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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that people will pay £2 for a cake pop?

222 replies

theotherloobyloo · 07/12/2011 13:34

I'm planning to start a baking/cake business at home, and am thinking of just doing cake pops. DH says that I am barking to think that anybody would pay £2 for a bit of cake on a stick - is he just being a miserable git (always a possibility) or is he on the money on this one? I'm done my sums and I think that to make a go of cake pops I'd have to get about two quid a pop (as it were). All views appreciated ... even if you think that cake pops are boakworthy yummy mummy dross

OP posts:
FootprintsInTheSnow · 07/12/2011 22:33

Rosie - I think the spherical cake aspect of that maker is actually inspired.

Are the cakes dense enough to hold the stick? They don't crumble off?

Even DD was dubious about the palatability of cake squished with icing!

I suspect this tangent may not be helpful to the OP!!

WholeLottaRosie · 07/12/2011 22:48

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WholeLottaRosie · 07/12/2011 22:49

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Beamur · 07/12/2011 22:53

I went to a Christmas Fair at the weekend and cake pops were selling for 75p, I bought DD a cupcake for £1.25 but it really wasn't very nice. Too many of these fancy cakes look beautiful but the sponge is dry and stale. A friend locally has a cake business and I have to say her sponge is lovely.

jasper · 07/12/2011 22:55

dip the stick in melted chocolate before pushing it into the cake ball

A1980 · 07/12/2011 23:24

No way. Not £2 for a cake pop.

Even the uber posh branded ones in Waitrose are £1.49 and I only buy them when they're on sale.

A1980 · 07/12/2011 23:25

^ Hit post too early: the waitrose ones are gorgeous dense sponge but I won't pay anymore than 49p for them. You can often get them for that when they are nearing their expriy date.

TheSherbetTurbot · 07/12/2011 23:44

Cake pops are what happens to all the lovely cupcakes that arent sold at the end of the day. Who would have thought it, eh?? what a very lucrative way of getting rid of leftovers????

manicinsomniac · 08/12/2011 00:11

I don't know.

I bought 10 cake pops from a friend for my daughter's 9th birthday party last week for £1.50 each. I guess I might have paid £2 because:

  1. I didn't have time to make cakes myself.
  2. I didn't want the girls to eat loads of cake and end up sick so cake pops were a 'fun' way of insisting on portion control!
  3. They looked so pretty!
flyingspaghettimonster · 08/12/2011 00:11

I can get a dozen for $20 from the local cake lady near me - these are 4 different types of cute reindeer, santa, snowmen and xmas trees. I would buy them if for a kids party, but otherwise not as they taste minging - too much icing needed for the balls.

Mind you, I paid $120 for Hubby's birthday cake and 40 cupcakes with fondant toppers to match the theme... so I probably am the target audience. It is annoying - my homemade cakes taste better, but don't know how to do the icing/shaping so I end up panic ordering.

joanofarchitrave · 08/12/2011 00:26

I can imagine spending £2 on a cake pop every now and then because, like manicinsomniac says, they will be appealing to kids and small. But I have to say, I wouldn't do it very often.

I really find it hard to imagine how a small-scale home baking business can make money at the moment but I hope I'm wrong.

ninedragons · 08/12/2011 01:24

I probably wouldn't unless it was a very special reward for DD sleeping in own bed etc etc, but judging from the cake stall at the local school fete (a perfectly average looking banana loaf, 15 quid), there are plenty of people around here who would. I'm just tight.

I do live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, though. I keep looking at the threads in Property about houses in London and thinking gosh, that's very reasonable for three bedrooms.

Eskarina · 08/12/2011 02:28

Sorry ninedragons £15 for a cake. fifteen quid? was it covered in gold leaf? Shock

dancingmustard · 08/12/2011 03:07

You'd make more money selling lemonade from your yard.
£2 for a cake on a stick?
Is that an American thing?

ninedragons · 08/12/2011 03:50

Nope, that's just Australia for you.

No wonder most of the conversations you overhear on buses are British people reeling at the prices.

SlinkingOutsideInSocks · 08/12/2011 04:28

My personal opinion is that cake-pops were invented by someone on a wind-up. Someone who wanted to see just how far the yummy-mummy baking brigade would go to, to tie themselves up in knots in an attempt to out-yummy all the other mummies....

See, cupcakes I get. The recipe is so simple - anyone can do it. The icing, a bit more tricky, but a few goes and it's really pretty easy. So you knock out a load of cupcakes, charge people who don't realise how easy they are to make an exorbitant price, and voila - nice little earner.

Pop-cakes, on the other hand... Grin

The amount of labour which goes into icing a pop-cake to a professional standard is ludicrously disproportionate to the amount you can ever charge for the teeny tiny little bastards.

The at-home baker might be able to churn out a load of pop-cakes. But ice them? You'll be there all night. And then you really can't charge more than a quid a go.

And yet, people seem to be falling for it.

dancingmustard · 08/12/2011 04:35

One word.

Greggs :)

Sorted.

skybluepearl · 08/12/2011 07:01

2 pounds if consumed in a cafe. 1 pound consumed everywhere else - as a treat though not a regular thing. lots of people round here would pay 1.50 though.

Faithless12 · 08/12/2011 10:21

I wouldn't as I could make a batch for not much more than that.

checkcakes · 11/12/2011 22:29

I work for a company that sells all the candy melts, sticks, bags and stands etc.. and they are really really popular. If you had a birthday cake made to serve around 16 people you would probably pay about £30-£35. I have seen cake pops presented as a bunch in fantastic ways and if you were to put 16 together at £2 it would be about the same price. It is just nice to have something a bit different. They are also nice and quick to give out (no cutting)

FootprintsInTheSnow · 13/12/2011 19:29

My first batch with real cupcake batter are a touch buttery-greasy (the value sponge mix had perfect texture but no taste!). Should I be tweaking the recipe a bit?

squeakytoy · 13/12/2011 20:34

I bought 10 cake pops from a friend for my daughter's 9th birthday party last week for £1.50 each. I guess I might have paid £2 because:
1) I didn't have time to make cakes myself.
2) I didn't want the girls to eat loads of cake and end up sick so cake pops were a 'fun' way of insisting on portion control!

Hmm and Confused for even thinking of "portion control" at a 9yo's birthday party... way to go on giving impressionable girls a complex... :(

perceptionreality · 13/12/2011 20:35

I would personally not pay £2 for a cake

Iwishthestorkwouldbringmybaby · 13/12/2011 20:43

I would pay that, I know it's a lot but they're delicious and it's a nice treat/gift.

somedayma · 21/12/2011 19:35

Hell no