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Daughter's Harry Potter book cake

post #1 of 11
1/13/12 at 4:10pm
Thread Starter 
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2246451/harry-potter-spell-lesson-book-birthday-book-cake

I did this for my daughter but also starting out in my own business and wondering about pricing this cake since i already had one inquiry about a duplicate. It's 9x13 torted cake, with icing image, fondant book and all fondant accessories except for the snitch (that is a toy). it took maybe 6-7 hours but i'm guesstimating on that. Any pricing ideas? I'm in the Charlotte NC area.

sarah at www.facebook.com/sweetscenecakes

 

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post #2 of 11
1/13/12 at 4:43pm
I love this cake!, hard to price, how many servings?
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post #3 of 11
1/13/12 at 6:45pm
Thread Starter 
From the assorted cake cutting guidelines, somewhere from 12-18, 20 if I pushed it...

sarah at www.facebook.com/sweetscenecakes

 

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post #4 of 11
1/13/12 at 9:21pm
Great job on the cake! But before you make another one you should make sure to obtain written permission from J. K. Rowling, since she owns the copyright to the elements used in your cake.

J. K. Rowling c/o Scholastic Inc.
555 Broadway
New York, NY 10012

Assuming we had permission we would probably charge in the $200-250 range for that cake.
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post #5 of 11
1/14/12 at 6:14am
Thread Starter 
Jason, I appreciate your comment but does that mean everyone needs to contact Disney if they do a Mickey cake, Marvel if they do a super hero cake, NASCAR if they do a race cake etc? This particular cake was not sold but I did use a licensed image site that I bought it from.

sarah at www.facebook.com/sweetscenecakes

 

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post #6 of 11
1/14/12 at 7:00am
If you were to use a licensed cake, such as Mickey Mouse, Harry Potter, Here Kitty Kitty then you would need express permission from the owner of that license. Even the items associated with college, professional sport teams are licensed and you would need their permission to replicate them. If not given then you could be sued, for lots of money. Disney has people that search the internet to find things like this and they will prosecute as well as other companies, etc will. Hopefully this will help you decide whether it is worth pricing a cake like this to resell.

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post #7 of 11
1/14/12 at 7:09am
Thread Starter 
So even if you have bought a licensed Icing Image, you can be sued? What do cake bakers do when designing cakes? In this case, is it just the Hogwarts image or all components? I'm just starting out, so this is very interesting...

sarah at www.facebook.com/sweetscenecakes

 

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post #8 of 11
1/14/12 at 7:18am
If you purchased a licensed image from a business that has been authorized to sell them then you would be fine. The company selling them has the authorization to do so and in return they have paid for that right and the company, say Disney, has been reimbursed royalties for each one they have purchased to sell. Most generally they will set the cake up, such as Dora the Explorer, they make hills and rivers or what ever the customer wants and then purchase a plastic Dora and who ever else is to go onto the cake. Accordingly, those of us that sell cakes can not even make the hat that is associated with Mickey Mouse and change the colors as it is still recognizable as Mickey's. If you notice the Wilton pans of licensed characters state "For home use only".

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post #9 of 11
1/14/12 at 7:37am
you did such a great job on this cake! you could pretty much charge what ever you want
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post #10 of 11
1/14/12 at 7:55pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks bakencake, almost forgot the reason I started this thread...! I'm just starting out, so theoretically with 7 hours labor, icing image, servings, probably $125 to quote and see what they say or is that way under?

sarah at www.facebook.com/sweetscenecakes

 

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post #11 of 11
1/14/12 at 8:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetscene

Thanks bakencake, almost forgot the reason I started this thread...! I'm just starting out, so theoretically with 7 hours labor, icing image, servings, probably $125 to quote and see what they say or is that way under?


If we estimate that ingredients cost $25, there's 9 hours of labor at $12/hour, and overhead contribution is $15 (if you don't have liability insurance you shouldn't sell this cake at all), you're looking at a cost of $148. Add a 20% profit margin and you have a price of $177.
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