To ask how much you would expect to pay for this cake?

[Badger84]

So I've started up a cake business and I'm struggling with pricing. There is quite a lot of competition in my area so want to price competitively but also want to make a profit! Some of the people I've quoted have been fine with my prices, others have scoffed and said far too expensive. I've attached a picture. Can you tell me how much you would expect to pay? I won't tell you how much I would charge to influence you

I live in London and know many cake makers and they would charge between £40-£50. There are a lot of cake makers these days thanks to instagram so the competition is high!

Worlds you've made me laugh, it's about 4 in ours! :)

I would say around £50

£40-£50

About £30 - £40 I would think. How much are you charging?

About £40.

I have paid up to £80 for kids birthday cakes though but your pictured one is quite plain and something I could probably make myself!

About £40

I paid £45 for something quite a bit smaller, simple small sugar rose on top. Would pay £50- 55 but would probably be more like £60-65 in this neck of the woods (outskirts of Bristol).

Ok you've all been very helpful Thankyou (except one 🙄) The icing is the most expensive part as many of you have said. I charge £40 for this type of cake. I just wondered if this was way off but looking at your comments I think that's probably about right so Thankyou

Does £40 cover your overheads? Aside from the obvious of your time and the ingredients.

The other stuff that people forget small businesses have to cover like tax, insurance, getting a hygiene rating from the local council, etc.?

People pay what they're willing to pay. You don't walk into a shop and see "how much do you think I'm worth" on a tag. You see a price. Set it high enough to make it worthwhile.

I have no idea. But if that is a cake someone paid you for, and you have left their rather uneekly spelled kids name on it for the internet to see, thats not really on.

You are right there aunt - my insurance, the cost of setting up the business and buying all the equipment, getting the environmental health approval etc had all been expensive. A lot of people think "I could do that" which is why cake making is such a hard business - but I love it!

Set it high enough to make it worthwhile

I agree with this. You won't make much profit charging £40. That's fine if you're just wanting to make a bit of pin money, but if you are serious about becoming a business, you need to make a decent profit in each cake you make.

There are many cake makers out there. But IME those who don't charge correctly don't last as a business. Because they get fed up making very little for a lot of work.

user you think there is a like cake stalker child protection issue for a Mickey Mouse cake? Please explain?

user firstly I don't understand what uneekly means.

Secondly - the lady put this all over instagram and Facebook with hashtags so I'm more than confident that she won't care about me sharing this.

uniquely...spelled uneekly!

Ok.........

It looks cute but who would pay more than £25 max for a simple kids cake? Seems nuts to me.

£60

The lady who makes my cakes would charge between £40-£50.

Looks really nice, probs would be £40 in these parts - although agree With pp that said most kids at a party wouldn't appreciate the difference between a £40 and a £10 cake although the £40 one would be much nicer!
Off subject a bit but I came across this great idea in a magazine the other day about volunteering to make cakes for kids who for one reason or another wouldn't normally get a birthday cake, www.freecakesforkids.org.uk/

I live in Manchester and I'd pay £50 for a cake like that. I don't have kids so no idea what people will pay for kids' party cakes, but I've had personalised cakes made for adults' birthdays and anniversaries before.

£45-50

A friend runs a cake making business here in surrey and would charge around 60 for something like that - lots of business round here!

£ 40 sounds perfectly reasonable and fair. It is three layers though so you could charge more.

Best of luck in your venture.