I am starting a home cake business. I don't know how much to charge for my cakes I have thought to charge between $2.00 to $2.50 per portion but it seems to low since all the decoration in my cakes are made from scratch and are edible. So it feels that I'm putting all this time to verily making a profit. Here is some of the cakes that I have made with the prices that I charged for them.

I have a facebook page www.facebook.com/CakesbyMavia where I have a cake gallery. I'm trying to advertise my cakes there.

Please if you can help me with some guidance I'll really appreciate it since I want to charge a fare price for my customers but also for the kind of work I do.

Using the castle cake as an example, how much was your cost for that cake? Include ingredient costs, labor (number of hours you worked on the cake including prep and cleanup * your hourly wage), and overhead (license fees, accounting, utilities, advertising, insurance, etc.) on a per order basis.

Thanks for your advise. I guess since I am just starting I get nerves and feel people think that my prices are too high. So out of low confidense I end up lowering the price of the cakes because I feel that even that they like my cakes they are not willing to pay the cost.

Jason is right you have to determine you material/ingredient prices and go from there..I don't touch a 3D cake for any less than $150.00 and that is on the low end...It can be difficult to price what you think your work is worth but once you get more confidence it will get easier...

It's important to know what your costs are, but you have to find out what the market will bear in your area. If you don't charge market value for your cakes and you are undercutting people who are trying to make a profit, you hurt everyone. And you'll be in big demand and working your fingers to the bone and wondering how other people get the "good" customers who are willing to pay what's fair.

You talked about worrying about what people think about your prices. There will always be people who think you charge too much - I had a woman literally start yelling at me on the phone about 2 weeks ago when I gave her some price info. The opposite side of that are customers who are so happy when they see their cake they tear up and hug me.

You have to find your customer. People who think $300 (or whatever the amount) is too much for a cake generally are not your target market. Who cares what they think? If you had a Lamborghini dealership you wouldn't give a thought to people and don't like sports cars and think it's crazy to spend that much on a car .

Just a word of advise since you are new.
DON'T give a quote until you've had time to discover your cost of ingredients as well as an estimate of the amount of time it will take you to make it ( 4 hours x $10 per hour and $35 for ingredients = $75 for an 8 in round .
PAY YOURSELF for your time not just ingredients. If you don't, you are paying them to make their cake. I'd just as soon be with my family than in the kitchen working for free.

Then, once you have reached that number, don't back down. If you change your price it looks like either you don't know what your talent is worth or you overcharged to begin with...neither is good for your business.
Remember if a person asks you what you would charge. That's what they want to know. They are free to do what they want with that information.

mommachris

Pretend you want to order this cake from a local bakery. Make sure you pretend you don't know how to turn on an oven...

Ask three different places for their price for this exact picture. Then you will know how your prices rate. NO need to lose sleep over "maybe" just get out there and get the info.

You all are so nice! Thanks for all the advice it really makes me feel better and have more orientation on what I need to do.

I know that not only I need to calculate better my spences but also my time and kind of skills I apply to each cake but also I need to start looking to do business with the right kind of customers. I can still work with customers that can not affort an intricate cake I just need to offer cakes that are not at that skill level.

Hi!! I'm a beginner too and my cakes don't look half as beautiful as yours!! I still don't know much about prices, but wanted to say your cakes are gorgeous and look amazing. Excellent work!!

CakesbyMavia,

You also need to determine if you live in a state/county/city that has a cottage food law (so you can legally sell cakes from your home) and find out what that requires in the way of licensing, inspection of kitchen, etc. The license will probably cost something (another expense). You will also need liability insurance. In your expenses, include some for overhead (electricity, gas [cooking and/or in your car to go to the store to buy ingredients], water, etc.) and don't forget clean-up time and materials, even if it is just a bit per cake for dishwashing liquid, parchment paper, plastic wrap, foil, etc.

Hi Shanter! The OP has not been here since last year. She asked her question, then stopped posting. 

Sorry. Didn't notice the dates. Thanks, Mimi.

Actually thanks for the advice. I need to find out about the license and the insurance it is an important step. And also didn't realize about the little expenses but they do accumulate in cost.

Thanks again. 

Thanks! it is an incentive to read your comment. :)

Actually thanks for the advice. I need to find out about the license and the insurance it is an important step. And also didn't realize about the little expenses but they do accumulate in cost.

Thanks again. 

Sorry for not getting back to the post. I am also kind of new to this site and still learning how the Posts work.