costings please.

[nannycook]

I've been asked by a locsl cafe to bake some cakes, just a trial for know to see how it goes, my worry is, how much to charge as i haven't done anything like that before except sell decorated cakes, any ideas how much to charge for,

1 victoria sponge with jam and cream.
1coffee and walnut.
1 blueberry and lemon drizzle type cake, all 3 cakes are rpund and 8 inch. Suggestions would be good as have no idea please.

You need to work out what it costs for ingredient then factor in time and electricity etc. rather than someone plucking random figures out of the air. Do they sell cake already? If so that will give you an indication of the retail cost which will help you pick a figure to charge so that you can both make a profit.

Sorry that probably wasn't the answer you're looking for but cost would vary depending on your location.

Thank you, well its a busy little town ans their cafe is a busy cafe, its difficult to judge what to charge and yes he does buy in already but he knows i bake cakes for people as he's seen me take them into work as i work 2 shops away from his cafe so he knows what i'm capable off., like he said to me earlier, if i'm too expensive he wont buy them anymore and if i undercharge then i wont bake for him, hard one this!

Has shop owner specified that the cakes need to be 'all butter' as that would affect the price. Stork or similar is half the price of butter. I use Utterly Butterly, buying it when on offer at Lidl and love it for baking cakes.

No he hasnt said anything like that, i always use Flora Buttery, the family pack is around £4 a tub but its been on offer in asda at £2 a pack, i bake alot and now have 8 packs in the fridge at the mo.

He's also asked me to make some gluten free cupcakes in the above flavours, a trial he says as he hasnt done anything like that before, again i have no idea.

I think you need to work backwards so look at how much he charges for a slice of cake in his shop then calculate how much it costs to make it and go somewhere in between.

What kind of phone have you got? I use an app called Cost a Cake Pro, it's a little bit time consuming at the beginning but really good after that.

I cost out the ingredients
Then multiply by 3 , and that gives me the price I charge

Thank you all.
Boobs, got samsung galaxy, would be fab if you could, ta muchly.

But who wants to buy cake that's not made with butter ?

I'd rather pay a but extra for a decent slice than tast that horrible muck.

My cakes are gorgeous and I don't usually use butter - Stork mainly. Butter gives a rather greasy cake for homebaking. M and S Victoria Sponge is all butter - it tastes lovely but is pretty heavy and solid. If you want a lighter cake then not using butter is better IME. Only good butter in the buttercream though.

I agree with Moaning. Butter is best for icing as opposed to in the cakes. I find it makes them heavy and quite greasy. Stork gives a great texture. No idea about coatings, I was wondering the same as I am doing a few Christmas cakes.

Coatings not coatings. Bloody ipad!

Gives up! And the ipad changed gives to gimp - what the actual jeff?

Yep team i did think about all that.

You also need to carry insurance and would be surprised if any bonefide business that would take another producer on without it. As a matter of importance too I would also keep a thorough breakdown of the food chain as you could leave yourself open if you dont show accurate records if there are any issues. Also you should provide the owner with a breakdown of the ingredients used.

I would be very surprised if its worth your while on such a small scale - time you cost up the ingredients, yr hourly rate overheads and transport - you could be making a couple of pounds profit and you have to ask yourself is it worth it especially if you have to pay tax.

Yes bacon, we all know there isnt a huge profit in this type of thing for him either , i'm after more the recognition than anything as his cafe is two shops away from where i work so there no transport involved, also as an opticians where i work i know a vast amount of people who use his cafe and also our shop who know i make cakes, so it works well.

Its only a trial, who knows it may not come to anything. Thanks for your advice though very much appreciated.

I have made a price list for him, and also a list of all ingredients used including the gluten free flour i used in the cupcake samples he asked for.

I dont know who supplies his cake at the moment or why he's asked me, maybe because all my colleagues get their lunch from him and they're always telling him how good my cakes are, who knows and i hope its the latter.

I made the GF cupcakes earlier and was suprised how good they turned out as wasnt sure never used it before, i'm seeing him in the morning with my samples, so will update you both of the outcome.