I just done this cake for a 40th birthday and the customer was quite happy to pay what i asked (which was $140.00aus) but i really think with all the work i put into it i maybe should of charged more....

i am having a really hard time working out my prices but most people seem happy enough with my quote, but i dont seem to making any money out of it!!! so i would really like some feedback from you guys...

the cake is a 10" and 7' double layered choc mud cake with ganache filling covered in fondant with lots of mmf decorations as well as the top cake being painted with luster.

thanks
kylie

The cake is awesome!!! I don't know the exchange rate though from Aus. to American dollars. K'ly

$300 US
At least here in NEW YORK

First of all, great job!

Secondly, I'm sure you've done all your costing homework, but if you find that your prices are not covering your cost and labour, then you may need to rethink your pricing. It's difficult to say just by looking at it whether or not you charged enough, but I would be happy to charge £140 for it.

I'm new to cake deorating so I can't really help much in the pricing area--but your cake looks fantastic!

And, for those that can help with pricing, I just converted 140 AUD to American $ and it's about $107.60

I just checked the wedding cake chart, and a cake that size would feed appox 45. I would charge per slice like for a wedding cake. Start with whatever you charge per slice for a wedding cake and extra for fondant and other materials, delivery etc.

I think 175 AU would have been better. That is $3 US per serving.

How many hours did you spend on it? Multiply this by the amount you consider your time to be worth - at least $20 for skill. Then add up the cost of the ingredients including estimated electricity costs, multiply that by 3. Add that to labour cost. That IMO would be the bottom line.

Kylie
Do you always pretty much know what your costs for your cakes are going to be? Or have a rough idea? If you work this out ahead of time, then you should make sure that you put your work on top of this to make sure you make some money. When i started out, I used to times the costs of my cake by 3 and that would be what i charged. Of course soon i realised that it was ok for some cakes and for others it was just too little. So i just added a bit more for what i thought my work was worth.

Make sure that you add everything you are going to use on your cake, including:
* All cake ingredients
* Filling costs (In this case ganache)
* Fondant
* wires
* baking paper
* water/electricity/petrol
* Cake board (base board and support boards)
* Skewers
* Cachous/dragees
* Luster dust
* Printed images

If you have a rough idea of how long the cake will cost, then you can charge a per hour cost if you like. Different people work it out differently ; )
I hardly ever have any idea how long a cake is going to take me if it's something i've never done before. But im slowly learning

The cake looks great, I would have charged $300+ for it.

Nati

Thanks for all your input everyone!

and Nati, thank you, i think i need to rethink how i charge as i am just new to selling them. i am just trying to get a feel for what people in a small town are willing to pay...but even still i dont want to sell myself short...

so look out stawell i will charging more!!!!

kylie

edited to say HOW DO YOU NOT FEEL GUILTY FOR CHARGING HIGH PRICES!!!

I think I would have charged a little more. Your cake is absolutely beautiful. Great Job!!!

what did you do to make the checked fondant I have to do a ribbon like that and can't find any so I thought I would do it in fondant but not sure how.

Nati,

around here there is no one else making, i guess you could say customised specialty cakes. and you are right about the supplies i have to order a lot from melbourne and sydney so their is also postage involved for me to get the stuff...

i always feel like when i mention a price that i have to justify the cake and whats involved to the customer.. which i really need to stop doing...

my credit card owes me heaps and i thought i would start paying back some of it when i sold a cake but without making much profit i can't seem to do that....

I don't want set prices for certain cakes as to me everyone i do is individual to the customer so it is hard to tell them a price off the top of my head when they first enquire...

anyway thanks for you help and i am going to spend the next few days working out some things...

kylie

That cake is fabulous! You should get at least double what you charged.

Looks awesome!

Remember, your time should not be cheap & then there is the Art involved, all that before you even start costing out the ingredients. I firmly believe that if people want something special they will pay for it quite happily. Keep us posted .

June