Hi Everyone,
Just need an honest opinion...
A colleague at work asked for a price on an Elmo cake. Two square tiers (7 and 10), covered in fondant, a bunch of decorations, and Elmo on top (kinda like the Elmo popping out of the cake design). I quoted $75. She said no an that she would do it her self with the Elmo pan. Did I quote too high a price?
I am new to this whole thing.

No. That's more than fair. She has no idea what is involved.

Heck no you didn't charge too much! If anything you charged too little. There really are two types of people in this world. Those that are willing to pay for custom cakes and those that aren't. I personally would NEVER pay for a custom cake. Guess it's a good thing I know how to make my own. Don't worry about it. Happy caking!

I think that is very fair. You may have been able to even charge more depending on your skill level. No one understands what goes into making these cakes. They see it done on T.V and think we can produce a cake in a half hour. But figure out what you want to charge per serving then add on your hourly and that will give you the price to charge for your cakes.

A 7 and a 10 inch square would feed around 70 people, so you were charging her just a little over a dollar a serving, that is way, way, way to cheap. If it were a friend of mine, I would carefully explain to her the costs that go into a cake. I don't remember who it is on here (I think IndyDebi) who says that experiences like this are a good opportunity to educate people as to why a cake costs what it costs!

absolutely not!!! She was just wanting something cheap and if she's now going to do it herself in the Elmo pan that is not the same size nor difficulty as what you were going to do. I charge $60 for just the 10 inch square done in butter cream...really you were very reasonable in your price quote considering it was in fondant and all the work. Don't feel bad at all!!!!

That's a great deal for what she wanted. Go ahead and Let her make her elmo pan cake....Someone like that wouldn't appreciate your cake anyway.

I don't think so. I think you are way undercharging IMO.

Your price is way too low. We would charge at least $300, but we are in CA which requires a commercial kitchen to legally sell food. If you are in a state that allows you to legally sell cakes made from home, it would probably be in the $200 range.

By the way I would strongly recommend buying a licensed Elmo cake topper, since making your own Elmo out of fondant or gumpaste would infringe on Sesame Workshop's copyright unless you got their permission.

I would have charged at least $270.00.

ditto. Over $240 here.

At minimum she would have paid $297.50 plus tax for me to do it.

By the time she buys her elmo pan, all of the ingredients, struggles for hours trying to make red icing and adds up all the time and expense for her to do it, I am thinking she will have wished she had just paid you to do it. I think $70 for a two tiered cake is absurd because you may have paid yourself about 10cents an hour to do the work

OMG! I live here in California and a girl just bought a 6" round with 3 layers covered in fondant from a local bakery. She paid $150 for that cake and it had NO decorative elements! The bakery said it was high because of the fondant.

So to answer your question, NO, you did not quote her to high of a price. A lot of people do not know the time and labor that is put into this art and therefore unappreciative of it. Until they try it themselves, it would be hard to explain. Not to mention the cost of all the product, as well!

I think it's fair, most people here are right, it most likely was too cheap. Most people do not know what goes into making a cake, time AND money. When they start to thinking about how grand they want their cake to look and taste they have no idea what they are really asking us to do. I myself find it hard to charge more for a few reasons; 1) I do it for lots of friends/family and find it hard to charge more than I know they can afford. 2) I'm afraid when I tell them how much it should cost they will say no. 3) I love to do cakes! I like a chance to make a new cake. Cause of this I tend to charge 40-55 bucks on average, when I know my 3D cakes should be so much more. Now after months of under charging (don't get me wrong I'm loving making the cakes) I'm getting burned out and the it's becoming more of a chore than a hobby. Since I still want to make cakes but don't want to charge a ton I'm going to figure out a few designs that I can tell people, you want to spend 50 bucks here are your choices. Hopefully I will actually be able to make a little income for cake tools and free up some time to practice 3D cakes I really want to try. Now that I typed this I'm not sure if I was helping or just venting on your post lol

oh my goodness! That is way too cheap! Not only is that basically cost but you are not making any money for your time!

Most bakers under price their cakes. A cake that size "on the cheap side" would be no less than $250 from me.

Tell her good luck, with your Elmo cake pan!

Yep, I would have charged $280 for 70 servings as detailed as you've explained it!

Amen and
AMEN!!!!!!!!

Thank you everyone for taking the time to response. I feel better knowing I wasn't unreasonable. It's something I really enjoy doing, but I can totally see it turning into a chore if I am not compensated.

wayyy too low

When Elmo comes out tasting bitter, cross-eyed, and she complains about how much her hand hurts from piping all of those stars, just give her a Mona Lisa smile and say, "Bet $75 looks like a REAL bargain, now.... "

Rae

I bet you her cake will come out horrid if she has no idea how much work goes into it by thinking that you over charged her. Just watch..
Because anyone who is a cake "expert" will not think the way she does. She probably think that it is nothing but just to slap cake layers together and voila !! it is done. if I were you I would avoid her. and do not ever discuss cake with her again, even if she asks you.. she is not the ideal customer anyway, so next time just say, "you cannot afford me, so you better do it yourself" !! I would...