Price the Cake! - Page 3

Assuming that cake is 6,8,10,12,& 14, my chart is 200 servings. I start at $4.50 + $1.50 for fondant. I'm also as assuming the monogram & brooch were provided by the bride not hand made.

The additional costs for me would be the quilting, bow, stencils, dogwoods, and carving of second tier.

That's a whole lot of extras. $1400

What a pity that the same bride didn't come back to educate/warn her readers.

Wonder if the same G-d that ensures she "stayed within budget & still got everything she ever wanted" was guiding the bakers hand.

Seriously, it really does irk me that she didn't come back & post photos of her cake. Now all those reading that blog think they can get that kind of cake for $340!!

It was a smaller cake, too. She didn't specify that in the blog. She said she was getting that cake, for $340.

Maybe it wasn't The Lord God, but the god of mischief, Loki?

The God that provides Cakewrecks with the good stuff? :D :D :D

Wowzers...

 

For the original I would have charged ~$1100. For the hot mess it wound up being, I would have apologized to the client.

 

There should be a hidden cam reality show with the reactions of people when they see the cake they get versus the cake they expected.

That cake is a mess! I would charge about $1,000 for the big one :)

Even up here in WI I would charge around $1200. 

 

And the "recreation" if it can be called that- I would be issuing a refund and hanging up my apron if that came out of my kitchen....

No kidding!

Well - looking at it from a Dutch perspective ... that would feed approx. 150 people (we use bigger servings) and I would probably be at the high end with charging about $5-$5,50 per serving ... so around $ 850-900, including delivery and setup.

 

I am really jealous at some of your prices ... that would be a dream for me ... and the difference between quitting my dayjob or not - however ... "It's just cake" is really embedded in peoples mindset here ... we still have a long way to go in terms of education of the masses

Agree - I did start on my webpage an FAQ which explained the fact that a decorated cake cost more than the average supermarket cake and why (materials, time, skills, freshness, taxes etc.). I do see a lot of traffic on that particular page, which is I think good, but still ... if I explain what my prices are and what they should be for me to actually make a living out of it, people are just stumped. I am on the middle/higher end with my prices, and the fact that we have a lot of hobby bakers who are able to sell a 10" for under $30 is not helping at all. Problem is that is that everybody can start a cake business, provided they include any proceeds in their annual taxreturn, and if they want to be truly official, register with the local Chamber of Commerce... which is free of charge by the way and does not require anything official in terms of forms, registrations etc..

 

I freely admit, that is way I started out as well, until I (very quickly) realized that this was just crazy .. and upped my prices.

 

perhaps I should expand that education to my facebook page as well

Thanks LadyViola - Love your note on FB -  I'll be making use of of your text for sure ... really appreciate it!!