£38 for a square 10inch birthday cake from local bakery.

[Lovepjs]

Aibu to think that's extortionate? Or is that the going rate these days?

Depends,is it a decorated one or just plain icing?

sorry but I make cakes and it's time & effort as well as ingredients

this explains the pricing, if it is decorated i think it sounds fair.

Just make your own or buy on in M&S!

It is a lot for a cake, but as others above have said, you need to factor in a lot of things.

Do I think it's worth it? No I don't and I wouldn't spend the money on it either.

I also don't agree that it tastes that much better than a store-bought one; better maybe but not 4X the price better.

if it's the same as you get from a supermarket YANBU. But if it's handmade and decorated YABU. Ingredients cost (min £10 for a 10inch cake I'd made at home, probably more if you include decorating materials and packaging). And the time is also a considerable factor.

YABU to think that's extortionate: plenty of places charge that sort of price for a decent quality celebration cake. On the other hand, YANBU to think you could spend less if you wanted to - I'm sure you could get a cake from the supermarket that the children would think was lovely!

For comparison, M&S charge £35 for a cake only 8" square.

An 11" round cake (about the same size as a 10" square cake) costs £62.50 here:

www.patisserie-valerie.co.uk/p107_Pink-Classic-Cake.aspx

I find bakeries charge more than people doing it from home. I asked about on Facebook if anyone knew anyone local who did cakes and got put in touch with someone's nan who did one for me as she did it more as a hobbie than a business venture.

yup, that's the going rate for a bespoke cake

a local sugarsmith's prices start from £65

i make my own, ingredients will cost min £10 for a 10" cake, more if fruit cake, and then there's icing, decorations, board..it took me 2 days (in between family stuff) to make and decorate a 2 tier choc cake, roughly 6hrs work so at min wage that would have been £46 not including cooking fuel and equipment

There are quite a few online cake shops now which will deliver to you for less.

Most supermarkets do them for £8-£12....

Why don't you make your own? Mary Berry's traybake recipes are dead easy. In the past when DD had big birthday parties I used to make them, cover them in buttercream and decorate with smarties and other small sweets.

We are paying £38 for dd christening cake. Its a 10 in sponge cake and its going to be decorated, have sugar roses and her name is going to be on it.

DH is also being baptised and he wants a fruit cake that is also 10 inch. His cake is costing £60.

I think a lot depends on how important the occassion is. Certain sacrements like baptism or marriage or having a funeral only happen once in your life. (Admitally I don't think I would buy a cake for a funeral so that is irrevelent)

I wouldn't spend £38 on a cake for a kiddie birthday party. However a supermarket cake is not the same product as a 10in cake from a local bakery.

I agree ReallyTired. We did have a posh cake for DD's christening, but it was a present from one set of godparents so I have no idea how much it cost.

Pretty fair I'm afraid.

I only decorate for fun, but regal ice, marzipan, cutters, colouring etc are all sodding expensive.

Ok a shop gets them a lot cheaper in bulk, but they have wages and rent etc to pay and want to turn a profit.

I'm nothing like good enough to sell my efforts, but given it would take me 3+ hits to make a fancy cake and clear up, I think at least £30.

3+ hours

Pretty fair if it's decorated. My ds s birthday cake-a fully decorated Dalek cost £30 from a friend who makes them not a business so for a bakery I would guess about right.

YABU.

Cheaper to make one, cheaper to buy one from ASDA, if you want the convenience and the quality, you pay for it.

I once had 2 Hello Kitty cakes from a bakery as DD had a family party plus a friends party. I paid just under £100 and thought never again. The cakes were alright, a bit heavy on the fondant stuff, and definitely not worth the money.

Ever since I've used Asda photo cakes. I either ice them myself and buy little toy characters for decoration or do the photo thing. Once, when DD2 asked for a Night Garden cake, I put all the Night Garden toys on the grass in the back garden and took a photo. For joint parties, I use a photo of both kids.

These cakes come in chocolate or plain sponge and the biggest size is £14.

I think that it's probably the going rate but I wouldn't pay it myself, unless it was a bloody big occassion. Kids birthday party - I'd buy one from a supermarket. and even most other occassions, I think the photo cakes are a great idea. I remember a couple of years ago my broter wanted a batman cake for his twin boys (well, he wanted two cakes actually), they live in Sydney and the cheapest he could get was £120 each!! (He made them himself in the end)

Sounds fair enough to me. How much time do you think they spent on making it? And decorating it? How much did the ingredients cost? How much electricity did they use to bake it? How much rent do they pay for their shop premises for the time they were making your order? How long would it have taken you to make something just as good? How much tax does the business pay towards the employee's National Insurance? How much should one person earn for the time they spent making up your order?

Jayelle That's such a good idea!

M&S and other supermarkets are not making bespoke cakes to your specific requirements, they are mass-produced in a factory. So not a good comparison really.

I do a lot of baking and often do cakes for friends and family, and while it might seem expensive if you consider what ingredients cost to make a good quality cake and the time and effort to nicely decorate (hand made flowers etc) it's really not a lot of money.

If you're on a tight budget, I suggest but a supermarket sponge and decorate it yourself, then it will be personal to you.

YABU I paid £35 for a choccywoccydoodah cake for my DD 10th which was worth every penny. £38 is not a great deal for that size cake considering the work that goes into it.

For my DD's birthday about 2 years ago (13) I got a chocolate cake in a supermarket for about £10, and two packets of chocolate fingers.

I stuck the chocolate fingers around the edges (vertically, like a wall) using chocolate icing, and tied a brown satin ribbon edged with gold (re-used from Christmas wrapping) round them to hold them upright.

They poked up over the top of the cake by about 1.5 ins so I filled in the top of the cake with a pack of chocolate truffles (Lidl's best...)

So for less than £20 it looked like one of those designer cakes on a website, tasted OK (the cake itself was a bit dry but hey there were truffles and Cadbury choc fingers, no one minded!).

However my aunt has her own cake business (makes them at home) and that price is actually very reasonable (for the reasons posters above give). I got my folks a Christmas cake from her last year and although I don't normally eat fruit cake I think I had three slices of that one!