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?

They are very pretty you're right @caringcarer But is £30 really underpriced? Sounds about right to me. £35 would be pushing it... £40 too much. Many people are brassick right now, and if they were like £60 to £80 as some posters are charging, people simply won't pay it.

I am not denying that she has quite a skill, but this would be £60-80 for something that would potentially be consumed/gone in an hour ... I know you could say the same about a meal out, but I just don't think most people would want to pay £60-£80 for a handful of cupcakes, no matter how pretty they are...

I also agree that there looks to be a bit too much icing on them too. Would make them very sweet and quite sickly. If it's buttercream fine, but being made around 50% icing (which is what it looks like,) would make them hard to eat, as it would be like munching a bunch of sugar cubes! If you love to have a lot of icing then crack on. Wouldn't be for me.

I make these, unfortunately pricing is very dependent on where you live. A cake friend can charge £70 in a city centre, I charge £30 in a rural area and still get raised eyebrows that they’re so expensive

Never seen anything like this before. Love the idea and would definitely prefer it to actual flowers as I love cake 😋

I too think cake making is underpaid generally. Sad.

Yes they know that supermarket cakes, even the posh Rachel's ones from Waitrose are mass-produced. But some people are weird about hygiene and shun any "home made" cake as dirty and germ-ridden. Others have the palate of a child and think a mass produced cake from Costco is "delicious".

Lots just don't appreciate the effort/time which has gone into creating cake and make comments about "it's just 7 cupcakes". It is, but you could say that about a lot of things. A Banksy piece of art is just graffiti on the wall. A designer pair of trainers is just shoes. A Ferrari is just something to get you from A to B.

As someone who enjoys cupcakes and can decorate them -- the quality of the icing can vary dramatically. The issue with Russian tips is that they are finicky about the consistency of the buttercream, which places some limits on what you can do. There are cake decorators who will take shortcuts with the quality of the icing because they prioritise the visuals, for example using vegetable fat instead of butter as it will stay stable over a larger temperature range. It looks beautiful but isn't pleasant to eat.

the other issue is that getting these results is quite a thick layer of buttercream, and meanwhile, the cake layer is also tall. So you have one thick layer of sponge and then one thick layer of buttercream, instead of several thinner layers as you would with a large cake. This contributes to the cake having a dry feeling in the mouth, even if you use a very moist sponge recipe, and to the frosting being overwhelming. It's also quite easy to overbake cupcakes by just a minute or two.

It's not about not appreciating the effort

It's that the product, regardless of the effort, is not actual £80 of enjoyment.

Buying things isn't charity. You buy things you can afford.

A cupcake lasts 10 minutes. My enjoyment of the cake will be the same regardless of how its decorated. I realise how much effort has gone in, but I would not enjoy those cupcakes to justify spending £80 on them. Deciration is essentially packaging. It's got to be destroyed to actually enjoy the product.

With any expensive, designer gear a lot of the price is brand and marketing. Designer trainers are not worth the cost. A ferrari you are paying for the brand. Banksi you are paying for the name. A random woman from my local town is not the same as banksi and would not be able to charge those prices for some graffiti

They are amazing and very pretty - a very skilled job.

But as others have said: just what do you do with cupcakes like that? Cupcakes are not popular with anyone I know because they are SO horrendously sugary. Most people I know would choose (as a treat!) a piece of tea loaf, banana bread or a scone. But these really are almost obscenely sugary (I bet you're looking at 500+ calories each) and they're gone very quickly.

Plus - there's a limit to how exquisitely decorated cakes can be before it becomes off-putting. I would feel like a vandal even breaking up the 'bouquet', never mind eating one. And...there's also that feeling with this kind of thing that someone has had their mitts all over it, and that's not a good feeling (I'm sure this woman is hygienic, but that's not the point). And at the end of the day it is just a sponge cake with butter cream, in terms of eating, I mean.

I think this level of skill is better reserved for wedding and seriously luxurious celebration cakes.

I just find it bizarre (and a bit depressing) that someone can earn a small fortune as an influencer with absolutely no skills whatsoever whereas someone highly skilled at something gets paid so little for it…

I bought the Russian tips to try these but it was so hard. I do a lot of cake baking and decorating but couldn't manage this. She should be charging £50

These are pretty and very skilled, but to me they have no more intrinsic value than a beautiful bunch of real flowers, because you’d want to display them for a time and then would they really be edible? So £35 max.

I agee. I'd rather just have a box of really nice cakes.

The problem is to most people, it's just a cake.

It will only last a matter of minutes regardless of whether it costs £20 or £200. Yes, they look nice in photos but at the end of the day, if it's not eaten it will just get binned so to many, there's very little point in paying huge amounts.

Our local ice-cream/cake place does homemade celebration cakes and while they look incredible, the cost is just ridiculous to me when I know the entire thing will be gone in a matter of hours days.

I think these are absolutely beautiful and would definitely buy them.

But I’d only pay about £30 as that’s what I can afford, which I believe would be the same for others and so perhaps she’s priced them to get more business.

Yes she’d probably get some people buying them if they were £50+ but she’d get many more people buying them if they’re more affordable.

So as long as it works out ingredients and time wise, then she’s probably got the right idea to sell them cheaper and get more customers.

I suppose the difference is that nobody really directly gives money to influencers. You can watch them for free (in financial terms) on social media whereas buying a product of someone and actually spending your money is very different.

I appreciate the hours and the effort that goes into these cakes but to me it's just a waste of money. I'd be just as happy (or even happier) with a plain Victoria sponge or a nice coffee & walnut cake without all the fancy icing and OTT decoration.

To succeed, it's important for her to have a good understanding of her target audience. Her niche products are priced at 6 for £80, while a simpler model is available for £20-£30. It's worth noting that different customers have varying priorities, with some prioritizing quality and others focusing on the price point.

Based on my understanding, it seems that Dp's business prioritizes quality and caters to high-end customers exclusively..

£25 - £35 would be ok. They look pretty and take skill to create but once you’ve got the knack, you can probably make batches pretty quickly.

Can only assume the people saying £80 live in London and have deep pockets!

https://www.sugarandcrumbs.co.uk/
This is the company that makes the nozzles, as I said earlier. Carole, does courses, on line and in person. They also have the delicious flavoured icing sugars, and anything else that bakers might want.
My kids and I tried to make some 😂🌸

I really would try the flavoured icing sugars, there are all sorts, and make cup cakes actually edible for a change, I love the strawberry milkshake one the best, but I’ve only tried a few

I don’t actually think they would cost much to make at all. The vanilla sponge would surely only cost £1.50, as everything would be brought in bulk. The icing, it depends on the quality of the butter she uses, £3 maybe. So £5 to make, I think a price of £35 is fair, it’s the labour you are paying for.

£30 for 7 cupcakes seems more than fair to me, and even then it’s at a rather high end for cupcakes even with that skill in my opinion. But then I don’t have £30 to spend on junk food so maybe my opinion isn’t the best. They do look nice though.

Just to say the maker of these cakes has a 5* hygiene rating.

Your DH sounds lovely, happy birthday! 💐

If she’s baking from home that honestly doesn’t mean much. You can have pets around and still get 5*.