How much would you pay for this cake?

[Younganddumb]

The header is pretty self explanatory 😂 I made a cake yesterday and was wondering how much you guys would pay? I tried my hand at a baking business just after having my son, the orders were rolling in but I wasn't charging enough so wasn't really making any profit. Looking to start it back up but want to know how much you'd pay? Tia

I haven't read the full thread but I am shocked at how nasty and overly critical some people can be. I just don't see the need. It may not be your thing but no need to be out and out rude. I think it looks great OP!!

I wouldn’t pay over £50 purely because of the fake flowers. I would pay more for hand piped or sugarpaste flowers however and the lettering is messy.
The problem is there are loads of people who can make cakes that are ‘quite good’ myself included. Cake making has always been a really tough business to make any real money in speaking from experience. People just don’t want to pay what it actually costs in time and ingredients to make it worth while.

If it was sugar craft flowers it would be min £80 round here. With those flowers. Maybe £40

It's fine for family but the smooth icing is the only thing that's done well enough to sell. The studs look tacky as do the flowers and the letters are wonky. I would pay £25 to cover ingredients. For a quality cake that size I would pay £60-£80.

I bought a multilayer Larkin cake of a similar style for a 70th recently. It was lemon with lemon buttercream and I was £75.

£3 per portion

My instinct was to say £45.00. More than I would ever pay for a mass produced one but acceptable for a not too complicated handmade one. It’s very nice but I would probably make some flowers myself from edible modelling paste (plenty of YouTube tutorials) and have better lettering but other than that well done and good luck!

Our local cake maker charges £65 for a larger cake (you can choose from a variety of flavours and fillings) with handmade iced decorations. So based on that I’d say £40-45.

I think it looks brilliant. I'd happily pay about £100 and think it was good value. You need to account for your time too and it must have taken hours.

It's beautiful OP but handmade and decorated cakes are an incredibly difficult area to make any sort of profit in. You're absolutely right that most people just don't know how much the ingredients cost and how long it takes.

To cover costs and pay for your time, it's at least £100, which is more than lots of people are prepared to pay for a cake, however gorgeous and handcrafted.

I'm one of those unfortunately, but wish you well with you business!

To be fair, a birthday cake is not meant to feed you.
It is meant to be cut small just enough for a couple of mouthfuls not a huge big wedge with cream and custard.

So birthday cakes of a similar finish from our local cake shop are around £70 for an 8 inch cake.

It's not comparable to calling a plumber though. I'd have to call a plumber. I can't do plumbing myself and I can't buy a cheap plumber.

With cakes I can make a decent cake and I can make it look nice if I choose a simple design or I can buy a cake from a supermarket for much less than I could pay someone to make it.

The fact that it takes time and the fact that the ingredients are expensive don't necessarily equate to the product being worth a particular amount.

I used to have a cake business and was very busy but there's no way I'd start it again now. Ingredients and electricity are just too expensive. The price of butter especially makes my eyes burn and people round here would just not pay what I'd have to charge to make a decent hourly rate. If I did exclusively weddings and lots of (expensive) sugar flowers it might be feasible but there's just not enough money in birthday cakes.

£50. The cake looks lovely x

Locally that would cost about £80. I'm a hobby baker so always take an interest in costs!

When was this decreed? If I'm eating cake I want a slice of cake! I don't want a couple of mouthfuls, what's the point in that?

It's been years since I bought handmade cake so won't be able to help with cost, but I know how these threads go, so I just wanted to say it looks beautiful and you're really talented.

I think that looks amazing. Around me in London it would be £80 at least. In north where I'm from probably £65

I think it's a lovely cake op, you always get twats like this on here.

Beautiful buttercream finish, OP! Really sharp.

It is a tall cake - I’m guessing 4 or 5 layers? - so will feed many more people than a standard 2 layer sponge cake, and it was done with little notice. I think you should be very chuffed with it and I’m sure your Mum was delighted.

To the PP talking about marzipan and fondant - naked cakes and buttercream cakes have been fashionable for some years now. Marzipan and fondant are more traditional, less on trend. And poor old Royal Icing is rarer still.

(which is a shame as marzipan is delicious)

£50 at the maximum. We paid £100 for a wedding cake twice as big as that, and honestly, much nicer

Surely the best way to find out the going rate it to message a few local cake makers to see what they are Charging?

£50 without the letters

Its really lovely, well done.

Except a plumber is essential 🤦