What would you charge for this cake?

[bustedwomb]

Ok, so I do a fair about of cakes from home and I feel I am very good at it. The problem is I never seem to charge the right price. My DH always says why do you bother, you are working for 8-12 odd hours on a cake and not even making minimum wage. I have just had two more requests for cakes this week. Both buttercream and one of them is two tiered (I've attached a pic) the other one is the very popular unicorn head with the horn sticking out and rosettes for the hair. You know the kind, I've done about five of them so far.
So please tell me what I should be charging for each of these cakes.
I use quality ingredients and I work very hard on them. DH says if they don't like the price then they can go elsewhere and I must stop undercutting myself on all my cakes.
Thanks guys! 👍🏻

I recently had a significant birthday to order a cake for and most ppl were charging £100 or thereabouts (N London).

80-100 quid

See i wouldn't pay more than £20 for a cake so probably not the best advice but i would expect to pay at least £80 for the 2 tier cake and £50 -£65 for the unicorn one. you should be charging at least £20 above the ingredient cost, and feel free to send them the invoice of what the ingrediant costs and then say + £20 Labour ... i'm sure then they wont be complaining.

tbh I woudn't buy a cake from a home kitchen baker unless valid business with registration, insurance and food safety certificate.
but if you do, you would need to calculate the cost accordingly. all costs, incl electricity&insurance and time (xmin wage at least).

20 quid for 8 hour’s work? Seriously?

I paid £120 for a two tier cake similar to the first and £70 for something similar to the second for a birthday cake

I'm sister paid £50 for a unicorn cake recently. I'm in Glasgow

Our local bakers would charge about £70 for 10" unicorn.

The 2 tier one would be about £90.

They advertise a rate based on size of cake and then a bit extra for 2d decoration (like your 2 tier) and lots extra for any 3d decoration. Fondant figures are £10 each for example. They have a book with photos of cakes and their prices so people can see how it adds up.

Still seems not a lot based on an hourly rate but I think they benefit from multiple orders each week so can be e.g decorating one cake whilst another is in the oven.

There’s a lady near me (southwest) who makes and sells cakes(all legit and registered etc) and she would sell the unicorn one for about £60 and the two teir probably approx £85

I’m in Scotland - £45 near me but I’d say at least £60.

I wouldn’t include shopping time in the costs to be honest.

“I wouldn’t include shopping time in the costs to be honest.”

Why not?

The cakes look very well done, and it sounds like you are undercharging.
It looks like an impossible equation, to pay yourself enough would make the cake unaffordable.
This is an eye opener for me, do b people seriously pay £100 for a cake? In my works cake are something my daughter knocks up in the kitchen even it's someone birthday. If they cost £10 or take more than an hour or two I'd be surprised. Everyone seems to like them.

It’s the usual problem for people trying to make any sort of living from making stuff. I make a profit from wedding cakes because people are prepared to pay decent money for them. Birthday cakes are a problem, particularly because you can buy decent ones from supermarkets now for a tenner, so why would you spend more. I very rarely do children’s birthdays any more. I do some grown ups ones where they want quite simple decorations but really good cake. Once you’re spending more than an hour on decorating it’s very hard indeed to make any money, unless you’re lucky enough got get a commission for a one off for an event.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Very helpful for me. I charged £90 for the two tier one and the customer was happy to pay that. I charged £60 for a 9" unicorn. I guess it's always difficult to price up what you value your time and skill.
I need to work faster I think so they don't take quite as much time and therefore I don't feel like I've worked for a pittance. The cakes in the supermarket have really improved over the years in their designs but they still taste like shit to me and I will often tell people to buy a cake from a supermarket for £10 if they want, but it has a shelf life of 3+ weeks so will be full of preservatives. Or they can get a giant sheet cake from Costco if they like frosting that's been scooped from a 10ltr bucket! The choice is always theirs.
Thanks again everyone 😊

I’ve just paid £45 for a single tier vanilla sponge with buttercream icing and a gold 1 for dd’s First birthday. And £15 for a personalised cake topper. So I would expect to pay around the £60+ mark for the unicorn and upwards of £100 for the 2 tier cake.