Those who sell cakes - how much would you charge for a cake like this?

[blueberryboybait]

I have just quoted someone who wants on in 13" x 9" and about 4" high. She want the name and age in Lego lettering not just 'boring' standard letters. Ideas on charging? I thought £50ish but not sure as there are a heap of people locally now making cakes and undercutting me hugely (a 9" round cake with flowers and teddy/person for £15 kind of thing) but this is work for me not just a hobby.

I dont sell cakes but I would have thought about £45-£50.

Some of the cakes I see being sold for pennies on fb are just ridiculous. I camt see how anyone makes any money the prices some of them charge.

I do sell cakes and I agree 45 sounds about right.

Whhhaaattt??? I sell cakes/worked in a cake shop for ages and would sell for about £100.00! At least! In London though...would £45 even cover the costs??

I wouldn't pay 100 for a cake like that, I'm in south Wales so I guess London prices are different.

Perhaps calculate cost of ingredients, boards, sugar paste, calculate how long it will take you to make it, and decide how much you want to make an hour.
Example

Costs to make

£10.00

3 hours to make at £7.00 /hr (or whatever number you want to work to)

£21.00
So in total you should charge £31.00

Or the ingredients should be 30% of your overall charge.

I have worked it out at with ingredients, 5.5 hours in all @£6.50 an hour and it worked out at about £52.00. So 50 wasn't far off, she has replied that he isn't worth a £50 cake and she could buy 3 from the supermarket for that price. I guess that sorts that!

I was going to say that I don't sell cakes but I have bought a few ... £50 sounds about right for a "mates rates" deal, up to £75 wouldn't be unusual around here (London)

I was going to say £50
I regularly come across the I could get one for £10 at asda brigade.

Good on them.. go to asda.. I don't really mind.
I can not put quality ingredients in the basic cake for that.
I have no intention of competing with Asda.

You have done the right thing. the person isn't being realistic about costs.

50 is standard rate. You get this all the time. My sister makes them.

Some people don't wanna pay more than supermarket prices yet want a unique cake!

Just checked my sisters cakes, £40 for a much more detailed Lego cake.

I just paid £25 for a similar cake from a local business on fb......although I know people do charge 50-60, personally I would never be prepared to pay more than 20-30£ as no one on our house are cake eaters we just buy them for the show/candles etc......but I know I'm in the minority and £50+ is more the norm

Blueberry, that sounds about right, people enquire, then get frightened when you give them the cost, My motto is, Good cake isn't cheap, and cheap cake isn't good, if you want Asda price then'm afraid you'll get the quality to go with it. Hold your head up high.

I had this with a family member recently. She didnt want to pay the cost of ingredients for 60 cupcakes. I wasnt charging for my time or electricity etc. She wanted them decorated and boxed for £20. Madness!

People don't seem to realise how much it all costs, the time to make and decorate and so on. If you want to earn minimum wage for your time and cover ingredients then you're looking at around 45-50. People who appreciate quality will pay it, everyone else can go down Asda and get something cheap and sugary

Thanks all. I was starting to wonder if I was just being greedy! I only use free range eggs, golden caster sugar, branded flour and butter not stork. So the costs do add up especially with the cost of ingredients rising fast.

Your work looks high quality from the photo. Don't sell yourself short.

I know I've undercharged massively for this birdcage due on Wed but as I hadn't made anything like this before I wasn't sure how much to charge, I had already told her £35.00 as its for m daughters best friend, already getting stressed about it and I don't know why, guess its because its different. This is my 5th cake in two weeks and I'm all caked out now.

£6.50 an hour is less than minimum wage isn't it? Don't under value your time! Plus, a 13" x 9" cake is pretty huge, over 50 large portions. You'd pay £1.50-£3.00 for a slice of cake in a cafe and that wouldn't be decorated. I've seen your cakes and they're excellent!

If people are stupid enough to charge £15 for a cake when that doesn't even cover their costs (unless they're not registered/insured etc, then that's their problem. The people do this rarely turn out decent work anyway.

Personally, I think £50-£55 is cheap for the cake you describe. Im not a business yet and only charge 'mates rates' and I wouldn't charge much less than that.

As for the 'I can get 3 cakes for that in Asda'. Well, maybe, but they're not like for like, are they? The cake from asda will be 2" deep, mass produced, won't have a message or the child's name on it. IMO, they taste dreadful too and have too much icing and not enough cake. Just like you don't expect an off the peg wedding dress from BHS or Monsoon to cost the same as a bespoke, made to measure designer dress, a cake from Asda doesn't cost the same as a freshly baked bespoke cake.