The most I've ever charged for a cake was $275 for the pair of graduation cakes shown in my gallery, but I knocked $50 off because it was for my church.
So I'm wondering - what was the most you've charged for the cake, and how big was it?
I got around $400 (can't remember exact total) for the cathedral cake in my photos. For the time it took to decorate, I should have charged a lot more (like in the $600 range).
For a birthday type of cake, I charged $65 for the Wiggles cake - it was a 2 layer 9x13 with colorflow.
Mine totally depends on how big it is, since I have a flat rate per serving.
A cake for 300, when purchased in my cake package, would be invoiced at $1650.
My highest paying cake was my (first and only) Mad Hatter cake...$165. It was my first, and I was afraid to charge more, but I will NEVER do a mad hatter again for less than $250. I charged $3 a serving, and it was 10-8-6 inches.
A few weeks ago, I got $70 for a Colt's football field, 2 layer 11x15.
I pretty much just get excited when I get a TIP, which doesn't happen often enough!
My fall leaf wedding cake was $375.00
My peacock was $150.00 (should have charged double that)
Firetruck went at auction for $400.00
All depends on what you charge. I have a bad habbit of throwing out a figure because when I do the math on what I should charge, it's scary.
my wedding cakes avg $300-400 and my avg birthday cakes run $35-70.....i've been told a lot that i undercharge tho......i'm working on it!
My highest amount for a cake is $6000 about 8 years ago... back then I charged $1.85 per serving. It fed over 3000 people.
My wedding cakes are averaging $700 - $1000. Birthday cakes are averaging $150.
mpc
I make very few cakes yet for sale. Highest price was $100 for the rubber duck cake because it was specialty filling too 10" and 6".
Melissa
My average birthday cake is around $70, and my wedding cakes are an average of $4.50-$5.50 per serving.
Out of curiosity, mypastrychef, how big is a cake that feeds 3000? That's incredible! How long did it take you?
Single layer 11 x 15 Alabama Football cake w/pom poms and a football - $125
The pink handbag with lipstick - $125
Fairy w/dress to match birthday girls dress - $125
Double layer 11 x 15 Cowgirl cake - $150
3 Baby shower cakes for huge shower - $125
$1500 for a lavish wedding cake. And I saw a similar cake recently for $1100 more, which confirmed what I thought -- she got a great deal!
Boy do I feel like the little fish in a HUGE pond. My biggest order was only for $200. Either I need to do more weddings or raise my prices.
Boy do I feel like the little fish in a HUGE pond. My biggest order was only for $200. Either I need to do more weddings or raise my prices.
Trust me - I am so definitely a small fish here too . I'm thankful that my father is an accountant who's spent his life working with small-business clients . He set me up with a lovely spreadsheet to help me figure out costs and such.
My average order is around $700. ( I only do wedding cakes) . My average per person is $5.50.
The highest I've ever charged is $9.25 a person. ( Complicated 3d cake with a major PITA charge)
I am doing my first wedding cake for $200 in July. It feeds about 80, so I thought I was pretty happy with that. Now I think maybe I should have charged a bit more with the cake tasting, consultation, delivering and setting up.... I will know better next time.
Out of curiosity, mypastrychef, how big is a cake that feeds 3000? That's incredible! How long did it take you?
We did it in 2 days. Assembled it on site.
the top tier was an 8" top hat with a wand.
from the top all round 2-layer cakes
10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24x32, 48x48 bottom
It was for the Casino's 3rd birthday party 8 years ago.
Shoot!... today that same cake would cost about 10K
As for prices... I am surprised at how many cakes I have done this year and still have for the rest of the year that are costing $1500-$2000
Many brides want beautiful cakes for their wedding and they understand these nice cakes are not cheap. I also do cheaper cakes but most go for the "WoW FaKtor"! These time consuming cakes are kickin' my booty. I am so exhausted big wedding cakes started in March and we are still going strong.
Sorry I got off subject!
mpc
I have yet to charge for cakes, but my wedding cake (that fed 125 ppl) put us back $1250!
We got married in Las Vegas (where Freed's bakery is) three years ago, but the Paris wouldn't let us bring in outside cakes and their standard fee was $10/slice.
It was lovely though. I found a picture on-line (would love to able to credit someone for it...are you here?) and they made an exact replica.
Wow, I'm not charging enough!! I feel guilty charging more than I do... guess because I'm a penny pincher myself. I get $70 for a 2 layer 12x19, $60 2 layer 11x14, $50 2 layer 9x13.
I'm doing a stacked 3 tier, 12/10/8 for a baby shower (140-150 ppl), and only charged $160.
I'm a small fish. Are these rates some of you are quoting for $5.50 and up for fondant or buttercream cakes? The reason I ask is I have charged $1.50 to $2.00 per slice for buttercream cakes (wedding that is) and people in my area (TX) sometimes gasp...I guess I'm catering the wrong type of people - most of my cakes are for the working class type, someo of you sound more like high-end....maybe I should rethink my strategy, lol.
I'm also pretty timid about fondant - I guess I'm afraid there's too much that could go wrong - too much room for me to goof, lol. But if I were to do a fondant cake I would probably charge $5.00/slice both due to the time and effort and b/c I don't want to do it...lol
I'm a newbie and just learning as I go, so I charged $100 for the castle cake, the lime green/orange/pink cake and the candy & gingerbread man cake in my photos -- could I have gotten away with more? How much?
I always knew that I had a problem with undercharging, but now I feel like it has truly been confirmed. My Butterfly Wedding Cake in my photos was 8, 10 and 14 inch. Raspberry Filling, Delivery and Setup a whopping $205.
And I felt like they were thinking I was overcharging them.
My Cameo Wedding Cake was only $100.
I'm a small fish. Are these rates some of you are quoting for $5.50 and up for fondant or buttercream cakes? The reason I ask is I have charged $1.50 to $2.00 per slice for buttercream cakes (wedding that is) and people in my area (TX) sometimes gasp...I guess I'm catering the wrong type of people - most of my cakes are for the working class type, someo of you sound more like high-end....maybe I should rethink my strategy, lol.
I'm also pretty timid about fondant - I guess I'm afraid there's too much that could go wrong - too much room for me to goof, lol. But if I were to do a fondant cake I would probably charge $5.00/slice both due to the time and effort and b/c I don't want to do it...lol
I think it does depend a LOT on your client base. I live in a suburban area of DC. It is a totally middle class area - some highly educated, some with little edcatuion, but "somehow" the middle income per household for my town is $110,000 a year and for the county (1.25 million people) is $105,000 a year per family. And amazingly, there are a LOT of stay at home moms around here too.
So, people are USED to paying a lot - not because people like to charge a lot because we HAVE to afford being here. A plummer has to charge more because of his rent costs, and his home costs. Therefore, I CANNOT sell a cake for less than $45... and for me to be able to AFFORD to stay at home, I have to charge more because my expenses are higher.... Now I wish I were back in West Des Moines where you can have a nice living and NOT pay through the nose.
Melissa
Sometimes I gasp when I see what some of you make on your cakes! Not that I don't think you're worth every penny and deserve it because you definitetly do, but in my area people just don't pay that for cake. The bakery in the town over that does a good majority of wedding cakes for the area charges a whopping $1.75/slice and she's pretty good. The only bakery in the town I live in also charges $1.75/slice and quite frankly, has very plain and basic designs but that bakery has been in business for generations so they get the repeat business. To my knowledge though, they do not do fondant so i'm hoping to carve myself a bit of a niche there.
Edit - Sorry, don't know why it was all in italics!
My rate is $1.50 per serving ... I couldn't even think about more than that (especially now where I live)! Thankfully, I do not do fresh flowers (that's between the bride and her florist), I cahrge for delievery (and I always deliver wedding cakes), and when I still lived in TX I had some dear friends who would always pay way over normal ... $50-$60 dollars for small 10 inch cakes. I really SHOULD charge more but I love doing this too much to turn someone away! (I had one couple give me a $300 TIP -- over the $200 I charged them ... and I didn't even like the cake!)
Oh my God!!!! talk about small fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm one of those who charge anywhere from $1.50 to $3.00/slice and people sometimes can't believe how expensive it is...
The most expensive I've done is the chocolate wedding cake in my pics. It went for $130 but it was for a friend.
I need to start charging more!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Same goes for MD as in DC, the town I live in is a VERY expencive town and nothing comes cheap around here. My most expencive cake to date would be $35.~ lol I've done alot of freebies and I've done alot of "kick myself for this" cakes and I've decided I'm going to charge what they are worth from now on because I won't make it if I don't lol.
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