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?

I work in consulting and we charge a mark up on the specific services delivered (as they require admin and organisation, they don’t just pop up out of nowhere) PLUS an hourly rate for time/expertise.

I don’t see why cake makers shouldn’t use that model too.

What did you say to her and what did she reply?!

I read the pattern and told her roughly how many hours it'd take, 20=30 as a conservative estimate. Even at mates rates she'd be looking at £300+. She was furious and tried to argue me into doing it as I don't pay those prices for the stuff I make myself. Well yeah, that's the whole point of DIY.

😂

This is why I stopped baking for cake sales - my ingredients and time were being sold for pennies - I'd rather chuck them a few quid instead.

Me too. I worked for a charity and we had coffee mornings about four times a year to fundraise. I used to be baking solidly the night before and every time I swore that next time, I’d just chuck a donation in the pot instead. People quibbling at £1.50 for a cup of tea/coffee and a piece of homemade cake ffs!

@MashedPotatoBrainz

My mum used to make our dancing costumes and we would spend hours upon hours sewing on sequins together.

My mum was an amazing self-taught seamstress and our costumes were always the best.

Our dance teachers would always suggest to the other mums that they pay my mum to make their costumes. My mum was daft and would do it, for about £10 a costume - to be kind. She’d be sobbing at home as she worked full time as a carer and then come home to spend time doing this.

People think everything is a 5 minute job.

@MyDcAreMarvel it’s not just the baker that has to make money, the business does too for insurance, investment, advertising etc

With cakes you have several options-

Make it yourself,

Buy from a supermarket or cheap commercial bakery,

Your best friend’s dog’s auntie’s neighbour,

Someone half decent who earns nothing from it/makes a loss,

Someone good who charges a lot but can cover their costs and a bit of their time.

Someone good who charges a fortune and can make a living.

So it depends on your budget, your standards and your ethics. People have NO IDEA how much expense goes into cake making. I made an 8” round cake recently. For the board, box, ribbon, cake dummy (to be the small ‘cake’ on the top) and the icing it was about £35-£40. That’s not any of the actual cake ingredients or even the chocolate and cream for the ganache, the colours or the time to make it! That cake was probably about 10-15 hours of work (I don’t add it up, it’d be depressing) and it was a 1.5 hour round trip to deliver it. Now think about how much I’d have to charge to turn a profit.

Yes people can and do charge cheaper, but please don’t complain when the quotes seem expensive, see how much this stuff actually costs and you might understand it a bit better.

And I use margarine for sponge cake too, it’s better!

Loads of professions charge much more outrageously than an "expensive" cake maker. I'd much rather spend 70 quid on a cake than 300 quid for a solicitor to spend 20 minutes copying and pasting my name and address into a contract template.

@feelingverylazytoday I was in about it being a victoria sponge. Much too light of a sponge to be smothered in buttercream

Same with dressmaking. I used to make all my own and DD's dresses as it was cheaper than buying. One of my work colleagues came in with a suit pattern and some material and asked if I could make it for her and she'd pay me for my time. She thought £20 would do.

@MashedPotatoBrainz I used to know a lady who made wedding dresses. People would turn up with photos of wedding gowns from runway collections and magazines and just pay a bare minimum for her time. People would even have a set budget of X amount for materials, not understanding that if you want it to realistically look like what it does in the picture you need quality materials and thus a bigger budget. Then they'd get Bridezilla for last minute alterations, or worse expect her to do extras like adjusting the grooms and MOTB suit for free!

Luckily she was a pensioner so was happy for any extras and didn't need a set income.

My SIL used to make soft furnishings. This was how she made a living. I got her to make curtains for me - I was paying, obviously. The itemised bill included all the tape, rings for hanging, matching thread, etc as well as the material and lining - and her time. It's amazing how all the wee bits and bobs add up, and if you're not the one making the thing it's easy to forget they are needed!

Where I work, we tend to charge clients double what staff earn per hour, plus other costs (materials, travel, machine time etc). So if some one gets paid £25 an hour we'll charge them out at £50 hour.

Professional services often charge a higher multiplier.

With cakes, you get what you pay for. £70 wasn't worth it for you. That's your choice and nobody should judge you for that.

I can see why people charge loads per hour for crafty type things as they are so time consuming.

I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on a food item though! I’d rather buy it already made-it’ll taste good and all get eaten in ten minutes anyway! £10 and the job is done. I doubt it tastes more than 7 times nicer.

I’d pay good money for bespoke tailor-made clothing though-that will fit well and last for years.

It depends what you’re making as well.

I tried to sell knitted items for a while but it was impossible - I make quite complex things that can take upwards of 50 hours. No one wants to pay even a few pounds an hour on top of materials.

I moved to a craft where I could make £10-£20 per hour depending on the piece. But once you factor in all the time spent marketing, responding to emails, ordering supplies, arranging couriers etc it’s a lot less

Cake making isn’t highly valued unless it’s wedding cakes, and even then people don’t understand the time you’re putting in or the cost of materials, tools, consumables etc.

I’ve a friend who asked me to reupholster an armchair for her - she said she even pay for the materials - needless to say I didn’t do it!

Also people who say they only want a plain white cake don’t understand that plain white cakes have to be flawless. Much easier to stick flowers on the cracks and dents!

I think that's a fair price. My sister is a cake maker and decorator.

She unfortunately gave it up when people started wanting fantastically decorated, handmade and very well made cakes for next to nowt. Even family and friends who know how much work and love she put into each cake wanted them for next to nothing, when she was only charging them for the ingredients and her gas for the cooking.

I'd rather pay more for a good quality item, than bog standard shop bought gear.

Costco do brilliant 45 portion personalised cakes for £15.

I'm a hobby Baker and it takes me about 6 hours to do a 2 teir cake, if its a madeira sponge it's slow cooked too. Around 90 mins for each cake so consider the utilities cost too.

The icing
The ingredients
The labour etc... It all adds up and hardly profitable at all

I used to make cakes for friends and family. People didn't understand the cost involved in ingredients, time, and tools. After a while it became a.chore so I gave up. Couldn't make enough money on it and I felt awkward chatting friends and family. I was charging £45 a cake and just covering my ingredients

So yes, YABVU

It’s seems a bit expensive for no decorations to be included but otherwise not that bad, it depends how many people that feeds I guess

I got a quote for £240 quid for a 5 yos birthday cake. Decided to make it myself. Took me 15 hours to bake and decorate and easily £30 in ingredients. When people saw it they all said “you should do this professionally” but really, it’s totally uneconomic. My time is worth way more.

@Hairwizard
Very impressed with your cakes, you certainly have talent!

StoppinBy Is who I copied, and it changed! Sorry @StoppinBy it’s your work that’s 😊

It's sounds a lot but really given time etc it isnt.

This is one we made for our grandson as a gift but if we card you'd be looking at at least 150. My daughter in law couldn't believe people were quoting her certain amounts, The madeira cakes took around 5hrs in total baking time.... 24 eggs too! The toys alone were 25 to put on there. The icing was coloured and handmixed which took 2hrs...