To think this isn't great for £55?

[SilverPicnicHead89]

We ordered 20 cupcakes from a local cake shop for my child's 6th birthday to give to her friends at the end of the day at school. Paid when ordering (no images available or book to choose from and the staff member serving just told us to go online to look at examples on their social media profile, but we were in a queue and didn't even have WiFi). Picked them up today. I'm not going to complain and I'm sure they're going to taste nice but at £55 for 20 of these, were my expectations not reasonable?

I suppose they could be cleaner but I suppose that's the risk you take it you don't check out a baker's work beforehand

The issue isn't the price, it's that these cupcakes are boring as hell with a poor finish.

It's like hiring an interior designer who kits your house out in grey paint and "Live, Laugh, Love" artwork and doesn't tape the windows when painting them. Dreary and poorly executed is an unfortunate combination.

People who lack imagination and creativity shouldn't work in creative professions. That's not the same as saying they shouldn't be paid a fair price for what they produce. But they're being paid for the finished product not their effort and expense.

I would like a cupcake now!

Personally I wouldn't have paid that much for 20 cupcakes, however amazing, as in my experience, at kids birthday parties they rarely eat them and they get mooshed up on the way home. I probably would have bought some nice supermarket cupcakes and added my own decorations so they looked a bit more impressive. Having said that I am both quite frugal and reasonably creative.

They strike me as a little expensive perhaps but cupcakes like this are usually £2.50-3 each so I'd have anticipated them being £50-60, sorry. Even my DH who is rubbish with how much things cost thought £60...

It's because ingredients are very expensive nowadays and they are extremely time consuming to decorate compared to a regular cake.

Not Superpicnichead89, she paid £2.75 for each of her 20 cupcakes! 😝(55/20=2.75)

and taste horrible, please don't teach children that the way to make a cake is to buy a mix.

I think the price was good for the number of cakes but that they look bad! I would have been gutted. My DD made much more professional looking ones than that on a one day course and she is a child.

That is not a bad price for what you got. I see a variety of decorations with a generous amount of icing. If you wanted more skill you probably needed to pay more. That matches what Waitrose charge for mass produced ones.

I'd love to see what you though would be worth it.

I can't help wondering, if you have an oven or an asda. £55!?

That’s very cheap. I’m in London though. I would be delighted to pay that price for that amount of cupcakes !

Was there a reason why you couldn't just buy some nice cupcakes from Tesco or Asda for less than a tenna?

If you are spending £55 for some bizarre reason, then you should have checked out what they were going to look like so you knew what you were getting for your money!

Your own fault I'm afraid!

I know it’s too late now, but when I need cupcakes I get a really nice pack of 12 from Aldi that taste delicious and decorated nicely for £4.75. There’s 4x chocolate, 4 x jam and 4 x fudge. I actually have a pack in the cupboard for DD’s birthday on Monday.

And these cupcakes have a filling.

If you made your own

1 hour buy ingredients

1 hour make & bake

1 hour decorate

I assume that you did not have 3 spare hours

Probably something that didn't scream zero imagination and a doubtful level of skill, given it was supposedly a professional baker.

The way I read it, the OP isn't so much questioning the price (i.e. how much professionally made cupcakes cost) as the product (these ones aren't very good).

Considering it means the cakes are £2.75 each I personally think Asda or Tesco cup cakes are better value and far more presentable.

I appreciate that many people simply 'don't have the time', but cupcakes are the easiest thing to make, and very cheap too. Kids love to help decorate them (and who really cares what they look like at a kids birthday' party)

£2.75

These Lolas cupcakes are minis. For 20 standard size Lolas cost you £79.

Perhaps you should shop for what you can afford. The price of butter, sugar, flour, packaging, overheads and all that have gone up massively.

If you can’t afford 20 cupcakes for £55 don’t buy them.

That's £2.75 per cupcake isn't it? It's cheap and that's why they look pretty basic. Pretty cupcakes can cost £5 these days.

Erm ok, blame the op for mumsnet being cautious after the CSA image issues

The issue isn't the price. The OP can afford them.

It's that they're just not very good for £55 and you could find something more exciting in a corner shop.

Could you not have just made some? Piped butter cream like that is really easy. You could have done that for a tenner max including energy costs to bake.