Hi everyone

A while ago I had been asked to make a wedding cake for a friend/colleague and I am having a bit of trouble deciding how much I should charge for it. Does anyone have any helpful tips on how to give a pricing on a cake, maybe add all the materials together? What do you do when pricing up a cake?

can't wait to hear your responces.

I make it as simple as possible on myself and just charge half of my normal fee - the other half being my gift to my friend, the bride - for nieces and nephews, it's a freebie as my gift.

This question is asked a lot on the board and unfortunatley, sometimes it also causes claws to come out for some people especially when the questions come-up about are whether you are licensed or bake out of your home. I would suggest that you do a search on this topic because some posters have previously provided quite a bit of information on what you should consider such as not only your ingredients but your electricity, water, etc. Also, without any specifics about the design, flavor, icing, filling, etc of the cake it is impossible to provide you with even the slightest estimate that would be reliable. Good luck with the cake!

Agree with etr2002.

Here are some other threads:

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-681084.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-680978.html

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-708946.html

Hey! thanks for your advice! I will have a look at those links.

If you don't have a clue, you could let the bride get a legitimate bid, then offer a percentage off of their price as your gift to her. She'll appreciate the discount knowing how much it's worth upfront and how much it would have cost her without your help.

My advice would be to either give a discount off of another bakery's price, like CWR41 said, or ask how much she want to pay, then give her three designs to choose from that you can do for that price. Do NOT, repeat do NOT let her tell you what she wants and how much she's going to pay for it. You'll end up doing a ten-tiered cake for $100.

Just remember that this is a gift, not a way for her to get a cake that she wouldn't be able to get otherwise for a fraction of the price.

And yes, you should check to see if you need to be licensed to bring a cake into the reception site where the recpeiton will be. Some of them require a license and insurance from all of the vendors who bring things in.