How much would you pay for this cake?

[Frustratedandpissedoff]

Tried a bun from an independent cake shop recently and asked the baker how much it would be to be made into a birthday cake.
She said for 25cm diameter, it would be £30. The toppings are cream and blueberries, nothing fancy at all, just a regular sponge cake. I'm not really planning to spend £30 for a cake when it isn't a big birthday, so I just politely said it's a bit over budget but thanks for the quote.
She came back and asked what my budget is, and she can make it smaller. However I think it would be a bit too small then and if I'm honest, I'm thinking of just going into Sainsbury's and buying one for £10-£15 as usual lol.
What does everyone else think?

That’s extremely cheap for a cake. Do you expect them to provide their labour for free?

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Cakes are anywhere from £35 to £60 depending on size and fillings for a standard nice looking not but fancy cake.

Once you start requesting custom stuff the price shoots up.

Supermarket cake is like eating an over sweet dish sponge so I'd happily drop the extra £15 to get a nice one. It would cost you £15-£20 just to make it yourself.

It’s a bargain ! Make it yourself and cost out the ingredients , energy cost and time at minimum wage and you’ll see that

Supermarket cakes last longer as they are full of preservatives and you can taste them , plus palm oil etc

I also think £30 is cheap.

One of my friends once went into a cake business. She carefully priced up ingredient and energy costs, transportation costs, etc, and here own time (more like minimum wage than anything extravagant).

What she didn't include in the price is the cost of experimenting and failure. Cakes have to be perfect, so if there is a little dip in the middle, your own family is going to eat it rather than it being sold. This needs to be priced in.

Honestly, for what you are specifying, make your own. You will save money even if you need to buy the right sized cake pans.

I made DS's wedding cake, which include a couple of trial runs and new cake pans and decorating equipment, and the cost was very little compared to commissioning something from a supplier. And I still have all the kit.

Fair enough price, I don't think its expensive at all

However, I would not spend that on a cake...its just not a priority for me so I would never get a cake from a baker/independent cake maker as although I think these people are amazingly talented (some cakes are fantastic!) its not something I would spend that money on

Thanks for the replies, I understand now that I underestimated the price of a custom cake and I should have taken into account the costs of running a small business. I've thought about it and while I would like to buy the cake and support her, with me being out of work atm and Christmas and a wedding coming up, I genuinely cannot afford to drop £30 as every penny counts. I am a bit embarrassed about telling her this but hey ho. In the future I will value bakers' work more.

Well I charge £45 for what you describe, my celebration cakes start at £75. It's a skill and my time alone is well above minimum wage plus costs, and bakers do need to make a profit.

You cannot compare a factory mass produced supermarket cake with a bespoke product from an independent Baker. If you don't want to pay it, that's fine, but it doesn't mean it's overpriced

I’m curious to size and cost of the original? Lucky to get it under £3 where I am. So even just multiplying that out by number of people eating for a 10” cake it’d be pretty high. If you do go for a supermarket cake I had a lovely raspberry and lemon cake from the co-op that wasn’t too sweet. Fed ten for under £8.