Are your prices the same across the board no matter what type of cake, or do you charge differently for wedding cakes as opposed to birthday/shower cakes?

I'm having a hard time sticking to pricing (yes I know I need to!) so help me out by telling me what you do!

TIA,
Suz

Great question!! I am having the same problem. I have an upcoming wedding in November and I have no idea what to charge. I have been looking online and so far people charge by the slice in wedding cakes. The cake has to serve over 200 guests. So any advice is appreciated!

Well, we charge $3.25 per serving for BC and $4.25 per serving for fondant. We're pretty competitively priced with our competition. However, when you do that for a smaller cake for a b-day or shower it seems like LOTS of money and I'm scared to ask it. That's why I'm wondering if anyone charges less per serving for a "celebration" cake than a wedding cake.

I go by serving...I'm not a pro at pricing...but I start at $2/serving for basic buttercream wedding (not much fancy stuff....but its not like I really get wedding orders anyway, unfortunately) and I go between $3-$4/serving for 3D party cakes. For regular round or sheet cakes I have them priced under $2/serving. I just go pretty much by how much work I think its going to take me.

i was once told to charge $15 per cake mix that you use. that seems to stay around the same price range as Wal-Mart or Krogers. if you do extra to the than what would normally be on it then you can up it some more. as far as a wedding cake i have heard that most people do charge by the slice. they find it is much easier that way.

For wedding I charge by the slice. For other cakes I just price it depending on size and what kind of decorations. I am really bad about prices. So I recently made up a price sheet with all different cake sizes so I have it all written down when people ask. I am so bad about blurting out a price and then kicking myself later when I should have charged so much more. The sheet has helped me not do that as often!

I have a hard time because almost every cake (3D) is different, and I have to guess how long it will take me, and how hard it will be. So I tend to make up a per-serving price off the top of my head by how much of a "pain" I think the cake will be...sometimes I am right, and sometimes I feel I undercharged... its hard to know. I guess as long as the customer is happy and you are happy with what you made that is what counts right!

I had the same dilemma so I got the cake chart off of the wilton web site. It tells you how many slices are in a cake size and I do wedding cakes by the slice. 2.00 for BC 3.00 for fondant. The occasion cakes are different I did some searching and made a totally different price list for those.
Hope this helps.

Kathy R

Kitagirl,

You need to be charging A LOT for all those gorgeous sculpted cakes!!!! I think that you and Amazing Mike could start working together!

If any of you wish to share your price lists, am sure alot of us would appreciate it. Being a beginner with a birthday cake ordered for the end of March (will allwo time to get in more practice), I am curious as to other's pricing. Have seen those serving charts, and the piece sizes seem a little skimpy to me. I can see at a wedding where there is ususally a dessert cart in addition to the cake, but what about everyday birthday cakes and such?

deb

My wedding cake prices start at 2.25 for basic buttercream and basic decorations. I charge 2.50 to add a filling and 3.50 for fondant and then I add more for difficult/detailed decorations.

I will post my price sheet for my other cakes in a little while(need to get my book).

It is a good idea to check around your area for prices that other bakeries charge. It is ok to charge more...but I like to stay close. Some areas you just seem to be able to charge more.

Pricing is a big issue but I am keeping my wedding cakes or tiered cake prices separate from my slab and occasion cake prices it seems to work better as the customers would never pay per slice for an occasion or slab cake for say a birthday party or retirement party etc. Besides I feel those occasion cakes are great advertisement and I don't want to scare anyone away. I am just getting started to so I have had to do a lot of research with my Hubby's help. It is difficult and I want to be fair. I tried other sites but decided to stay with a reputable named site like Wilton which seemed pretty safe to me.
It gives me a little more leverage with customers as I can prove that I didn't pull those figures out of hat or make them up. If I am asked where I got them from I tell them Wilton.
Kathy R