Hi all,
I have made this cake for little boy.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2144174
It was chocolate cake with buttercream filling and covered in fondant. I made two 10'' chocolate cakes (each 2'' high)and than halved them. Used three layers. One layer filled with strawberry preserve buttercream, another with cream cheese buttercream, and third with buttercream. Creamcoated with buttercream and covered with fondant to represent Captain America Shield Cake. Total height was 4''.
I would love to hear your opinion on how much would you charge for this cake.
I am new to this and would love to hear what you think.
Thank you in advance.

bemonkey

According to the Wilton charts, it will serve 28 party size or 38 wedding size.

What do you charge per serving, or what is the average cost of a serving in your area? That will give you the best answer.

Rae

Honestly, in my area, that's just a standard 10" fondant covered cake. I'd charge $45-$50.

Our basic 10" BC cake is $54, fondant is $30 extra, and we would probably add another $20 or so for the design, so the total would be $104.

This is based on the costs for our business in CA, which requires a licensed and inspected commercial kitchen in order to legally sell cakes. If selling homemade cakes is legal in your state the price would be considerably lower (probably more in the $60-70 range).

Nice job bemonkey! I'm not sure on your location, but I know in my area, I would charge around $50-$60. You have to remember you also torted your cakes AND filled them. Keep up the great work.

65-70.00, nice job

$45.00 to $50.00. A 10"inch cake would never sell for over a $100.00 in my area. I personally wouldn't pay that much for a 10" cake. Great job I bet he loved it.

Thank you all for responding to my question and for the support. I am amazed that a lot of you would charge around $50 for this cake. As I said I am new to decorating and pricing the cake.
I visited local bakery and they had a similar size cake with not so complicated fondant design for $90. Before I started to make cakes like this for my children I did not have an idea how much work is involved in making one. I would have probably made assumption that $90 is too much to pay for it. Now I see that it is fair price.
How much would you say you are paid per hour as a decorator?

Isn't it crazy how much the difference is in each area? I would be curious how much some charge for the ones I have done too! Bemonkey, your cake is great! Any little guy would love it! I miss those days! My son is driving and 2 of my daughters are all girly girl and my oldest daughter is into gross stuff! As far as the price, $50 is about what I would charge around here and people still cringe. Amazing isn't it?

I don't even want to think about that, because it would be under minimum wage! LOL I'm a one woman shop, making everything by myself, loading my van (sometimes hubby helps) and delivering by myself (sometimes daughter helps, she's only 10!) but There is a lot of time put in that clients don't realize. Covering boards, paperwork, buying supplies. But I do enjoy what I do and I really like setting my own schedule.

I would charge $4/serving. 10' round feeds approx 30ppl. =$120 plus delivery to most areas around me $25.

So, around $145. If they wanted any special flavours I might add $10

Area makes all the difference. I am on the mid-low end in my area.

Thanks inspiredbymom for compliment on my work. I love making children happy. That is how I started making fondant covered cakes for my children.
It is amazing considering the fact that I spent around $20 for ingredients ( I made all from scratch, B.C., fondant , cakes). So if you sell it for $50 that is not leaving you much at all.
Soccermom, wow. That is definition of super women.
Goodiegoddess, that sounds like fair price to me. Good for you.

I would charge my base price for fondant multiplied by the amount of servings. All though a cute cake, it is a very basic design, so I wouldn't up charge for the design. Also, it wouldn't take long to make, another reason why I wouldn't up charge for the design.

I remember when I started making cakes. My first fondant, 2 tier cake was for my duaghters birthday......it was interesting. I think it took me 10+ hours and was a "simple" design.

I could now decorate the cake in less then 3 hrs, but that doesn't mean I should charge less becuase I have become better and faster.

If I have learned anything about pricing cakes is that you have at account for every cost in your final cost to your client. Did you have to order takeout because your kitchen was over run with cakes? Babysitter? hydro? water?........that doesn't not even included the licence fees etc. You want to make money to support your family so I think people really need to look at what it "cost" to make a cake. Not just the flour, butter ($5.99/lb in Canada) and sugar. I think if everyone did this and charged for all of the time and beautful work they put into the cake the cake world would be more fair to everyone.

It's a simple design, so my basic for fondant is $4 x 38 servings = $152 + delivery. I have no problem getting customers to pay that because I offer a very high quality product & service.

I so agree with goodiegoddess. When you go to buy product at store all of their cost is included in price, even though competition plays a big role in pricing. When you believe in your work and respect that is radiated towards your customers so they have the same respect. Some people would never understand and you should accept that. Educate people, because they do not know what is happening behind the scene of making cakes. And than again, some people will understand and some would not even try to understand.
Wish you all can get fair price for all your hard work.
bemonkey

$60.

I so agree with goodiegoddess. When you go to buy product at store all of their cost is included in price, even though competition plays a big role in pricing. When you believe in your work and respect that is radiated towards your customers so they have the same respect. Some people would never understand and you should accept that. Educate people, because they do not know what is happening behind the scene of making cakes. And than again, some people will understand and some would not even try to understand.
Wish you all can get fair price for all your hard work.
bemonkey

Thank you all for your input. You are great.

I have a minimum price of 45.00 and they know it up front. If that is to much then they can go somewhere else. I have a lady who always waits until the last minute to place an order. This time she told me a month in advance but didn't get the design to me until the night before and wanted the cake around noon the next day. I really enjoyed telling her that I couldn't make her cake. I tried to explain that I need time to purchase supplies and a couple of hours just to bake the cakes. Then I needed time to decorate. I swear these people think we bake and decorate a cake in hour hour. To make things worse she always orders Tres leches cakes. I don't usually have all three milks just laying around. Plus she is the one customer that is cheap. She wants something for nothing so I really don't feel bad for saying no.

I agree with everyone about your cake. Good job.To do pricing you need to know your costs. If you are doing things from home like me, you don't have a lot of overhead, so the two biggest things are cost and time. There is a thread that I read about pricing, paying yourself and profit. It is really good. Right now you may just be thinking how to I get paid for something I love, but in the future when you might want to make this a full time job, the info is great.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-694973-pricing.html

My opinion on price would be between 70-90. Also remember, if you quote someone and they reply "All that for just a cake?" Then they aren't your client. We all do good work and deserve to be paid for it. Keep up the good work.

Sweettreat101, some people do think is that simple as one hour job. And it is because they do not have a clue what it takes to make custom cake.
MommieK, thanks for support and the link for the thread.
All the best.
bemonkey