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

And I would also much rather edible flowers than plastic tat on the top of a cake too.
If rather pay more for better quality

I do understand the time and effort that goes into cake making, but I think you have chosen a bad sample of your work to get ideas on. I think the fondant is neat, but that is about the only positive. The studs are uneven, I just don’t get why anyone would put fake (or real) flowers on top of a cake and the lettering on that base around it but not a part of the cake, looks weird.

I would generally think £60-£80 for a special occasion cake, but this one I wouldn’t want so I can’t put a price on.

Op said 2 layer, which as someone who has made nice cakes before, I don't understand. 2 layer cakes are not that tall.

I took that to mean second layer of icing

That's not how it read. Op said two layer 6" cake. Nothing about icing.

Sorry to point out the harsh reality, but cakes are nice to haves, an optional extra, whereas plumbers and tradespeople are doing what is likely to be essential work.

Saying that people don't understand how much time, effort and resource it takes to make cakes, misses the point. Your market will be made up of people who are willing to pay a price and no more. In my experience of crafts and baking, you never actually get back the value of your labour - that's why so many people try it and quickly realise that it just doesn't pay. It's only when you can mass produce, like M&S and Waitrose do, that you make a marginal profit, but they are able to sell thousands of them, which you obviously won't be set up to do.

Wow these comments! Firstly, it’s a pretty cake OP and I bet your mum loved it. You have a good finish, and you know the board and lettering should be better for a customer rather than a rush job for your mum.

I am a professional cake maker. I charge £85 starting for a 6” buttercream cake (4 layers, about 6” high). Therefore from me this would he £85+flower cost+cost of time making flowers food safe.

Everyone saying they’d expect sugar flowers, you are all waaaaaay off in your pricing. I specialise in sugar flowers, and to cover a 6” cake in flowers that are this realistic, you’d be looking at at least an additional £80, or more depending on the varieties chosen. I charge £25 for a rose, but up to £75 for a full peony (they take 3 hours to make one).

A couple of bits of advice for restarting your business.

1.Offer something different/extra special. There are lots of bakers round me who can whip up a buttercream drip cake, and so the market is saturated with them and people can find one for £40-£60. I’d charge £90 starting for the same thing, so rarely pick up these orders, but that’s fine because tbh I have no interest in making them. I’m a highly skilled sugar crafter. I’ve honed my modelling and fondant skills and make really high quality bespoke novelty cakes and elaborate sugar flower wedding cakes. The ‘hobby’ bakers round me just can’t compete with that skill, so I can charge what I like. It’s the only way to survive as far as I can see it.

1. Once you’ve got a niche, price high. It will weed out all the people who don’t understand how much a cake is worth. Plus I’d rather make one cake that I’m paid properly for than 3 where I’m slaving away for less than minimum wage. I am not a busy fool.

3.Invest some time in building a high quality website. It will set you apart from the bakers who just exist on Facebook and will give you a much more professional edge and help you achieve a higher price point.

4.Give it time. Getting a wealthy client base takes time and patience. Stick to your pricing model and be prepared to turn custom away. Once you get a few good clients who pay what you want and who love your product, the power of word of mouth is incredible. Combine that with solid social media presence and a great website.

As I said before, your cake is pretty, but you can see from the comments here that people struggle to see the value in a cake of this style because the market is saturated with buttercream cakes like this and the ‘hobby’ level, and it’s not miles different from something you could get from a bakery for £30-£40. So a shift in the style you offer should make a big difference. Best of luck!

I don't think it's that people don't understand the time, effort, and costs that go into making a cake.

Just that it's a lot of money for a cake, when most people aren't arsed about having bespoke cakes for special occasions, and most people are quite happy with supermarket ones, as it's a very small part of a birthday celebration. To people who place more importance on having a very nice cake for a celebration, they're the type of people who will pay those prices.

We're in a cost-of-living crisis. Bespoke cakes are a luxury item. That's really all there is to it. I'd be livid if my partner spend over £50 for a cake for me, because he knows I'm happy with supermarket ones and I wouldn't properly appreciate a bespoke cake.

I do know how long it takes to make a bespoke, nice cake. I've made rather intricate cakes before, and it's exhausting. Have to say though, at no point has it taken me 11 hours, even when I handmade different edible animals and painted them with the dye etc. And I'm not an experienced cake maker, I just do it now and again. So I really think you need to look at streamlining your time and costs wherever possible. I can understand it taking an hour to wash up, sanitize properly etc (it's more stringent for businesses than just making them at home now and again).

However, I'm genuinely seriously struggling to see how mixing any cake batter takes an hour, on a cake of this size. It's not about 'not throwing it together' because it won't come with the right texture, an hour is too long imo. Takes me far less time to hand-whisk perfect meringues. But I only do it as a slight hobby, not a business.

In any case. It's a niche business. Those who want very fancy, bespoke cakes will pay the going rate, those who don't, won't. IF I really wanted a bespoke cake, and had the money/was willing to pay a decent amount of money for it, I'm sorry to say I wouldn't pay the £70 you quoted with that lettering and no edible icing though, unfortunately. It's a nice cake, very neatly done with the icing, but isn't it a difficult one.

Everyone saying they’d expect sugar flowers, you are all waaaaaay off in your pricing. I specialise in sugar flowers, and to cover a 6” cake in flowers that are this realistic, you’d be looking at at least an additional £80, or more depending on the varieties chosen. I charge £25 for a rose, but up to £75 for a full peony (they take 3 hours to make one).

Less is more and all that. This cake is covered with artificial flowers where less 'real' flowers would have made it much better and more Lilly to attract a higher price

I order cakes all the time. Depending on which part of the country and where the baker wishes to place themselves int eh market, this will usually be about £70 to £120.

I once paid £45 for a cake

Not as pretty as that one. It's hard to tell the size

£50-£60?

An HOUR to mix cake batter? 30 minutes to mkae a buttercream? 3 x 20 minutes washing up? You can't be serious.

An HOUR to mix cake batter? 30 minutes to mkae a buttercream? 3 x 20 minutes washing up? You can't be serious.*

I too was very confused about this. The only explanation I could imagine is with it being a multi tier - the op made them one by one instead of doubling/ tripling the recipe! 😂