how much should i charge a friend of mine that asked me to do a 3d aliend head for her son's b-day. or should i charge anything at all cause she is my friend? so far i have put about $25 of my own into it. it's going to be a total of 4 dh cake mixes.

If it's a [u]good[u] friend I would make the cake for nothing. It would be there gift.
But you have already spent a lot of $$$ on the cake already
I always have "friends" asking me to make cakes and they think because I can get a box of cake mix for .89 they cake pay costco prices for my cakes.
Don't sell your self short your self short. You are your business. And you don't want friends to take advantage of you. Because they will if you keep making cheap or free cakes for them.

Most of my cakes have been for friends. Some i have done for free but then i started asking them to pay for ingrediants only. They still got a great deal.

I would think that if you are getting the child a birthday present your friend should at least be charged the cost of the cake. Am sure she knows you will do a wonderful job and it will be alot better tasting than anything she would pay thru the nose for at a store.

Pricing seems to be a problem all around for everyone. I will be doing my first paid cake the end of the month - will be a 9" birthday cake. Depending on what site you go to, the servings for this cake range from 12-18. I can't imagine charging per serving at this point and am hoping $25 for this cake (bc, torted, decorated with a few roses) will not seem too much for my friend.

deb

Depends on how good of a friend. Some I have done for free, some for the cost of ingredients. My price for a sculpted cake STARTS at $40.00. Sometimes if it is the first time I made that style, I do give a discount. This way I can practice it and then set my permanent price, because I don't really know how long it will take.

I've struggled with the subject of charging friends ... but my partner put it best when she said that ... if they don't buy it from me they'll buy it somewhere else ...anyway if they are asking you first they prefer your cakes right??