The tinkerbell cake is amazing! Curious if you found a mold for tinkerbell herself or if you just hand made her? Also what is under all those leaves to make the ball of the tree top? Beautifully done! Your amazingly talented!

Thanks
 

24 serving 8 in. with raspberry filling $347. Foam in the castle, castle portion is a design by Debbie Brown.

63 serving 5-8-10  - $800 Yes, I printed money!

$310 - there was a single black feather on top  6-8, 35 servings

Including the 3 flatish pigs you can't really see $431 - 8 in, 24 serving cake plus 12 cc's

So far I've just gotten through the first 4 pages of this thread and everyone is posting links instead of inserting pics - are we not supposed to insert pics?
 

I know about 50% of the time I try to upload pics my browser freezes

A

I must say that i VASTLY prefer pictures over links. JMHO

So it's not frowned upon for using too much internet or anything?

Thanks! I borrowed a lot from several pirate cake pics I had.  Definitely a mold. And then i sort of antiqued it. And it looks like I left off the pic under 63 serving 5-8-10  - $800 Yes, I printed money! This is it:

this cake has me very curious...was it for a rapper?

Yes, Birdman.  He has all sorts of tattoos that were represented on the cake that you can't see in the pic. It was really fun to do. One of the most fun cakes I've done and apparently it was quite a party.
 

Ok yes that is me, but I wanted to show the size of this cake. I charged $100 but I should have charged $120. However I did get the bottom back so I can re-decorate and re-use!!!

Is Chocolate with Ganache filling and buttercream frosting. It serves 30. I tried to post before but I must have forgot to submit. I love this thread keep em coming!

ASmittyditty that cake is AWESOME!! And really tall! I would love to have an ice cream cone cake, maybe with some ice cream...mmmm.....now I wish I had some ice cream at home. LOL

I've had such a hard time pricing my cakes so that it's worth my time to make them that I've been focusing more on other baked goods lately.  Maybe I can get back to making more cakes now that I've seen how other people price their cakes and be more confident that I'm not way overcharging!  I think my prices have been a little lower than they should have been, but I'm not sure how much more I would be able to charge where I live!

    Lego cake for my son's birthday.  I would probably charge $85 for it (Is that enough?  Too much?  It's smaller than it looks, I think.  I believe it was four 8-inch cakes)

 Angry Birds Cake -  I charged $45 for it, but it is pretty small--  I think it was just the Wilton sports ball mold.   

Princess Tiana cake for my daughter.  I would probably charge $60-$80, depending on if they had a Barbie they would be supplying for the cake.  

    This was for my son's birthday.  I would probably charge about $150 for it, I think.  

 This was for my son's 1st birthday -- each of the rings was a different color cake, too.  I'd probably charge $200 for this one -- it took quite a while!

  This was for a sleepover birthday party for my daughter.  The popcorn is real caramel popcorn -- that's what she wanted!  I'd probably charge $50-$60 for this.  It was pretty simple -- decorating probably took less than an hour.

  This was for a first birthday.  Patrick is a "smash" cake -- he is covered in sanding sugar.  Spongebob is about 12-14" tall and about 6-8" wide.  I charged $100 for it and should have charged a lot more!  It took me so much longer than I thought it would!  

  This was a wedding shower cake that I did as a gift for my cousin.  I'd probably charge $90 for it, maybe a little more?

A[quote name="cupcakefrost" url="/t/710216/cake-pics-with-prices#post_7061280"]OK, here is my first pic. This is a two-tiered chocolate cake with ganache filling and crushed oreos. The teapot and cup are rice krispies treats and the little sweets are fondant. I charged 150 for a friend, but would normally charge 225.

I'm adding a link to the pic (hopefully doing it correctly) [URL=http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1915996]http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1915996[/URL][/quote]

Your cake is beautiful! The price seems right to me since the tiers were probably all that was eaten, but your work is gorgeous!

AFirst post for me! I just had to comment on thie pricing. It's an issue with me as well. When I put a price on my cakes, I'm placing value on my work, my ideas, etc. it can be a super blow if its coughed at! My husband said it best, "75% of customers want Cake Boss quality at Walmart prices." It's not possible! I recently had a woman contact me with a pic of a cake she wanted for her toddlers b'day. It was a very large, life like penguin. I asked her how many servings she would need, and explained that I charge by the serving. She says, " I only need it to feed 15", FIFTEEN! I quoted her a price of $300 for the exact cake in pic then gave her a price of $65, for a much smaller version. She contacts me again the next day with another pic of a very large cake. We're talking 1/2 sheet here! I go through the same explanations for pricing. She hasn't contacted me again to confirm an order. Honestly, I pray she doesn't! If they can do it cheaper, GO BAKE YOUR OWN CAKE!

No the bottom tier is styrofoam and NO I'm over charging the local baker. The only thing that is cake is the top two tiers. I actually priced it for 25 servings but 5 more servings were unavoidable due to shape. So It was actually priced at $4.00 a serving to the client.
 

What took me the longest was the cake board! So no it looks hard but was a rather easy cake. No sculpting was required.

It's a clever design and a very cute cake, but you are undercharging. That cake should be more than a regular shaped cake.  If you got the base back, what did you charge for rental? How long did it take you to make this order? What were expenses? Was there any profit after your wage?
 

I'm sorry but I used a pricing matrix found on CC and adjusted towards my local baker. Yes I took this cake on before I even knew how I would construct it. This was my first 3D cake. I think you are going a bit strong on me. This thread is to learn prices. Its not like I am undercutting my local baker who only charges $3.25 for fondant. I would have charged the 20 for the base had I known the cost. It cost $6 for the pipe $2 for pvc and then I got the wood for free, foam for $3.

So $20 is quite an up charge from $11. Yes next time I will charge for the rental but this was a repeat customer so I knew I could just get it back.

When I meant the base I meant getting the checkerboard pattern right. The pipe is just screwed in. I just slid the foam over the pipe. There is no airbrushing, no sculpting, ect. Its just a dome cake over 6 and 8inch cakes. Yes it takes me longer to make cakes than a baker simply because I have to mix the frosting and the ingredients with only one kitchen aid mixer. However that cost shouldn't go to the customer. The cake from start to finish probably was 6hours. So what would you charge? Again only 25 servings?
 

AI'm about $175 for SmittyDitty's cake

Now I don't know who you are Howsweet.  However upon checking my local bakery, magically her prices have gone up within weeks. Her prices used to be $2.75 for buttercream and now its a whopping $3.65. Could be coincidence but I don't thinks so, as all the pictures on the website have also been updated from 1980's styles. I think whether its you or not she got wind of another baker and revamped. Which is fine by me because that means I can actually sell cake at the price its intended which I was already doing.
 

Again I don't mind the telling me my price is off. I do mind the insult of saying you better not be in my area comment. I think that is a bit off of the point of the thread. If you are so inclined to know where I am then PM me and I'll tell you. Bakers please stop thinking that just because its cheaper in your area its way off. Also we aren't out to kill your business. If we were, we wouldn't be on here learning to price accordingly. 

Hey Delicious- What do you do if you are already way over the cost of the local baker? I'm not suppose to undercut but at the previous prices she had posted I couldn't make any money matching her price. I then over charged from her price, but still want to get any business I can. How can I be still not charging enough when in my area i'm over charging. I could see not caring and charge what I like but i JUST started literally 2 weeks ago. Which is why I settled for a bit less than the matrix yet way over the local baker $$. However the matrix priced it at $4.25 a slice. Thinking either I used the matrix wrong or need a new Matrix..lol

Sorry, I guess I was being hard on you because standing there in your chef coat with a very nice looking cake you appeared to be presenting yourself as a professional, which is a good thing, but I made some incorrect assumptions based on it. I apologize.

1) You showed a pic or design to your local baker and they said $100 or 120? Or did you just get a price per serving?

2) You can't not consider the cost of the wood because you got it for free.

3) If you had someone do the carpentry part of the cake, then you have to take into account what that would cost you, if say your brother or husband hadn't done it for free.  or of course the time it took you. You see this as a rental item so I suppose you'd cost it out like that.

4) You don't not charge for rental because you know you can get it back. Car rental places know they're going to get the car back, don't they?

5) It was 30 servings. There's no reason to not charge for the other 5 just because you're not going to use calculus to determine the exact size and shape of the cake for the number of servings requested and then create the perfect pan. There is not an infinite number of pan size choices and that's not your fault. 

6) Regardless, when pricing a 3d cake number of servings is only part of the quote.

7) I wouldn't be inclined to rent that sort of cake structure, but maybe others would. I don't know how many times it can be used, but that's something to consider.

8) Did your pricing matrix take into account the dummy part of the piece?

I don't know if you torted the top or if those are big lumps of cake, but I might quote it at $370 or thereabout for torted.

Anyway, if we subtract your costs from $120 and divide by 6, what did you make per hour?  What if you were a business with all kinds of overhead most people never even think about and you're paying an employee to make this cake? 

9)Does your 6 hours include time spent picking up supplies and talking to the customer?

I was typing while those other posts came in - I'm in Houston.
 

And you can go back to the previous page in this thread to see some of my cakes to satisfy yourself I'm not that other baker. I know it's not me because my prices have never been that low.

A

In Houston as well. But a suburb of Houston. I don't really do what some ppl call "extreme" cakes. I'm about clean lines and simplicity. But I would have charged WAY more. Pressed I would say upwards of $250 maybe? Could be a bit high but close.