I don't really know anything about cake prices.But your cakes are beautiful and worth alot more than $15.00.

Let me have your #--I'll order cakes from you--they are gorgeous but as the others have posted--you HAVE to charge more. You are very talented. I paid $35 for 1/4 sheet cake 5yrs ago and it was very basic. And I tipped. Yours are much more intricate.

omg! your cakes are so pretty and your flowers ae amazing!!! they are definitely worth more than $15!

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I want to note that my friend is a very sweet person, and I dont think she is intentionally trying to take advantage of me. I just dont think non cakey people realize how much time and effort goes into the cake. Not to mention the little extras, like better ingredients, cake boards, foil etc.

I saw her this morning and she said that the cake was really good and everyone enjoyed it. I didnt bring anything up then. I hope that maybe she wont have a need for me to make a cake for awhile, and maybe by then I will get a little busier and maybe I will have a little price list or website going. I think maybe it will be a little easier for me to ask for more money if it seems like I have a little business going!

How about saying something like "You know, the other day I got to figuring up how much my ingredients & such were for this.....Can you believe I'm only getting $x.xx/hr for decorating & baking these." If it was me I'd exaggerate the hourly part a bit....LOL something under a dollar, which may actually be accurate.

That could be a good lead-in to discussing a making or giving a price list.

Maybe that would help.

Tim

If you get busy with other cakes, you could always casually mention that someone else paid $x for a cake just like hers! It may make her realize what your time, and cakes are worth!!!

I tried working in sales once and while I was terrible at it - I remember in the training how they said to state the price and then shut-up.... don't say why it costs this much or well we could do payment plans, etc. - just wait for the other person to make the next move.... even if the silence is uncomfortable. Maybe we should try that when we give our cake prices - no trying to explain it or explain ourselves or anything - just here's hte price - and shut-up. Sometimes we do more harm to ourselves when we keep talking!

Imartsy, I think you are absolutely right. We shouldnt say stuff like this cake is $x....Is that okay? It gives the impression that you would be willing to take less, or it is not worth as much as you stated. The last cake I sold I told her the price with conviction, but only because I know they have the cash and also because then I told her I would give her a discount because her husband took my husband out on their fishing boat in Lake Michigan a few times, which isnt cheap...for gas etc. But at least she will know how much it costs for next time. Plus it gave me practice sounding confident that my time and effort was worth that much. I am just going to have a much harder time telling my other friend that she needs to pay more from now on. I am not looking forward to it.

When I first started, cakes were free but now after just selling a few, I realize I can't do that anymore and friends are the worst! A girlfriend wants me to make a purse cake 'cause "I need the practice" for this weekend and I've been dying to try one anyway. She is only paying me for the ingredients, her suggestion, and I don't know how to tell her that this cake is time consuming and worth more than that! So of course, I'm going to have to suck it up!! I've lost cake orders, because I charge $2 per serving firm and they thought it was too much! They should live in NY!!! Geez!!

Just charge her for the ingredients plus oven time etc. Also once you add up the cost of the colourings, lustre dust, tylo powder etc it does cost a lot more than you think for.

I know nothing about pricing but have to say your cakes are beautiful!

Okay so heres an update! My friend has been talking about different cakes she is going to need and I couldnt muster up the courage to tell her I needed to be paid more. Then yesterday she says her mom called and asked if I could do a cake for saturday, explaining that she knew it was short notice and I shouldnt feel bad if I couldnt. Now I am starting to get sort of busy I just dont want to put in so much effort for $15. So I blurted out "Well I could do it, but I just cant do it for $15 anymore." She was totally understanding and I told her i am now selling that size for $30 and I would be happy to still give her and family a discount. I said why doesnt she ask her mom if she still wants it first. She called and said she did. I feel better finally getting this off my chest, but I feel badly still. I think I could have said things better than the way I did. I was nervous so I said too much like going into how much it costs to make the cake and the time...blah blah. I should have just left it " I charge 30 but I will give a discount. Oh well.

I think that you did fine! You needed to raise the price, and in whatever manner you were able to get that point across, the friend accepted the price. I still think she had known all along that she was getting it far to cheaply, this shows she KNEW you were worth the money...she wasn't just using you to get a cheap cake!

you just cut your own throat.you asked for more money and they aggreed..so WHY in the world did you turn around and say you would give them a discount?

You're going to be right back in the same frame of mind.

What are you going to give them ? 5 bucks off? Is that 5 bucks going to hurt them or hurt you in the long run????

I would if you cant tell her face to face, at first type up a flyer. When you give her the cake she is picking up, I would also hand her the flyers kind of like...Oh, I almost forgot, everyone that has ordered a cake is getting one of these. Sorry for the inconvience but with family, and expensies...Its a must. On it I would put something like Due to the high cost of ingredients, and time spent away from the family...I must increase the price of my cakes. I know that you as my friends you all understand. But you must remember, not only are you getting good quality work and cakes, your also getting cakes at the last minute without having to go into a store and order one, and also a more personal cake to your likings. My cakes are bakes fresh, and staright to you.
Do you know that Walmart, Sams, and other groceries store, since they have high volume bake in quanities, so they freeze there cakes, making them not so fresh direct to you. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again I hope that you continue to order from me...Prices become affective immediately. Please be fair to myself and my family...as this takes time away from them when you order at the last minute. Anywho, something along those lines...it basically covers alot of things.

There is ONE line and ONE line only that covers the fluctuation of prices...



PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE!

lol

I have not read all the post so forgive me! I think that we create oue own monsters. I charge cost for Sisters and and such. For other family and friends I charge 30% off of the original price. This is quite fair because I know that they cannot get a cake like mine for any less. I even have a cousin who pays me a lot more than she should!

I have actually broken down the cost on a sheet to show them how much it really cost.

I have had this same problem. I use my husband as an excuse, and he doesn't mind at all. It causes problems in our family when I am doing a cake for pennies. I know that some people truly have no idea how much time and expense goes into a cake, but a friend would know the toll that it takes on a family if you talk about it to her at all. If she can still in good conscience hand over $15 for a cake that looks like that without even offering any sort of tip, then I would probably back off of that friendship. I don't have patience for people like that. And the mom should not take you up on the offer of a discount.

I've been cutting myself badly lol. It's been brought to my attention my prices were incrediably low so I hiked them up some. The one thing I was told was don't under price the grocery stores in your area. Your cakes are much better then they will get elsewhere and if they want it bad enough they'll pay it. Your cakes are well worth whatever you feel you should charge. I'd pay $30.~ for those cakes if not more. They are beautiful.

Now if it's family, I'd give a small discount maybe 10% off list price it's still better then what they'd get at the grocery stores and looks better and tastes better. Now I messed up big time! With hubby's exwife I charged her $50.~ for the 4 cakes I made for my step daughter... (in my photos) I could've easily gotten $100.~ for those 4 cakes if not more. I've started charging family and close friends for supplies price only, basically I buy a pack of cake boards, the pans if needed, the mixes or ingredients, the icing ingredients, and the boxes and I charge them for what I've put out plus about $5.~ or so extra. The way I see it is I can charge each person/time for that whole pack of cake boards and whole pack of boxes even though I'm only using 2 per cake.... It works out that I make a little bit but not much so now I've increased my prices and will be making a new price list to show if they ask for prices.

I think the best way to do it is the next cake she orders tell her very plainly and very bluntly "The cost for that will be $45.~ for delivery by Sunday" and if it's even shorter notice say she tells you on friday "I need a cake for Sunday can you please help" reply with "Of course I can, the cost for such will be $55.~" Now you know she isn't going to go anywhere and find a cake anywhere close to being similar to yours and she'll pay it if she needs it bad enough. And if she doesn't to hell with her lol. You're worth it and so are your cakes!

okay and I am going to try and work on being more confident. I know I do a good job and deserve a fair price for my time and skills. I like the way that some of you are really confident but fair. Baby steps...baby steps!

Yes sweetie babysteps in deed. Take it slow and if you have to blame it on your husband lmao we all do at least at one point in time and it works

My philosophy is:

If they want cheap - they can go to Safeway or Wal-Mart.

If they want quality - they come to us.

We create "custom designed" cakes. Period. They can get the "cookie cutter" type anywhere.

I was selling myself short too, then I realized, it was actually COSTING me money to provide a cake for someone's special event. One, of which, I was not invited. Not counting all the hours I put into it and not get paid for one.

Finally, I asked myself - Am I in this to make money or is it just a hobby? I had to answer it truthfully. Although I LOVE creating cakes, I still want it to make money for me.

Bottom Line: The higher my prices got - the more people wanted to order from me. Go figure!

So do you think it would be a good idea to start giving out a list of flavors/fillings, cake sizes/serving sizes and prices with the orders? Then that way they would know approximately how much the cost would be when they call? A friend who I just made one for had requested a price list from me. I havent made anything up, just some scribbles to myself as to how much I thought I would sell things for. I was a little afraid of going overboard since I am not a legal business or anything.

I think a price list would be ok, but make sure they know that the prices can go up if they want extras. I think you could easily get more than $30 for those other cakes too! You are taking time away from your family to do these, and it's not worth it to do it for free. I have three kids and have to stay up late decorating cakes and it can be very tiring after a full day with the kids. Plus, my baby might wake up 2-4 times just while I'm trying to do a cake!!

That said I still have a hard time with prices. I charged my friend $100 for my VW beetle cake and she told me that I needed to DRASTICALLY raise my prices. LOL

You will figure it out eventually. Good luck!
~Courtney

Wow..this is a good thread.
I have been doing cakes for money for years...but really gotten serious in the last 2 years.
You need to set a base price.
Like here....I do a 9x13 with just white icing and trim & some flowers for $30. The price goes up for any extra's...like different flavours..chocolate icing adds $5...special drawing..or BCT another $5-8 depending on the difficulty level.
I know it is hard to charge a friend after so many times of doing for so little, been there, done that.
I am thankful to have a little local shop who advertises for me. They get a percentage of any cake that they get through their store.
But really, the first thing you need to do, is sit down, write up a price list...which will change often until you feel confident that the prices are fair..to you.
And I agree with what others have said about if they wanted a cheap cake they could go to the grocery store. (most of them taste like crap anyhow)
You are an artist...and should be paid accordingly.
Blessings...

Merissa,
Just let me say (once again) your work is awesome!! And your if your friend pays you $30 from now on she is still getting quite a deal!! The hardest part of baking is charging what the item is worth. When I do cakes for friends they usually insist on giving me more money or they do something for me in return in addition to what I charge them. One of my best customers is the lady who does my hair...This weekend she asked me to do a birthday cake for her daughter...it was kinda last minute but I jumped on it because I had a new recipe I wanted to try and I wanted to try a buttercream transfer of Univ of SC. I made a 11x15 and charged her $25...she said I was crazy and that she would pay me $25 and do my hair next time!! Now that is a friend!! I probably still made atleast $15 (without my time) and I get a hair cut!!

I have a day job (bah humbug) and I do cakes because I love love love to bake...I would have to get a lot tougher if I counted on this for the bills!! But like someone else said....pricing comes with confidence...girl I hope you listen to all these compliments....you are worthy of lots more money!!!