I'm not selling cakes yet, but I just made a cake for my mother's birthday. Here is the link to the cake: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2304672/gumpaste-flower-cake

It got to thinking, how do you charge for such an involved cake with flowers. Now, I don't know if it's just because I'm new at flower making but they took FOREVER to make. I would imagine even if your a pro they take a long time due to the steps involved. So do you charge by design, number of flowers, types. I'm really curios how you do this.

Thanks![/img]

You did an amazing job on the flowers - very nice!

The way you charge is more of a personal thing. You can charge by the flower or charge by the hour *that rhymes!* but it's strictly up to you. If you charge by the flower, you need to set a price for each one. If you charge by the hour, you need to set your hourly wage and keep up with the time.

Either way, you're really charging for ingredients + time.

The good news is they do get faster with experience. I know how long it takes me to do most flowers, and I have an hourly rate. So if I can make say 5 roses in an hour, and I get $25 an hour (which includes ingredients, supplies, etc), then it's $5 per rose. It's easier to give the customer a per flower charge for me.