly... and I say nearly because theres a lot of bits on there that will go stale very fast, within a few hours, so you'd normally add very few of those and only put them on at the last minute before the cake is to be revealed/served (which is only practical for cakes you're taking to a venue and setting up there for weddings or big birthdays, not for cakes someone will take home and serve later or the next day).

I wouldn’t like it at all, it looks like carefully arranged shop display. It would be nightmare to cut into portions as well. Sorry.

I love it and would be well chuffed if someone made me that as a gift! Well done OP.

Not to my taste but I’d say a top cake maker near me would have done a much much tidier job than that one and probably charger close to £100

It looks amazing 💖 I'd charge £60+

It fits the brief, OP, and I think it’s very good 👏🏼 round here I would expect to pay £70-80, rising to £80-100 if it included alcohol miniatures!!

woah! My friend makes cakes and charges between 80-120. Your cake has a lot of detail and where I live you could pay up to 50 for it

Er... well if someone knocked on the door and said "would you pay for this cake" then no, because it looks like it's had too many fingers on it.

If I'd literally ordered that cake and it arrived... then yes?

I'm really surprised at the answers. Usually on an MN cake thread there'd be loads of people insisting it should be at least £150 and don't you know how much butter is?!

It looks brilliant, we would easily pay £70 for this.

I think its fine to charge £20 to cover your costs,as you say you are not a pro (although you could be !!!)
If you do choose to go pro, then structure your prices accordingly.

Great job though !!

Theres a lot of folk with zero idea how much work a cake like that actually is

Agree with this. I've made cakes for friends as a bit of a hobby. They are decent but definitely hobby level not professional. Anyway, they take hours. Hours and hours.

It fits the brief and I would say at least 40-50quid. Bit too sickly for my taste, I like a nice victoria sponge with vanilla buttercream 😋😋

Meow

Considering you’re not a professional cake maker I think it looks fabulous.

£30 mates rates is very kind of you. In the real world circa £80 £90.

@Greensleeves Sorry I’ve posted before reading your updates. From your description it sounds really nice, I’m still not keen on decorations though but different sponges with buttercream and jam is my idea of heaven.