Price The Cake!

Business By LadyViola Updated 6 May 2014 , 1:44am by SystemMod1

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rica827 Posted 3 Jun 2013 , 4:16pm
post #181 of 254

Has anyone looked at the decorator's other work? It's really not ALL terrible. Yes, there are some cakes that need help, and yes, the $340 wedding cake was a hot mess, but in all fairness, she does have some decent cakes on her website.

 

I too feel bad for the bride. It's such a huge part of the ceremony, and hopefully she got her refund.
 

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devinecupcakes Posted 7 Jun 2013 , 3:38am
post #182 of 254

AI'm got an order for a 9 by 13 jersey shirt cake. It's my first jersey shirt cake and am wondering what is appropriate to charge? It has oreo buttercream frosting in the middle. I'm also in Canada so......

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RoyalAidan Posted 10 Jun 2013 , 1:13am
post #183 of 254

I agree! No less than $ 1,000.00 if not more.

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RoyalAidan Posted 10 Jun 2013 , 1:15am
post #184 of 254

I agree! No less than $ 1,000.00 if not more.

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MamaMaggie Posted 10 Jun 2013 , 2:19pm
post #185 of 254

Funny that last cake looks nothing like the original!! The only way you could do a cake that cheap is to do most of the layers in stryofoam and maybe 1 layer of real cake. Still just the fondant and decoration would come out pretty pricey! Big Fat Liar! That's what I think! :-)

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Jackie80 Posted 7 Jul 2013 , 2:33am
post #186 of 254

LOLOL I'm so glad I ran across this thread today. I needed this laugh. I haven't read through all of them quite yet, only on page 3, but I must say you all have me dying laughing. Thank you CC community for brightening my Saturdayicon_biggrin.gif

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Jackie80 Posted 7 Jul 2013 , 3:57am
post #187 of 254
Quote:
Originally Posted by Annabakescakes 

OH! (my bad!) I assumed that you meant the first cake, because who would ever want to to recreate the second? I'm sorry!

 

I am guessing here, in my educated way, but the pictures are hard to decipher size, since they are taken all wonky, and the cakes aren't centered properly. I am thinking there is a good possibility that it is a 4" square, 8" square, 12" round and 14" square, which is 194 servings, and would be $3.50 each for a total cost of $679. ($1 off from exactly twice the amount charged, interestingly enough detective.gif)

I was thinking the same thing just about. Just saw the actual $340 cake and whether it's done poorly or not that's too cheap it seems large enough to be at least $600 AND the pics they cut into they're two flavors (no way)...maybe that's why there's a few mishaps. Maybe the baker really underestimated her time, got tired and figured "screw it, they're not paying anything" and did her best to finish IJS.

 

The first thing I noticed also was the bride did post "she" made the changes for the final design of the cake so the hot pink, etc. was her idea I suppose.

 

If someone has mentioned any of my statement, I'm not done reading through this thread yet, sorry.

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nutnbutluv4ya Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 5:16am
post #188 of 254

AOkay I obviously have my pricing all wrong. I am just starting out with this whole paied cake thing. (Less than a year) I live in a pretty small town in Missouri and ppl just do not want to pay alot for a cake. This is the first and only wedding cake I have made. I did it as a favor for a girl I work with. I charged her $300 , after ingredients I only made about $80-90 profit. Keep in mind I have another full time job but would eventually love to do this full time. Can you all give me an idea of what you would charge? It is a 14, 12, 10, 8 and each teir was 6 inches tall. It served 200 ppl [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3072923/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

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DeliciousDesserts Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 12:02pm
post #189 of 254

AWhen you say 6", do you mean that each tier had 6 layers?

Did she provide the banding?

For me, that cake is 194 servings x $4.50 = $873. That's before charging for pin tucking, tax, or delivery.

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nutnbutluv4ya Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 12:41pm
post #190 of 254

ASorry I shouldve been more specific. When I said 6" I meant two 3"layers per tier. She did not supply anything before hand. I bought everything ribbon, banding, broach, and all cake supplies. I did however get my fondant on sale so that saved me $30.

Original message sent by DeliciousDesserts

When you say 6", do you mean that each tier had 6 layers?

Did she provide the banding?

For me, that cake is 194 servings x $4.50 = $873. That's before charging for pin tucking, tax, or delivery.

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DeliciousDesserts Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 1:50pm
post #191 of 254

AIn that case, I don't know how you could have made $80-90 profit. Crystal banding is expensive. Did you add cost of structure support, buttercream, frosting, fondant, pearls, cake boards, cake drums? If you are legal, did you add the yearly expenditures of license & insurance?

Don't mean to be kicking sand, but that's a high cake to liking ratio. I'm assuming you mean 3" cake, filling, & 3" cake. In my opinion, way to much cake & not enough filling.

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MamaMaggie Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 7:14pm
post #192 of 254

You are WAY UNDER PRICING! When you say that you had an $80 to $90 profit I'm wondering if you included the cost of your gas and electric AND your work? I bet not! People always complain about the cost but the want massive cakes that look beautiful! 

When you work hard to produce the "Edible Art" that we do, it deserves some merit! You deserve to get paid for your time and your creativity! If anyone asks why your prices have increased, tell them that the other cake was done as a favor and was just covering your costs.

You go Girl!icon_biggrin.gif

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amyswtcks Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 7:40pm
post #193 of 254

$300 for that cake? Oh no, I think you way undercharged for your work. I know it's hard to consider everything that goes into making the cake when you are first starting out. I had the hardest time justifying my prices, but then once I found out how many hours alone it takes to make a cake, I raised my prices a little bit. 

 

All that being said, for being a newbie to the cake world, I think the cake you made was very good! Keep it up, just raise your prices a little bit!

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kikiandkyle Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 9:40pm
post #194 of 254

AProfit is what you make after all expenses, which includes wages. How many hours work went in to this? Would you normally work for less than minimum wage?

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nutnbutluv4ya Posted 9 Aug 2013 , 2:41am
post #195 of 254

AThank you ladies for all ypur feed back. This cake was done as a favor...I knew the price was on the low side but was unsure just how low. I have not gone legal yet but fully intend on it. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to ask different opinions. The banding is not crystal it was actually a plastic silver beaded "look alike" $9 a roll. The ribbon was clearance. I have a friend that mnages a pizza place that gives me left over pizza boxes (which are safe for cakes) to use for my cake boards and drums. I didnt include utilities used in the process and I had about 7hrs total invested in the cake. And the truth is I was scared to dead I was totally going to screw it up with it being my first cake. Lessons learned though...Thank you all for your words of wisdom and encouragement. :)

Original message sent by amyswtcks

$300 for that cake? Oh no, I think you way undercharged for your work. I know it's hard to consider everything that goes into making the cake when you are first starting out. I had the hardest time justifying my prices, but then once I found out how many hours alone it takes to make a cake, I raised my prices a little bit. 

All that being said, for being a newbie to the cake world, I think the cake you made was very good! Keep it up, just raise your prices a little bit!

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AZCouture Posted 9 Aug 2013 , 3:39am
post #196 of 254

Ok good, just a favor then. Just don't use pizza boxes if you start selling. icon_wink.gif

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nutnbutluv4ya Posted 9 Aug 2013 , 3:54am
post #197 of 254

A

Original message sent by AZCouture

Ok good, just a favor then. Just don't use pizza boxes if you start selling. :wink:

Hahaha...no...that was just cheaper at the moment! Thanks ladies! :)

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CakeMommy0125 Posted 15 Sep 2013 , 2:45am
post #198 of 254

A

Original message sent by Izzy Sweet

In the program that I have made for myself I would charge $1,165.00 .. I am no where near doing something like that yet but that is what my spreadsheet is telling me...Who ever is doing that for $350 is crazy... I am in Ontario Canada by the way

I really need to know about this spreadsheet you speak of....I would LOVE something like that that tells me what to charge...I'm so bad at it, I literally just charged someone 65$ for a cake that cost me 67.50. ( not including the two days I Spent on it) To make. Can you enlighten me? Please:)

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sweetindulgenc Posted 17 Sep 2013 , 4:41pm
post #199 of 254

Here is the link to the cake that was found that does not look like the wedding cake in the picture.

 

http://www.lasphotography01.com/p359134276/h5129a562#h5129ace2

 

I hope they loved the cake regardless.

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Nyakake Posted 15 Jan 2014 , 12:17am
post #200 of 254

This is not the same cake! I was getting worried, that someone out there can actually make this cake for that price. after seeing this I feel better.

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doughgirl40 Posted 16 Jan 2014 , 10:44pm
post #201 of 254

AI am thinking I'm too cheap. I am still working on my fee scale. I hope I can figure it out. This is a gorgeous cake. Even on what I charge per slice its almost 900.00. I know cake makers here that charge quite a bit more than I do. My thing is figuring out how to charge for the extras & the bling. I want to be competitive but I also want to be affordable. Sw oklahoma is not exactly overrun with people who can just afford anything. I know I'm talented. I constantly undercut myself tho. I need to stop it.

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MamaMaggie Posted 22 Jan 2014 , 8:33pm
post #202 of 254

I just got the software program for The Cake Boss Cloud. I am hoping that it will help solve my pricing problems. I am also under pricing for the work I do! I'm still a bit confused and still setting it up, but I will let you know once I finish inputting all the info. I don't live in the US so I have to change all the pricing - pain in the bu**! 

Good luck and don't stop believing in yourself!

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howsweet Posted 22 Jan 2014 , 8:38pm
post #203 of 254

Does it tell you what market prices are in your area?

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Nadiaa Posted 23 Jan 2014 , 2:23am
post #204 of 254

Well this thread was entertaining! I loved the cost breakdowns, it was very eye opening! I had a few heart palpitations when I was looking at the bad cake photos though!

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MamaMaggie Posted 28 Jan 2014 , 9:06pm
post #205 of 254

No it doesn't! I don't think there is a program that can do that yet - just have to Google cakes in your local area and see what they charge!

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Pwooten Posted 30 Jan 2014 , 3:19pm
post #206 of 254

I would charge around $1800 for a cake like this.  I live in a small town in GA.

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lybra Posted 28 Mar 2014 , 2:48am
post #207 of 254

How much would someone charge for this cake, I'ts a vanilla cake, with cream cheese icing filling.  

 

 

 

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lybra Posted 28 Mar 2014 , 2:55am
post #208 of 254

Can someone tell me how much to charge for this cake. 

 

 

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Madmade Cakes Posted 29 Mar 2014 , 4:38pm
post #209 of 254

This is beautiful!! ^_^ 

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Madmade Cakes Posted 29 Mar 2014 , 4:43pm
post #210 of 254

8-O SHOCKED that it was priced at $300+ Over here in Lancashire (England) I'd never get an order again! 

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