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?

Don't get what the fuss is about.
If you don't like the price and don't think it's good value for money take your custom elsewhere.
As hundreds of others have already said, the ingredients are expensive if you want a quality cake and then there's the time it takes the baker to make it which would probably be around 4 - 5 hours.

And those saying ‘1 hour to cook a cake and 1 hour to decorate’ have obviously not made a 4 layer christening cake 😐

@iailwfsaidc

Don't get what the fuss is about. If you don't like the price and don't think it's good value for money take your custom elsewhere. As hundreds of others have already said, the ingredients are expensive if you want a quality cake and then there's the time it takes the baker to make it which would probably be around 4 - 5 hours.

I imagine, given this thread is a year old, the cake is stale at this point.

@Lovemusic33

And those saying ‘1 hour to cook a cake and 1 hour to decorate’ have obviously not made a 4 layer christening cake 😐

It’s four Victoria sponges! The Chrstening cake label is just an excuse to raise the price.

@changedmynamelol

I have a friend who pays about £70-£90 for two cakes each year for her twins. They look amazing but taste bad, sickly sweet and a lot is left over and binned afterwards.

Why bump a year-old thread to tell us that?

Anyway. I bet the OP and plenty of others who complain about paying a baker a living wage don't even flinch when their mechanic charges upwards of £50 an hour for an oil change.

@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 made an fairly elaborate birthday cake for 50 kids once. Charge £90 because the ingredients and icing alone cost £45. When I had factored in my time, I only earned £3 per hour

How long do you think it takes to buy ingredients, prepare, bake and decorate the cake at a wage rate of at least minimum wage.

£70 for a bespoke hand made cake is actually pretty cheap when you think how much time goes into it.

Christ get a traybake, cheaper,nicer and no overpriced faff

Zombie Cake, zombie thread

Umm, you are paying someone to make it for you. You are paying for the ingredients (which unless you're a shitty baker will be decent, quality stuff which comes at a price). Someone that has to earn a wage, pay insurance, business insurance on their veh, all the overheads. I make cakes and I can tell you you wouldn't be getting a christening cake for £70 from me ! You're paying for my skills, my equipment, my 25 years experience, my working in Michelin restaurants as a pastry chef and 5* hotels.

How much do you get paid and how much did you pay for your last haircut ? Or is it OK for a hairdresser to charge for their time ? My hair costs me £100+ for an hour and a half's appointment.

How’s it in active then?
Love the cake btw @EveryDayIsADuvetDay

Zombie thread regardless, it’s amazing how willing some people are to be ripped off.

It’s four Victoria sponges!

Omfg are you having a laugh ? Yes, I'm sure the baker was just going to shove 4 undecorated sponge cakes on the table for a christening. Deffo.

YOU ARE PAYING FOR THEIR TIME

Mum at school wanted £80,no background in baking, just a hobby.
I got a couple of Colin caterpillar instead

It is expensive but some people must be happy to pay it or it wouldn't be priced that high. Sometimes cakes are expensive especially if made professionally... large wedding cakes for example can be anything from £100 to £600/700 or even more. The sky's the limit really.

Cake making and decorating is an art so it's whatever people will pay.

Flour, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, gas/elec for baking time, more butter and icing sugar for frosting, all bakers labour and time taken costs.

Jog on then to M&S then for a cheaper commercial E numbered filled long lasting synthetic cake! Or, make it yourself!

The ingredients for four six inch square sponges would be a tenner at the outside. It would take an hour to make them and another hour to decorate. £30 an hour seems a lot to me.

You crack on love if you reckon you can professionally finish a cake in an hour.
I'll give you a week before you get fed up of it

But it's made from shite and tastes like shite. At least the expensive cake is made of butter, sugar, eggs etc and tastes nice.

Not necessarily. Many a cake thread here has the "professional" cake bakers boast that they are using margarine because it keep cakes fresh for longer and that no one ever notices.

No, it is a Zombie thread!

@ChardonnaysPetDragon actually the reason many of us use soft margarine is because the added water content makes the resultant sponge very light and tender. However the payoff is that it doesn't taste as good as the butter. I use half and half in the sponge. Mary Berry has always advocated soft margarine. I have tried many techniques and recipes and find half and half gives the best of both worlds.

However anyone selling a cake with buttercream out of anything other than butter is beyond redemption

Its bollocks the ingredients & decoration equipment etc makes it so expensive. A professional baker will get through vanilla bean paste etc and use the decoration equipment on my cakes, so the fraction of the costs of those that applies to each cake is minimal.

Eggs/flour/butter/sugar all inexpensive, even if you buy good quality- a professional baker will also save money buying in bulk on wholesale.

What it is is the time. The high cost is justified for the elaborate cakes with complicated time consuming decorations. But the reality is a simple cake is low skill, it's actually not worth paying a professional baker who is going to want to remunerate themselves to the tune of likely £10/h minimum.

And believe me when I say I don't skimp on my ingredients. I certainly don't use soft margarine to save money,

I bake all my own cakes ... I love baking 💕

@ChardonnaysPetDragon as a professional cake maker myself i have never used margarine!

I also only use organic ingredients and natural food colourings. That is my usp and i am subject to inspections. I provide proof of all ingredients i use for every bake with a full documented receipt, showing only organic ingredients and natural colourings used.

Let me guess.....

Its a cake for a Jehovah's witness with poor eye sights and you've cancelled the cheque?