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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

228 replies

Badger84 · 24/01/2017 21:25

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

To ask how much you would expect to pay for this cake?
OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
OnionKnight · 25/01/2017 07:37

I'd happily pay £50 for the OP's cake, it looks lovely.

Grilledaubergines · 25/01/2017 07:44

soon to be your cake maker can have made no more than about £20 on that cake of yours (its beautuful by the way). It probably took her 5-7 hours. So an hourly rate of about £4.

I think its worth £150.

PollytheDolly · 25/01/2017 08:17

Agreed with grilled That cake maker is underselling her talents. Gorgeous cakes. I'd happily pay more for each of those.

Smiler2013 · 25/01/2017 08:22

I'd say £45

NeedMoreSleepOrSugar · 25/01/2017 08:56

I'm astounded at £20 for the little one soontobe posted -it and the large one in particular are underpriced.

Am I the only one wondering why 5 year old Ame had three cakes? nosey

budgiegirl · 25/01/2017 10:04

soon to be Wow, that cake maker is seriously undercharging. It looks like a shop? I can only assume that the cake maker makes most of her money from selling cake decorating supplies, because he/she certainly isn't making any money from making cakes!

Original poster
Badger84 · 25/01/2017 10:09

Wow soontobe I know how much the icing alone would have cost on those cakes - your cake maker must have made that £20 virtually for free Shock

OP posts:
SlankyBodger · 25/01/2017 10:10

soontobe those cakes are astonishingly good. (Why 3 cakes for the same 5 year old? Nosey parker, me.)

xStefx · 25/01/2017 10:14

About £30 ..lovely looking cake

Pranma · 25/01/2017 10:17

£30 I had one for dh birthday with 24 matching cupcakes and paid £40. I'll look for a picture.

To ask how much you would expect to pay for this cake?
DontTouchTheMoustache · 25/01/2017 10:27

It's lovely op and I think £40 is about right. I was going to bake and decorate a cake for DS birthday but as I was filling my trolley and totting up the total.in my head I realised it was slowly starting to cost a fortune so I gave up and bought one instead. People underestimate the cost of ingredients for baking!

MyHairNeedsASnip · 25/01/2017 10:35

I paid £55 for a 10" Frozen style cake with 3 characters on last year, North West area.

middlings · 25/01/2017 10:38

I badly make my children's cakes myself. They taste nice (well, they certainly get eaten) but I've only started decorating in the last year and I'm self taught so the quality of my finish probably leaves something to be desired! Bearing that in mind, OP, you shouldn't be charging less than £60 for what you showed in the beginning. I know what icing alone costs and you can't be making any money at less than that.

soontobe it's not the big cake that's so underpriced (although it massively is), it's the little one. Your cake baker lost serious money on that. By my count there are seven different colours of icing on that. Plus the board, plus the ingredients for the actual cake.....

MusicToMyEars800 · 25/01/2017 10:39

between £30-£40 that's what id expect to pay where I live. I agree with others tot up the cost of everything and how much profit you want to make and see what you get.

Jaxhog · 25/01/2017 10:40

Depends where you live. I'd check what other people are charging locally to give you a ball park figure. I'd be surprised if this was less than £45 though. It looks lovely!

TheSmurfsAreHere · 25/01/2017 10:46

soontobe the price for these cakes are just stupidly low.

Badger I will confess to have been quite shocked at the price for a b'day cake when I ordered one for my DC years ago.
Then we had the cake, we ate it and it was GORGEOUS and BEAUTIFUL.

Nowdays, I would expect a cake like the one in your OP to cost at least £50.
I also appreciate that I will never be able to do one like this, that it takes skills (as my various ails have shown - more like disaster...) and time to do such nice looking cakes. Hence the fact, I would not have any issue paying that price.

And with my business hat on, I would probably expect it to be even more.
I would forget people saying you would pay £10 in a supermarket, they aren't your customers.
I would forget people who say 'it's easy. I would do that in no time' because if it's that easy then I'm sure they can do it themselves and wouldn't bother to pay someone to do it.
So yes look at your pricing, overall cost of running the business (not just the raw ingredients) and add a cost for you time that make sense (NOT £3.00 per hour)

TheSmurfsAreHere · 25/01/2017 10:49

Btw, be very careful with comparing yourself with others in the area.
A lot of people who are making cakes run these businesses more like a hobby and make very little money out of it. Of course, they also have a very low cost ....
Or they pine themselves to the west price hoping to attract customers but sell at loss/make no money.

If you line up with them, you will end up in the same situation than them. Either doing a few cakes there and then 'for fun'.
Or having to pack the business up because you aren't making any money.

SpringerS · 25/01/2017 10:52

Shop brought cake does not taste as good as home-baked cake !

That's normally true but that sugar paste stuff is so disgusting that even the lightest, fluffiest, most moist, delicious cake ever will taste vile once it's covered in it.

A fantastic trick for making superb looking home made birthday cakes is to build a cake topper with styrofoam and foam paper then stick it on top of the most delicious cake you can make. You can make the topper in advance and the cake underneath can be quite plain, so you don't have to do anything too stressful and finicky right before the party.

I made this for my son's birthday in November. It came to about €30 all together but that includes the set of figures, which were a last surprise birthday gift and the topper is still in use as a playset. There was also plenty of left over craft materials that we use for art projects. And the ribbon which I washed and saved to add as a trim to a bag. The cake was genuinely yummy and it looked amazing, especially when the candle where lit as the ones at the sides and the 4 were sparklers.

To ask how much you would expect to pay for this cake?
Marynary · 25/01/2017 10:52

I would expect a cake made to my specification to be £50 or £60. However, the one in your picture doesn't look that much different to ones you can buy in the supermarket and whilst I'm sure it tastes better, children aren't that likely to notice the difference. I appreciate it takes a lot more time and effort though and you don't want to make a loss. It doesn't seem to be a good way to make money but I suppose it depends on where you live and the incomes of the people in that area.

Paddington68 · 25/01/2017 11:30

Work out what it cost to make, including your time, then add your mark-up.

Strongmummy · 25/01/2017 12:52

I'd expect to pay between £60 and £75 for that cake in London. £40 is very good in my view. Yummy!

areyoubeingserviced · 25/01/2017 12:57

£40

whatsthecomingoverthehill · 25/01/2017 13:13

I would have thought the ingredients cost, whilst not minimal, will be dwarfed by your time costs. So it all depends on how long you spend taking the order, making it, delivering it etc (and people do forget to including all of their time). Decide how much you want to earn per hour and price it up from there. If you are getting to a price that the market won't sustain then you'll need to think about what you're trying to achieve...

user1484317265 · 25/01/2017 13:20

Shop BOUGHT cake does not taste as good as home-baked cake

Depends on the shop you bought it from or who baked it, doesn't it?

user1484317265 · 25/01/2017 13:23

My friend spent a fortune on a fancy cake from a woman with great reviews. It looked fantastic....but it tasted awful. I could easily have done better myself.
Some expensive cakes can be all show and no substance. Doesn't matter how good it looks if no-one wants to eat it.