Fucking 70 quid for a cake????

[Hairwizard]

As title says. Quoted 'from' 70 quid for a Christening cake. This was based on a 6" square cake with 4 sponge layers. Not tiers. Buttercream icing. Any decs toppers etc would be extra and from 8 - 15 quid!
Am i missing something?? How the f does a cake cost that much?

My daughter used to be a cake maker! She was registered with the Council and insured and she was relatively cheap. However you would be talking upwards of £50 for a standard cake because of the time, ingredients ,fuel etc she used. Quite often she was up to daft o'clock making sure cakes were perfect. And she used to get abuse from people telling her she was ripping folk off. She also did wedding cakes and delivered to the venue and set up because she never trusted the staff to do it right.
She didn't even make minimum wage. After tasting her cakes, I couldn't eat the shit shop bought ones.

YABU - go to the supermarket and buy a cheaper cake, do you expect skilled people to work for pennies?

And if it's so easy and cheap, maybe you could bake one yourself OP?

Sounds a fair price.
I’ll never understand why people feel ‘artistic’ work should be done for peanuts.

I make cakes (for family and friends) and made one fro MILs 60th birthday party.
It was 3 layers, bottom layer I made leopard print icing, middle layer was black with edible diamonds on, top layer was sprayed with edible gold spray. Then the cake was covered in edible picture frames that I made from modelling paste (a lot more expensive than normal icing) and printed photos on icing sheets.
Add in the dowels, cake boards, cake box etc the cost of all the ingredients etc was not far off £100.
Then if I was charging for my time (which was about 3 whole days worth and up until 3 am type things) plus electric for making etc and then if I had to pay insurance and tax etc. I can easily see why cakes are charged out at £150-200
You also need to remember that M&S have huge economies of scale so will buy a tonne of flour for probably the same price a normal person will be able to buy 5kgs!!

Also everyone always says my cakes taste amazing and are much better than supermarket cakes.

hope none of you “value for money” types go out for meals....

No, I don't. It's too bloody expensive! I would like to though, but I generally do not like spending loads of £ on food because it just gets eaten and I'd rather spend that money on a pair of boots in the sale or something that will last longer than 1 meal.

At least the boots will last me a couple of years at least! 🙉

That’s a full weeks food shop for a family .

Cati oh do tell me, is there a magic formula instead of doubling up for portions?
Weird that, because I've been making cakes most of my life, and there always seems to have been enough to go round.
Yes I am aware that you need more buttercream. Especially the amounts people seem to like nowadays.

40 quid for little ones birthday.

It was huge and delicious! Was a lady that does it for some extra cash on top of her work but everyone loved it!

Whenever I bake at home I always think how bloody expensive all the ingredients are compared to buying the mass produced items from a supermarket. But the reason for home baked goods is the quality of ingredients and the taste.

Either pay a professional baker for their skills, time and overheads or buy cheaper for less skill or even cheaper for mass produced items.

I think that’s reasonable. I always have them made for dc’s birthday’s and usually pay between £60-£90 depending on design and size.

That’s a full weeks food shop for a family

And that's relevant how?

We got our wedding cake from marks and Spencers, it was lovely.

We decorated it ourselves, and had one 'special' deciration donated by the most camp cake shop guy I have ever met. On hearing we were getting an M&S cake when we went into his shop to buy the decorations / accessories :

" Oh daaarrrrliing, you poor, poooor thing, you must have this, I insist, you poor, poor thing..."

And that's relevant how?

I'm guessing it was to convey their shock?

I see my message was deleted. I will rephrase. It's snobby to look down on people who cannot afford fucking cashmere.

But you could say the same about anything - getting your hiar done? that's a week's shopping! Filling the car with petrol? That's a week's shopping! A new coat from M&S? That's a week's shopping!

Just shows that most people aren't prepared to pay the maker's wages. A supermarket cake which is made in batches of thousands at a time doesn't have that wage cost associated with it.

Buy the cake, don't buy the cake, get a cheap and nasty cake from Costco or a slightly nicer one from Waitrose. I really don't care. But it's still really clear why makers struggle to make a living.

That’s a full weeks food shop for a family shock

I agree. I remember when cakes were made at home and with mostly recycled decorations and never in fancy shapes and whatnot. Mostly they were sponge and with buttercream icing. Some cakeshops and bakeries did fancier ones with piping and they never cost a small fortune. Now, people are paying small fortunes to have cakes that look more like ornaments and it is considered 'necessary'. Then, many people whine about how poor they are ...

I think £70 is a good price for a bespoke cake. I paid that for DS's birthday cake last year.

But you could say the same about anything - getting your hiar done? that's a week's shopping! Filling the car with petrol? That's a week's shopping! A new coat from M&S? That's a week's shopping!

Yeah, but all of those things have more value to me so I would pay it. Hair will last, especially if low maintenance balayage or ombre type... Coat lasts years (although I've never paid £70 for a coat!), and a car actually takes you places quickly.

A cake? That will just be looked at a bit and then eaten and gone? No. I admit I just don't like to pay a lot for fleeting items.

So what? Don’t buy it then. But a professional person with a skill they are providing using their time and ingredients needs to be paid properly.

Also it’s a special event. A christening or a big birthday. For many people the cake is a ta da moment. I refuse to sneer at that.

Ours was £65. I actually thought that was pretty reasonable. We had 50 guests and there wasn't much left. The kids spent all day picking the icing off the base too (names scribbled out).