To think this isn't great for £55?

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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’d have thought that was about right which is why I wouldn’t have bought them.

If you don’t value their time, then you shouldn’t be buying hand made cupcakes.

I rarely buy cupcakes, I just make an exception for Lola’s. At £4 a cupcake, it’s a rare treat.

Just to give you an idea, those Lola cupcakes in regular size (same size as you got) would be 71 GBP for 18!

I don’t think there is anything wrong with them - they’re pretty - but they’re not anything amazing . They look similar to the ones you can buy in Asda .

But , I bet they taste a lot nicer!

Maybe you are paying for the, ‘homemade’ look aimed at busy mums.

I was about to come on and say this. It does sound like a lot but baking is very expensive. I would have just bought from the supermarket to be honest and splash out on a lovely birthday cake for the family as a treat.

This is the problem with baking. A fiver would buy you the butter you need to make them. One ingredient. Then you need the rest of the ingredients, and the wages for the person making them, and the electricity/gas to cook them, and the rent for the place you’re selling them from. And presumably a profit for whoever’s running the operation.

that's interesting as a theory, i hadn't thought of it. i won't be going back, regardless. thanks

Well exactly… A dozen eggs, 2 or 3 packs of butter, flour, sugar, icing sugar and you’re at around £12 ~ £15 of ingredients for 55 cup cakes. An hour of labour even at minimum wage is another £16 or so cost to the business. And yes, they don’t take an hour to prepare, but by the time they’ve cooked and been iced you’re in for an hour at least. So that’s £30iah before any energy or overheads or packaging. Never mind any actual profit. You’re lucky cakes aren’t vat’able!

They’re a business…I’m not sure how they could do them for less and make any money. Sure, mass produced UPF cupcakes from Tesco are a lot less…but quality wise and ethically they are not comparable. Now, I agree that the kids wouldn’t have noticed the difference - so it comes down to who the audience is. The children or the parents…?

I think they look gorgeous and for reference seems about what we'd pay here in Vancouver, Canada.
pics:
Cadeaux Bakery
Oh, Sweet Day
True Confections

come on now, you couldn't even get the butter for that!

I don’t think for a shop that’s a terrible price. My friend bakes cakes to sell- very similar. She only charges me the cost. I pay £10 for 6. & always happy to do so because i cannot cook/bake/create to save my life!

I'd never pay £2.75 for a cupcake anyway. I'm not sure what you expected?

The Lola cupcakes are £3.95.

Well yes, I wouldn’t. I’m not saying the baker didn’t earn their £55, I’m saying their time is more valuable than the product they have created. Handmade cupcakes are a waste of labour and effort.

I know it’s slightly off topic but can I clarify you ordered these cupcakes to hand out to your kid’s classmates at the end of the school day on her birthday? So not like at a party or anything? Is that not insane? It annoys me enough as it is that my kids come out of school every second day with a bag of Haribo cause it was so and so’s birthday. Imagine it was a massive sugary cupcake every time?! Where’s the need?

To be honest if you're going to order and pay for something without a clue what it looks like then more fool you. "Look at our social media" is a cue to run a mile as far as I'm concerned. I want to see what I'm buying when I walk into the shop without having to open up my phone.

I think they look fine. I hope they taste nice.

The cupcakes look perfectly fine. I would have bought them from Waitrose, they do fab chocolate cupcakes. £2.80 for 4 of them. Taste fab! We bought these- https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-chocolate-cupcakes/721337-382132-382133?srsltid=AfmBOopV14eWF6AXL4mipQ3tD6z0hwB901pnT26ttDJO8nfdFmuHV7T6

for my daughter’s birthday for the entire class for their party bags and packed them in individual cupcake cases we bought from amazon. We cut and served the birthday cake at the party to all the kids and their parents. Was a huge hit! I think it is the least parents deserve after having to hang around at a kids party on a weekend.

Hmmm, I was quoted something similar once. I ended up buying some from waitrose, which I think worked out a £1 each. Which I felt was more reasonable.

You could have made those yourself!

I think they look really nice, nicer than the Lolas ones. It's £3.50 for a basic cupcake in my local bakery (NW England) so I also think the pricing is reasonable. For a 6yr old party I definitely would have bought supermarket/costco cupcakes for party bags though

But the above cupcakes would have cost you £237... And genuinely don't look that much fancier than what you bought.

This annoys me so much too, it’s not about the kids it’s this modern obsession for parents to make themselves feel happy by being extra for kids who don’t need it!!

Pop up cake stand in a busy London railway station 4 fairy cakes with a dollop of icing for £9 and people buy them