What to charge for cakes

I was reading through some cake decorating groups and spotted a recommendation. Someone was asking what to charge for cakes. So my ears pricked up. As you may be aware this is one of my topics and passions to help the cake decorating community with too.

So I continued to read the poster’s thoughts.

She said, “Cake pricing is easy. You just visit the supermarket and find a similar cake and then double the price”

That strategy is no way to work out exactly what to charge for cakes.

Wow – and a bit speechless. That was all I can say to that.

How on earth can you take a machine made, E number filled cake as a base price for your own? Your own cake will be a hand made delicious creation. It will have taken probably far too long of preening it and tweaking it to make it perfect in your eyes.

So using a supermarket price and doubling it – is I am afraid a very flawed strategy.

The only way you can ensure that you are pricing fairly is by working it out.

And that is how you find out…..

What to charge for cakes!

That way you can be sure that your ingredients are covered. And that includes the ones that are in pots already in the pantry and paid for before. A lot of people ignore these ingredients as a cost.

Not forgetting the box and the board too – as these are not cheap either.

But what of your time? Tracking your time is important. How long does a cake like the requested design actually take to make?

You must start to keep a track each time you start a cake from scratch. This is the only way you begin to get an idea of the time needed to complete a cake. Once you know roughly 3, 4, 5 hours or more – only then can you put a price on your time to add onto the ingredients and sundries.

Do you even have a base price? A statement saying ‘Prices start from….’

Have you worked out what you are selling and what your smallest offering is?

But even before that you must price what you currently sell – without putting a finger in the air and just guessing.

Otherwise the ONLY loser will be you and your family – as you sell your cakes and pantry ingredients to stranger way below the price to make any money.

But where do you even start?

And is this why people are doubling supermarket offerings and calling it their price?

The above challenge is exactly why I designed the Cake Calculator. To help our cake decorating community price their ingredients.

You add in the cost of your shopping and weights purchased. You then add in the ingredients required by your recipe – and the price for your cake will be displayed on the form.

The Cake Calculator has already helped thousands of cake decorators and home bakers across the world. People in 53 countries to be exact. And all are delighted with the insights this tool has given their cake businesses.

Here are what some people are saying about it:

Jacqueline Wallbank

Huge Cake Calculator Fan – Thank you. This tool looks amazing and I feel as though the ‘penny is finally dropping’ in the pricing area

Sharon Worthington

It’s brilliant. Finally charged the right amount and shown me how much I was loosing out on ! Will recommend x

Cara Dawson – Australia

Loving your product so much, I have advertised it to all the fellow bakers I find online. Bless and thank u for making it so much easier

Want to make your cake pricing life easier? And stop listening to the armchair experts in the decorating groups?

Here is the link to find out more

CLICK HERE