Hi I was asked to do a "Princess castle" cake for about 30 people but I don't know how much to charge. I was looking at some ideas here in the gallery and have seen some great cakes but I reaaly would like some help in princing. If anyone has done a cake like this please give me some advice on what to charge? The cake she wants is half yeelow half chocolate, fresh strawberry filling and buttercream frosting. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.


By the way I called our local very popular bakery and they charge between $75.00 -$95.00 for a castle cake that serves 40 people.

Thanks for your help always
Jackie

Well..That's about what I would charge also...about $75.00.The castle cake are very time consuming and take alot of extras so you wouldn't want to do it for any less.

Charge at least 75.00. I did one for my grandaughter and it is a lot of work. You but a lot of extras and time in to it. I would do it again for my GD. Good luck.

I have made many princess castle cakes in different ways from a single tier to a 4 tier one..

I normally charge £50.00 for a single tier up to about £95.00 for the 4 tier one...

They do take time so charge for it I still dont think it enough cos I always get carried away and do more than I should for the price..For example I am working on an Undersea castle cake..The little gilrs wants the pink castle cake I did for her last year witht eh hollow towers filled with sweets...
Again charging £50.00 but going to town on it only cos I want to practise and I know the little girl..I am doing seaweed, mermaid, fish, seahorses, seashells etc and two tier cake with the mermaid swimming round it..all in lutre colours....see wot I mean....

I think charging minimum for the cake of $75.00 is fine but try and get abit more...it all the work u put into it.....

I feel I never make enougfh to cover my time if I charged for that ...I dont think I would sell any cakes..but I do enjoy time..most of the time

Mine is also a $70- $75 cake. It does take a lot of work and detail.

I'm in the process of making one right now, and let me tell you, they are VERY TIME CONSUMING.,..i'm doing this one for a friend, so i gave her a break...she and her fiancee's sister are getting married this year, so i'll be doing both wedding and shower cakes...anyways, for this castle, it is an 8"square and a 5"square...and i'm charging her $65...but for anyone else i would go $75-$80..maybe even higher...we'll see how long it takes me once i'm done.

so, remember dont jsut take into consideration the # of servings or the amount of cake and filling and bc but account for your time...

I noticed that ''rach1'' put her price in at 50.00 GBP.
That converts to approximately $88.00 USD for her single tier castle.
I think she is right on with her pricing because you do spend a lot of time doing this type of cake.

I agree...and, the price that i give is for a BC cake and fondant towers and other details...but the actual cake is covered in BC

Thanks for all of youir advice, it's great! I have one more question, how do I go about explaining myself or justifying the price on why this cake costs so much or do I have to? I am almost afraid to lose the sale but then again I don't want to short change myself either. When I figuered the price in the pricing matrix I enetred $15. per hours of work and the cake came out to more than $100 so I reluctantly reduced my rate to 7.50 p/hour and it came out to about $77. I guess I am going to ask her for $70-75 and if she takes fine if not she can go to the local bakery and pay $95 for a cake that is not half as detailed.

Thanks again and keep the suggestions coming.

Jackie