Found a blog while mindlessly googling after cleaning up from dinner (in a bit of a funk today so I wasnt motivated to do much 
I found this blog (old I know) where this woman chronicled making the wedding cake for her friends wedding.
I wish I could rent a billboard to put the quote on " making a good wedding cake is a complicated and time-consuming task. I knew that, researched it, prepared for it, and still the sheer number of details and the amount of time they took surprised me."
In this blog she goes over how many days and man hours it took to make this cake (which looked like a friend made it, it wasnt horrendous just not proffesional). Maybe if people tried it just once, they would understand why they cost so much.
here is the link to the blog. http://bethanyactually.com/category/the-great-wedding-cake-caper/ If you scroll down to the great wedding cake caper part one you will see that she offers to make the cake as a gift and figured it would be fine, she had never made a wedding cake but had plenty of baking experience. I wonder how many times that phrase was someones famous last wOrds.
I might add that this is exactly how my caking career started. My friend was getting married. She knew I was a very accomplished baker and asked if I would do the cake. "Sure" I said. I thought how hard could it be LOL I practiced for months and the rest is history. The bug bit and I couldnt imagine not doing this now I will say that I had NO idea how hard it was going to be to make that first wedding cake!!
i so agree with the bill board comment. just lately the "cake muggles" have been getting the better of me. im only a hobby baker, i make cakes for friends and such, only charging the cost of ingredients, and still, people give me this incredulous look! my favourite was when i made a chocolate rocky road mouse cake with a choc wrap around for my best friends mum (whos kind of my surrogate mum.. lol), free of charge, anyway, friends mum goes to me wow, these are brilliant! you should start a business! i reckon you could get $25 for this! and here i am thinking.. wow! that leave me running at a loss! lol.
oh but whats angered me today was last night. i bake cakes for my best friends as their birthday presents. and big fancy ones. anyway, was talking about the cost of cakes to one of them, who i made a boob cake for, a sheet cake + two pyrex bowls worth of cake plus decorations and a choc fudge filling, anyway, after me saying how expensive cakes are to make she goes to me "oh, is that why i ONLY got cake for my birthday?"
WHAT?!?!?!!?!? ONLY got cake!!!! thats bastard cost me around $60 and a bout 3 days of work! dont you "only got cake me". far out, next time i do a cake as a present, ill write in their card what i got them and next to it the retail value... seriously... $20 is usually my max for birthday presents... only got cake.... *mutters to herself...
sorry for the rant, but i agree with what you are saying. =)
Just got done reading that. TOO cute. And while her cake wasn't uber-professional looking, she did it with love, and it looks like it tasted pretty good! But yes, she can see how this would easily become overwhelming!
Only got cake...? I'd have to strangle someone for that. I didn't just whip up an undoctored mix, throw it in a 9"x13", and slap a can of frosting on it! Sheesh!
Let me preface by saying I have a great family who truly appreciates the work I do for them when I do a cake. But even with that, I make sure to tell the relative getting married, "no one ELSE is giving you a $700 wedding gift!"
Everyone I make cakes for as gifts understand how much they would actually cost. In fact at my church group there is a pricing debate everytime I bring a cake in for one of the kids birthdays. Usually they think I undercharge GOTTA LOVE THEM
OMGoodness Debi, that is so true!! People just don't get how much time it takes or what the cost of ingredients really are. What's a little flour and sugar, right? Slap it all together and you got your self a cake.
I made a baby shower cake this weekend as a gift for a friend of mine (no other gift), but she was soooo thankful and gave out my cards to everyone there. She loved it and totally didn't expect anything else as a gift.
"no one ELSE is giving you a $700 wedding gift!"
THANK YOU!!! Maybe their own parents or grandparents, that sort of deal, but how many of your others AUNTS, or COUSINS, etc. are doing that? Ummm... oh yah, NONE! That's right! I almost forgot.
The trouble I am facing right now is expectation. I did my nephew's cake in September (for free) and drove it 7 hours to him. Received little-to-no acknowledgement or thanks. (Seriously, not even a 'thank you' card for making you two cakes that you couldn't have afforded any other way?) Don't wan't to do that ever again because I am over it. Now his younger sister is engaged and has already made the comment that she's 'gonna need one of those pretty soon'. 
I can understand that since I did it for him, she assumes I'll do it for her, but she's notorious for being inappreciative too and I'm tired of working like a horse for nothing, not even accolades! The sense of entitlement is what chaps my heinie.
I have always wished that cake shows like Cake Boss and Amazing Wedding Cakes would put a price tag on their completed cakes that are showcased in the show. People ask me ALL THE TIME if I watch Cake Boss (which I think I've watched maybe 2 episodes). There are a lot of people that watch these shows and it would really give more value to what we as cake decorators do if they see how much some of these amazing creations on TV cost. They put the price of gowns on shows like Say Yes To The Dress and Platinum Weddings, but they never put a price on cakes on cake shows. I think we should all write each and every cake show production company and beg them to do this.
someone(sorry cant remember who) had the idea of giving people a gift voucher when giving free cake. so give them a gift voucher for say $200, they can have that much for free, then have to pay the rest if they go over. i think thats a really great idea because it stops costs getting out of control (people changing and adding and adding and adding...) and its also makes them appreciate just how bloody much it costs to make a cake! that flour and sugar adds up! lol.
that flour and sugar adds up! lol.
Seriously... with the price of ingredients these days, people can't really say "It's just flour and sugar!" can they? Sugar costs about as much as gold right now. I seriously think I could ice my cakes in frosting made from platinum for the same price as the C&H powdered sugar variety!! I get the big 50 pounds bags of C&H which ends up being about 50 cents a pound. Ran out, had to buy a 2 lb bag of it for $2.04!! OMG! I almost lost control of bodily functions! 
laughing at the price of sugar.... I wish mine was $2.04!!!
Right now its $3.99 or so, and icing sugar is $5.99 for a 2lbs bag!
laughing at the price of sugar.... I wish mine was $2.04!!!Right now its $3.99 or so, and icing sugar is $5.99 for a 2lbs bag!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I'd be GROWING sugar in my back yard at that price!! *GASP*
Mel,Can I ask where you get a 50 lb bag of C & H sugar? I am Canadian but I come to the states and would love to get it. I always pay at least 2 dollars for 2 pounds.
Oh, absolutely! I get it at Sam's club. BUT, the catch for me is that my local Sam's doesn't have it. I have to buy it when I'm at my sister's house 7 hours away. It really stinks. I don't know WHY they don't have it here, I'd sure like to 'discuss' it with the manager. I have figured out something very devious about Iowa... it's one of the few wonderful places where you can do cakes from your home without a license, but you can't GET anything here. You have to order everything on the internet and have it shipped to you. It's quite a situation. If I opened a cake supply store in Iowa I'd probably make a killing because I'd be the only one around!
Melvira I just wanted to say that you and I share the same birthday. LOL. But back to the OP... I don't do free cakes period just for that reason. I will give family and close friends discounted cakes but not free. And I make sure that I tell them that they are getting a discounted cake and what the price would have been. I'm not trying to be smart about it but to let them know what it would cost them so they are a little more appreciative. When it comes to family they sometimes think that because "we family" that they can get away with assuming that you are going to do a free cake with all the bells and whistles. And I agree that all the cake shows need to start posting what there cakes actually costs. The only show that I know they said there cakes start at $1000 is Ace of Cakes but that was back in the first season and on their website. If people where most aware of how much cakes costs then they would stop trying to beat us down from our prices.
Melvira I just wanted to say that you and I share the same birthday. LOL
Sweet! 
That just makes you even more awesome! hahaha!! Or maybe it makes ME more awesome... but it would be pretty hard to get more awesome than I am right now! *snork* Kidding! 
I did my MIL's cake as a gift when she got married the second time. (I hadn't done a wedding cake before, and wanted the practice) Then my SIL got married a year or two later, and of course she asked me to do the cake. I wanted to be certain that she didn't think this was a freebie so when she asked I said, "I'd be honored! And of course, since you're family, I'll give you a discount." And I did, but I still made her pay something. A lot less than if she'd have hired anyone else to do it to be certain!
im in aiust. so i dont know how it translates.. but i pay $2.00 for 2 kgs of icing sugar. lol, i go to a different shop for chocolate, different types of sugar, colouring, butter, copha and pretty much anything else cake related. ive pretty much got it down pat now which shop sells which ingredients cheaper.. its just lots of running around.. so i usually buy them out of what ever i need so im stocked up for a while. lol i love the looks i get when im pushing around a trolley with about 20 bags of icing sugar and chocolate. hahahahaha
a kg is 2.2 pounds if you are interested but I don't know the Aus dollar value so I don't know what you pay. I pay about 40 cents a pound for powdered sugar at Costco
scratch that, its actually $2.49 for 1kg. looks like i was living in dreamers land for a bit there....=/
WHAT?!?!?!!?!? ONLY got cake!!!! thats bastard cost me around $60 and a bout 3 days of work! dont you "only got cake me". far out, next time i do a cake as a present, ill write in their card what i got them and next to it the retail value... seriously... $20 is usually my max for birthday presents... only got cake.... *mutters to herself...
Better yet, give a card with the receipt for the ingredients with a note as to how much commercial bakers charge only got cake
Sandy C
[quote="noahsmummy"]
WHAT?!?!?!!?!? ONLY got cake!!!! thats bastard cost me around $60 and a bout 3 days of work! dont you "only got cake me". far out, next time i do a cake as a present, ill write in their card what i got them and next to it the retail value... seriously... $20 is usually my max for birthday presents... only got cake.... *mutters to herself...
Seriously, I'd be telling those people we are FRIENDS OFF!!! If your own friends don't appreciate the work, time, money that goes in to something like that, how can we expect that paying customers do? Wow - seriously, I would have taken the cake back, and probably wouldn't be speaking to that "friend" anymore! Some people have nerve! I'd be thrilled with a cake as a gift - hardly anyone in my family bakes, well at least not anyone close enough to bring me a cake. Bless my MIL she has two cake recipes she does, and albeit they are okay, just once I'd like to have a fancy dancy cake for my birthday. Maybe for my 40th. LOL
And to those that have mentioned the cake shows sharing prices... YES, YES, YES!!!!! In the past month, I've had two people bring me pictures of pinkcakebox. com pictures telling me that's what they want. Their celebration cakes START at $250. I'm not a professional by any means, but I can barely get someone to pay HALF that for the same type of thing!
Hello there! I'm the woman whose post was referenced in the beginning of this thread. I just wanted to say, thank you for the kind words! Seriously, a good-tasting, not-horrible-looking cake was exactly what I was going for and I am flattered that people who make much prettier, more complicated cakes than I do would say so about my one and only attempt at a wedding cake. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for people who make gorgeous and complicated cakes now that I have a better understanding of how they're made! And you are all right on about the expense; I think making those cakes cost me somewhere around $250 in the end.
Anyway. I just wanted to say thanks!
They WERE very appreciative! And some other friends of ours who had recently gotten married told the bride and groom, as they were eating their cake, "Really stop and pay attention to what you're eating so you will always remember what your wedding cake tasted like!" Erin has told me many times how much she appreciates that they told her that because she can still remember the taste. I thought that was fantastic advice!
bethanyactually, I'm excited to see you here reading about us, reading about YOU! Hahaha. I really enjoyed reading what you wrote, and L-O-V-E that you did that for your friend. And bless your heart for sticking in the game until the end. You are to be commended. (Or maybe you need your head examined??? Hmmm... 
) Hahaha! HUGS!
I have to look at this blog when I get home today. Thanks for the post.
Electric Cook
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