I've just started making cakes for people other than family members and have recently been asked what I charge. I've never had to charge anyone for a cake and I am having trouble figuring out what the price should be. I don't want to over charge my customers but I also don't want to cheat myself. Any advice on how to come up with a good price?

Welcome to CC, the greatest resource for all things cake.

The best way to get an answer is to browse the business forum. There are literally thousands of threads pertaining to the pricing question.

indydebi's right of course! (You'll soon see, mamakasst, that Debi is our Forum Matriarch and her advice is pretty much cake law ) Hop over to business forums, and there's all kinds of threads, plus a few different pricing matrixes (sp?) to check out.

Also, always double check whether it's legal to sell out of your home kitchen or not. Lot's of people will still sell anyways, but you never know what legalities could come back to bite you.

Do enjoy the forums though! It's an amazing amount of support!

1st - determine if it's legal for you to sell cakes from home
2nd - do a search. there are literally hundreds of threads on this very topic
3rd - in brief, calculate cost. Your cost is not just the ingredients, but gas and wear and tear on your vehicle to get ingredients, shipping costs for any supplies ordered online, electricty/water/gas for mixing/baking/decorating/clean-up, wear and tear on your appliances/pans/bowls/spatulas/tips/bags/etc, your hourly wage for shopping/designing/communication with client/mixing/baking/decorating/clean-up
4th - figure out how much profit you'd like to make (this is any money over the cost, if you only charge your cost, then you're just breaking even and not actually making any money)
5th - good luck!