To think this lady is seriously underpricing these gorgeous bouquets of cupcakes?

[caringcarer]

They look so real I genuinely thought it was a bouquet of real flowers. She told me it took her 3 years to learn to do them to this standard. How much do you think she charges per bouquet and you can choose the colour theme too?

I have been in a few TV series and occasionally pop up in Hello magazine and other stuff. I go to parties a lot so know how much things are worth.

Take me for example. I am worth a lot. I would expect to be given these for free.

I knit as well and had "commissions". I dont charge for the knitting, just the wool. I was asked to make the Harry Styles cardigan. The wool alone was £80 and saw a few for sale on etsy etc for £250 and i think the original was £1000. I did it because i liked the challenge. Took me 6 weeks of evenings to make which is impossible to put a price on. Although it was during covid.

Those cakes are made with russian icing piping which i think is simpler than they look.

I wouldn’t

This sort of attitude is why so many people give up on cake making. I made a cake yesterday. It probably cost about £12 for the ingredients (2 packs of butter at £2 for a start) and cake board/box.

It took me about 3 hours all told to make and decorate. Some of that time was waiting for it in the oven.

Even if I charged min wage at about £9 per hour it means the cake needs to be charged at about £40.

Depends what they taste like - report back please

I agree with this. It’s very lovely to look and admire the craftsmanship but disappointing when eating them as the ratio of cupcake to the sugar work on top is just too much.

I did give up on cake making for reasons such as these - because it’s not worth it/doesn’t make enough money. ‘Attitudes such as these’ are just true. It’s a fact that’s it’s just cake/icing/paper to the customer. So the figures don’t work, so do something else.

https://www.rachaelskitchen.co.uk/cupcakes/mothers-day-cupcakes/spring-flowers-cupcakes/

A box of 6 cakes here is £24. I appreciate its a slightly bigger business than a one person enterprise but i'd probably trust the hygenine and quality control & service to be better from a company rather than someone doing it out of their own kitchen.

I know, right? All these people who say they don't like cupcakes so wouldn't pay much for them or you can get them for £2 at Asda! I don't like fruit cake but I can still use my imagination to think that a wedding fruit cake could cost a lot and be worth the money.

I think they're beautiful and would be worth at least £50. You can't compare mass-produced cakes to home made. My friend makes cakes like this and they taste absolutely delicious as well as looking beautiful. Hugely nicer than anything you get even in a cupcake shop.

Stunning but I wouldn't pay more then £40 for 7 cupcakes and I probably wouldn't even pay that to be fair. Businesses like this unfortunately will never be successful because if you base the price on time, ingredients and skill set people won't pay it.

Those ones are nothing like the OPs photo though, they are run of the mill cakes, you'd expect to pay more for the OPs version

I’m coming at this from an economics perspective. I can’t imagine wanting to pay good money for cupcakes, so I wouldn’t pay more than £15 for half-a-dozen cupcakes no matter how good: they don’t have resale value and they are just cupcakes. At the same time, I recognise the huge skill and time investment in baking as well as high quality ingredients. So perhaps the opportunity cost for the baker is £80-£100 if they’d spent their time and skill on something more saleable.

it doesn’t mean I don’t value bakers. It means that the cupcakes are generally not a product on which you’re likely to be able to gain profits, as you put more work in than the market value would justify.

If I spent hours doing artistic pastry patterns on sausage rolls and charged a reasonable hourly rate, I couldn’t rage at the world for not wanting to buy £60 sausage rolls. Or I could, but it’d be pointless if the market demand for £60 sausage rolls wasn’t there.

So I pay £15 for six standard decorated cupcakes from our local cake guy. So 7 cupcakes with more fancy decoration… I’d probably say £30 is about right but… I would probably be prepared to pay more maybe £45-£50

Absolutely stunning.

Supremely talented.

What a lovely gift for your birthday.

Enjoy.

it's sad for people with skills and dedication not to be able to see the results of that in financial terms.

Not every skill can be turned into a profitable business though. People are good at all sorts of things but that doesn't mean there's a market for them to make money from it.

My friend at work used to do these. Very similar. Looked great but looked nicer than they tasted, disappointing to eat.
Very little cake and too much icing.

My sister makes cakes like that. You cannot tell they aren't real. We keep telling her she should start selling them, but she just likes doing it as a hobby.

Yup, same as birthday cakes from professional bakers (in my experience).

I'd guess these should cost £60-£70 (plus delivery) but no way I'd pay this much for a few cupcakes.

Really to the PP saying £20!!!

I want a crocheted mouse now.
But can't afford one.

I am surprised by the comments saying £20-£30. People do realise that cupcakes at the grocery stores are mass produced?

In the heyday of the cupcake craze in America some 15 years ago, $5 per cupcake was completely normal and that was for cupcakes with generic decoration. I would probably pay c.£7 per cupcake for these so around £50-£60.

They're gorgeous! I'd pay more than £30 as they're clearly highly skilled and offer something quite unique- the company cakes linked above don't look anywhere near as good in my opinion, and as she can do different colour schemes so personalised in that regard that's another big tick. I think taking 3 years to hone a craft should get some payback, and ingredients, utilities and time add up too. Sadly lots undervalue their skills and their time, although a lot of people don't see the value in these sorts of things because they can get a mass produced dry and horrible cake from a supermarket for a few quid doesn't mean there isn't a market of people willing to pay a fair price.

All of those are just buttercream done with different piping tips.

I'm not a professional, I only make cakes for friends and family, but I can do all of those easily. Not sure how it took her 3 years to learn if I'm honest

For a professional, to bake and decorate 7 cupcakes like that would take no more than an hour absolute max.

There are a gazillion videos on you tube and instagram of people doing it. It's a very simple but very effective piping technique.

Ingredients for 7 cupcakes = £5
Electric for over = £1 (and that generous!)
Cupcake cases/paper for wrapping £3
Time = £25 (1 hour?)

Total £35-£40

They are amazing. But realistically there’s a ceiling price for this sort of thing unless it’s for a wedding or big formal party for most people. I think once it goes over about £30/ £40 at this point, especially with the cost of living crisis many people would find it difficult to justify the expense.

@VisionsOfSplendour they are both just buttercream piped on using different tips. The one in the OPs picture won't have taken any longer that the others.

The only difference really is that they have then been arranged into a bouquet rather than put in a box.