I know I have been undercharging for custom cakes and I'm working to correct that now that I'm close to opening my new shop (a couple more weeks). I am fully licensed and have been for a few years now. I live in a suburb of the Mpls/St Paul area of Minnesota if that helps. Here are 2 similar cakes that I've made in the past. I am thinking of pricing them at $55 or $60 for a 10" round (2 layers of cake, 1 layer of filling). Is that reasonable? I would appreciate any feedback. Also, for the same design, but an 8", I was thinking around $45.

Thanks in advance,
Angie

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivertowncakes/4506363720/in/set-72157621741560783

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rivertowncakes/4558285628/in/set-72157621741560783

In order to accurately price a cake, you need to first know the cost, which consists of ingredients, labor, and overhead:

- Figure out how much you pay for ingredients per unit, and how many units of each ingredient need to go into the cake.
- Estimate how many hours you will spend baking and decorating, and multiply that by the cost of your time in dollars per hour (this can range between $10-30/hour depending on area and skill). Don't forget to figure in delivery and setup time.
- Figure out how much you spend in overhead (liability insurance, business license, kitchen rental, etc.) and divide that by the number of cakes you make per year to get a per-cake overhead cost.

Add these three numbers together to get a rough idea of your cost for the cake, then add 20-30% for a profit margin.

For fondant-covered cakes we would charge about $80 for a 10" round and $70 for an 8" round (this is in northern CA).

I guess I should also mention that these are buttercream, not fondant covered cakes. I know that makes a difference. I have figured out my cost of materials and time, etc. That is how I originally arrived at these figures. I was just looking for others opinions if they think I'm in the ballpark or not for the amount of detail, etc on these cakes.

We price BC only cakes $20-25 less. That's with basic decorations, just a border, writing, and a few flowers.

Aren't those cakes you linked to fondant-covered though?

The cakes that I linked to are buttercream iced cakes, not fondant covered. The only fondant on them are the crosses and the lettering on the one cake, all the rest is buttercream.

I am fairly new to cake decorating, can you give me some tips on how you get your buttercream frosted cakes to be so smooth please? I admire your work, your cakes are absolutely amazing!

I might go a little bit higher, about $2.50/serving. I'm in Columbus, OH, so we are probably fairly similar markets. Depending on which chart you use, $70-95 for the 10", $50-60 for the 8". I'm also in awe of your buttercream smoothing skills. Excellent work!

I'm in WI, and if I were in Minneapolis, I would price those at $60-70 for the big ones (for your area). Its a big metropolitan area and you want to attract the right customers. Don't underprice yourself.

Your work is amazing. I would go at least $10 higher!