Bashini - thanks for the links, will take a look

Sanmarco5 - *lol* That's so funny, men are all the same!!

You are welcome, WeeSooz.

Sanmarco5, my husband is like that too!! Once he did something like that and what I did was I charged the difference from him!!! That taught him a lesson and never did that mistake again!!!

Haha Bashini, that's brilliant - a lesson well learned!

I'm looking for yet more advice from everyone.... (sorry!). I'm thinking of taking a stand at our local flower show, and was wondering what the best thing to do as far as cakes go is. I specialise in cupcakes, so that's what I'll be mostly selling, but was wondering about doing cake pops too. Haven't seen them anywhere to buy locally. I have no idea how much stuff to take, because I've never done anything like this before, being a new business. I'm pretty much clueless really! The cakes really need to be packaged, so I was thinking about putting them in muffin bags, tied with a wee ribbon and my card attached. And maybe some boxes of 4 too. I'm a bit unsure how it will work out.....

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so glad people here are so happy to share ideas - locally its difficult because they don't want to lose business.

Thank you! All advice is very much appreciated. The only issue I have is that the cakes have to be prepacked if I sell them in an area that isn't the food hall. The food hall tables are £200 more expensive than the others!! I'm sharing with a friend who makes chocolate bouquets, so we're splitting the costs, but I'm hoping to get some business out of it - and to get my business known!

I just started a blog, all excited now want to make more cakes so I can 'blog' them!! LOL

a

weez - why dont you do a nice cupcake bouquet and a few cake pops for wow factor amd to get people talking? And can you have a catalogue of your previous cakes so interested people can have a look? I would def bake more than you need but if it were me, I think I'd stick to 3 flavours maximum as sometimes people can't choose if there's too much choice!

I saw the boxes direct place but the minimum order is 100 and I dunno where to put them! did a search the other nigt online and it's definitely the best value place. Where do you store your boxes? I need a bigger house!

On a completely diff note - when you take orders, do you ask for a deposit and if so how much?

over and out!
Dx

I am struggling with pricing, I did a 12" fruit for work make (its the blue & white christening cake in my album) charged her £50 which I thought a decent profit & she was happy with it, have also done a couple of shaped ones (peppa pig & timmy the sheep) and charged £30, they are quite big (14" or 12x16 boards) not great profit but OK. then someone else enquired about a 'Fosters can' I told her £30 and she didnt come back to me, but oh well, her loss!
Anyway I mentioned before doing this number one cake for £20, I planned on it being pretty basic, but being me I cant do basic LOL, so it was really worth a lot more then the £20 he paid (or hasnt paid yet!) but my hubby took it into work this morning & loads of people saw it & have asked about cakes, one in particular being the castle cake i made for my daughter ten years ago (in my album) it took me hours, and I said I wouldnt make another, but this lady want's one for her grand daughter & i am thinking i havfe a lot more experience now so maybe it wouldnt take so long, what do you think? based on what I have been charging for the other cakes, how much should I tell her for this one?
Thanks

sanmarco, are you including an hourly rate in those prices, they seem a bit on the low side?

the sandcastle cake is so pretty!! would you need to make it to the same size, ie for the same number of servings? can you calculate roughly how much the ingredients would cost? just from cake prices i've seen in bakeries around me, I would expect that cake to be around £80+, but this depends on where you are etc.

Deb, I charge 50/% deposit if the cake is more than £100. Other cakes, the customer has to pay in full 1-2 weeks before.

Sanmarco5, you are charging for your cakes too low!!! Your cakes are amazing.

For the castle cake, I would charge around £150. Maybe a bit more too!!! You have done a fantastic job on that!!!

There are many castle cake on Ebay for pickup. Price averages at around £70! Don't under sell yourself!

There are ALOT of thing I never knew you could sell/advertise on eBay!

I just added a pic of the cake I just made for £20, blue No.1. I suppose I would probably normally charge £30 Ish. To give you some idea of size it's on a 14" round board x

sanmarco, i've not made any cakes for sale, but i have started costing out any cakes i do make to see what kind of price i could charge if i do start selling them. so the two-tier baby cake in my album I calculated I would charge around £150 for, which included my costs, labour and a profit margin. I also passed by a local cake shop the other day and asked how much a two tier Iggle Piggle cake costs, it was 8 and 6 inch sponge rounds, with just two characters and very simple decorations like some cut out blossom flowers, and they said £95. hence why i came up with that figure for your castle cake. haave you tried calculating it with your costs, the hours involved in maing it and a profit margin on top to see what kind of price you should be charging?

on another subject, i made some ITNG models for my son's upcoming bday, check them out, i'm quite happy with them, although they do take me ages to do!! http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2062253

[I am in East Sussex, so my prices should probably be at the lower end of the scale! the shaped character cakes I make cost around £15 so I make £15ish on those. The castle, I havent a clue, I doubt it would cost any more that=n the peppa pig etc, as nothing in it that costs a lot, but it's the time factor!!
If you don't mind me asking how much would you charge for the cakes I mentioned in previous post?

Thanks[/quote]
I am an hobbyist and not in business but I can tell you you are not making those cakes for around 15.00 as you need to factor in everything, tools, colours, equipment,petrol or postage for sourcing all you need to make it, gas/ electric charge, baking parchment, foil etc,etc.
Yes they can go to Morrisons but Morrisons don't bake and make fantastic cakes like yours which are bespoke one of a kind creations not massed produced, chucked together on an assembly line and probably full of additives like thiers. If you don't value your worth and work niether will others. The people that get this will pay your worth others will go to Morrisons no matter what but you will not end up hating yourself and the cakes because you'l burn out trying to eke a pittance if you carry on the path you are on.
Also if you you intend to start a business up you will be in it to earn a profit and not give cakes away so your prices will have to reflect that. Your cakes look great and I am sure you will find a customer base that will pay a fair price for your cakes. You just need the confidence to ask for it.

i've just spotted this item on ebay, it looks a lot like the Agbay, anyone had any experience with it?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Large-Cake-Leveller-Levels-Torts-Cakes-Craft-leveller-/180678034773?pt=Uk_Crafts_Cake_Decorating_MJ&hash=item2a11400555[/url]

Does anyone know of a good pl;ace to buy the basics, like boards boxes etc. My local; shop is basically naff! only open 3 days a week, 10-1, and so over priced, I have bought of the cake stuff website, but wondered if anyone can recommend anyone else?
Thanks