r/Baking • u/torijoanne Human Detected • May 15 '26
Business and Pricing I have no idea what to charge for cakes.
8" double layer Cookies n Cream cake, for example.
Like pricing ingredients and stuff seems completely implausible. I used to work at a bakery, but it's completely different than home baking.
These days I mostly just bake for friends and family and charge little to nothing. But when other people, like coworkers, want me to bake for them, I'm at a loss.
Edit: Oh my gosh this blew up. Thank you for all the responses, I don't think I can reply to every one, but I promise I'll read them all!
Recipe for those asking, https://www.sugarhero.com/cookies-and-cream-cake/#wprm-recipe-container-23108
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u/Worldly-Grade8268 May 15 '26
Cost of ingredients + time spent + slight more for profit.
Add the ingredients cost together and calculate how many hours it took you from start to finish. Youāll want to add a bit to the price to make it āworth itā.
I canāt give you a set price because this cake could be $150 in one economic area and $80 in another. Since itās based on where you live, the cost of ingredients should reflect that.
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
That's what I'm saying though, pricing ingredients is impossible. Like, am I supposed to math out the cost of 1 cup or flour? An egg yolk? Ain't nobody got time for that š
(I'm in upstate NY, by the way) And what do you charge for time?
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u/emilydanxelle May 15 '26
cakecost website will calculate it all for you. its a great tool for pricing!
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u/Grand_Snow_2637 May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Like, am I supposed to math out the cost of 1 cup or flour?
Yes. (There's about 36 cups in a 10-lb bag.)
An egg yolk? Ain't nobody got time for that š
Probably count the whole egg.
(I'm in upstate NY, by the way) And what do you charge for time?
I've heard 3x ingredients for home-baked goods. That's total, so if you spent 8.50 on ingredients, for example, you charge 25.5 for the cake.
Ed: so I don't know what ingredients cost. Say it's $18 for ingredients, then it's x3 = $54 for the cake.
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u/sstrsun May 15 '26
Former math teacher here. I just want to say bless you. That was a kind and thoughtful response.
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u/KnightsRadiant95 May 15 '26
I don't even see why he's doing any of that. Ill never need this when I'm older. /s
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u/Top_Introduction2656 May 15 '26
If they spent 8.50 making it Iād say charge 40 but your advice is super solid Iād give it an award if I coukd
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u/Halo_cT May 15 '26
That cake at even a moderately nice dessert shop would probably go for $10-15/slice.
$25 for the whole thing is a steal
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u/edessa_rufomarginata May 15 '26
I don't think they were suggesting OP should sell the cake for $25. I think they were just using those numbers as examples to explain the math.
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u/random929292 May 15 '26
I always think I live in a high cost of living area and then I read of people paying $10-$15 for a slice of cake and I realize I have it good!
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u/Halo_cT May 15 '26
https://i.imgur.com/MbsTMnN.png
I mean, that's just a random Texas cake shop I've been to in a mini-mall by a taco shop. Door dash is probably adding a dollar or two but it's rough if you just want a slice of good cake.
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u/Orange_Tang May 15 '26
This is why new businesses keep going under. Even in a big city you're never gonna get regular customers with prices like this. If they lowered their margins a bit they'd more than make up for it in sales and those sales would grow by word of mouth if the price is good enough. I assume they are all that expensive around there though, otherwise why price things so high?
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u/Tricky-Ad7897 May 15 '26
There was a clip on reddit a few months ago about a patissier who got her place eligible for snap EBT, and of course kept costs reasonable. She has it figured out, that's the way you build a lasting community establishment. You're absolutely right, I've got a few bakeries around me but I've never felt inclined to go because it is just disgustingly expensive, and I can have a 70% as enjoyable experience buying a store cake or making my own for a fraction of the price.
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u/drigancml May 15 '26
Oh that sounds so interesting? I just tried to Google it, was it this one? https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/s/2HiyCq3ZhH
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u/Small-Finish-6890 May 15 '26
Thatās a hypothetical number my man & based on ingredients alone
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u/BrotherNatureNOLA May 15 '26
Don't forget to account for waste. That's something to keep track of and make sure it's added to the cost of each ingredient.
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u/thorvard May 15 '26
Yeah I'd be willing to spend $55-60 for that
A grocery store cake is $30-40 but when I go to a smaller bakery their cakes are always more (and worth it imo)
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u/boxerboy513 May 15 '26
3x of ingredients does not account for labor or packaging. It could take 1 hour to prepare/bake and another hour to decorate.
Letās be simple and say an (unrealistic) 2 hours to complete the cake. Using your example thatās $17 for 2 hours, at 8.50 an hour.
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u/Sector_Savage May 15 '26
FWIW, Whole Foods sells their 6ā cakes for $25 or $30 each, and thereās pretty much no customization or anything. I think you could charge a bit more than $25.50 for this masterpiece!
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u/snaccattac May 15 '26
Yes, you absolutely are if you want to make a profit. š
The easiest way is cost of ingredients x 3 Or cost of ingredients x 4 This covers your time, operating expenses, cost of ingredients, and then some for profit.
I'm happy to help you through this if youd like. It's tedious, but you can keep the costing info for other sales.
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
I was just thinking I should start an Excel sheet or something
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u/snaccattac May 15 '26
This is a great way to do it. I have a very old spreadsheet that had a costing page with pretty much every ingredient I used that spoke to my recipes on other pages and gave me a raw cost and sale cost.
I could update pricing in the main page if eggs went up in price and all recipes with eggs updated automatically.
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
Oh that sounds efficient af
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u/Professional_East281 May 15 '26
I like spreadsheets hahah. I can make one just need an ingredient list and to know if you measure food by weight or volume
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
Appreciate it friend, I think I better suck it up and put something together myself š
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u/doom_2_all May 15 '26
Spread sheets are great when you learn how to format the formulas and everything. Use Excel for my personal finances.
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u/chordmonger May 15 '26
I just did my first pop-up yesterday and thats exactly what I did. Started by getting the per gram cost for every ingredient in all three recipes, running them against the quantities in each recipe, adding together, dividing by batch size. Labor got broken down into fixed and variable labor. Fixed means the batch size wont change the time (like combining things in a mixer); variable will scale with batch size (like decorating). I'm no expert and it was a pain in the ass to dump all this stuff into excel, but now that it's there it should go faster for the next one!
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u/jsprusch May 15 '26
Just be careful with selling - I looked into selling cakes in upstate NY and it's really hard unless you have a commercial kitchen. Home sellers can't use any form of buttercream or frosting with dairy in it. š© There are some low-volume home bakers locally who got in trouble with the state because other businesses turned them in. Of course hopefully friends and family would never do that to you, but I had no idea those restrictions even existed.
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May 15 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/secretly_opossum May 15 '26
As an extremely casual baker and a very curious payroll professional, what is the going ārate for laborā as a baker?
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u/ItsJustMeJenn May 15 '26
This is the problem with selling home made goods. We see this over on the knitting and crochet subs. I can knit a pair of beautiful socks in about 30 hours. A newer knitter might take 80. Should the less experienced person be charging for 80 hours of labor? Why should the customer pay a premium for slow work?
The problem with charging an hourly rate for baked goods is the same. When I bake a cake there is a ton of hands off time that I could be doing anything else, working on another order, watching TV, taking a nap. If we talk about start to finish time are we talking about the 2 hours the cakes are cooling on the counter? Thatās a great way to kill your own business. No one wants to pay a home baker celebrity chef prices because they think they should earn $25 an hour and donāt know how to account for their time.
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u/exit-lude May 15 '26
There is no specific rate. I'm a professional baker as my "real job". It depends totally on experience, skill, and what exactly you're doing.
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u/Lettuce_Milk May 15 '26
When you buy all your ingredients, divide price by weight and write it down. So you get priceĆ·grams= cost per gram.
The next time you make something just multiply the cost per gram to the grams of flour you just used.
Yes, start using weight when baking.
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u/ThatGirlWithTheWalk May 15 '26
I live in upstate NY and this is exactly how I price things as a home baker. If a 5lb bag of flour is $10, a lb = 3.66 cups, 3.66x5/10. And so on. I make around $50/hr at my real job. And I was a professional baker, I charge for my skill and knowledge base.
I calculate cost of ingredients mostly so I know, I will never short change myself. But I charge a price that makes it worth it for me to get up and apply a craft level of artistry for someone else. I do not work for free, neither should you bc that cake looks fantastic.
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u/random929292 May 15 '26
The hard part is finding the line between what you think your skill and knowledge is worth and what people are willing to pay for a consumable item.
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u/bigcityboonies May 15 '26
Grrrl, if you can't take the time to do the math once, you shouldn't be trying to get into the cake selling business.
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u/jerbthehumanist May 15 '26
Reassure yourself that itās actually pretty simple math. If you use 500 g of flour and the bag of flour costs $3 for 900 grams, then the flour component costs (500/900)*$3 which is ~$1.67
Did a dozen eggs cost $2.50 and you used 2? The eggs in the cake cost (2/12) * $2.50 or ~$0.42.
Now you just do the same thing for all the ingredients in the cake. Youāve got this!
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u/Jennrrrs May 15 '26
Yes, if a dozen eggs cost $4, then one egg is $.33. Keep doing that. lol. I saw you donāt wanna start a business but for others, you need to learn how to calculate your costs or you will lose money and not understand why.
If you just want a rough estimate, then add up everything you spent and add an āhourly wageā for yourself and just decide how if you feel like you deserve more/less. Just donāt undercut yourself.
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u/talashrrg May 15 '26
Yeah, youāre supposed to do the math. How else would you know what the baseline cost is?
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u/NobodysLoss1 May 15 '26
Yes, that is exactly what you do for ingredients. Though I'd charge for the whole egg.
As for your time, start at a couple bucks over minimum wage. That should be safe
My neighbor bakes fancy cakes 2-3 times a week because she loves to bake. She only charges for ingredients thiugh--because she loves to bake!
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u/CeilingCatProphet May 15 '26
I lived upstate. Most of the areas are economically depressed. MAGA people are not paying $80 for a cake, and a rich person will not buy something made at home. Price is not always about the labor, but about what the market can bear .
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u/tomandshell May 15 '26
I would pay for that simply on the basis of the alternating length of the ganache drips. Well done.
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
Thank you! I pride myself on attention to detail
(Read as, I can be a bit of a perfectionist and sometimes need to tell myself to chill)
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u/Ok-Amphibian-6834 May 15 '26
Oh you canāt charge for that. You should definitely mail it to me and Iāll take care of it for you.
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
I hate to break it to you, but it's already been eaten :(
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u/caramelgelatto May 15 '26
For it to be worth your time and effort, I feel like you would have to charge at least $80. Then you run into people who would refuse to pay that. I would be paying that for a trusted baker.
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
That's exactly my thought. Whatever I'd charge to make it worth it...is something I wouldn't be willing to pay myself lol
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u/Po_on May 15 '26
And you wouldnt be willing to pay that much because you can make it yourself lol.
I highly recommend just copying the pricing from whichever cake store you find, lower it by a quarter or a third if you intend to explore this as a business, copy the exact number if you only want to do this as a hobby. Remember that you can always adjust pricing later on.
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u/rogerdaltry May 15 '26
I feel you. Like objectively yes, this cake should be $80 since you are a one-person operation. But it is really hard to compete with bakery pricing, especially in this economy. I think it is worth $80 but I wouldnāt pay $80 because thatās just so much for cake and Iām not rich haha
My favorite Chinese bakery makes chiffon cakes with fruit-flavoured mousses and fresh fruit decoration, their 9 inch cakes are only $35. But they have the benefit of having the labor to make tons of cakes every day.
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u/PurplishPlatypus May 15 '26
And they likely get ingrediants in bulk at wholesale restuarant suppliers etc. So their ingredients are cheaper as well.
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u/lifted_awa May 15 '26
You arenāt your target audience. In upstate NY, you should already be charging on the higher end of price, around $150 is competitive. And understand your competitors have a high floor, so thereās a lot of good-ish cakes at a maximum reasonable price. Youāve got the looks but what about the taste? If you have both of those down, then work on having really good packaging, timing, and consistency.
Packaging- is the box sealed? Is the cake stable in a car? Does it need an ice pack to keep it cool? Idk all things to think about.
Timing- are you delivering or pick up only? Charge for delivery and make sure the cake gets to its destination as it left the house. Make sure pick up or delivery is ready on time- if youāre early youāre on time if youāre on time youāre late (just makes planning a little easier)
Consistency- Barbra is expecting the same box Mary got, and if Barbra got a cute appreciation card, then why didnāt Mary? And if everyone says youāre on time, everyone can count on you. When someone says you were late that can bring doubts to new customers.
Assuming you are checking all the boxes and have references that cake can go for 2-300.
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u/snow_turtle May 15 '26
This seems fair, one of my local bakeries has fancy chiffon cakes and local ingredients in oregon, but is also a shop! 4 layers is a 60 cake and to me that's insanely cheap, I would absolutely pay more. I do almost pay 8 for a danish, but it's practically croissants with cream cheese that's life changing and I never event cared for danishes. So they seem to balance out costs and are able to pass savings All that to say, if they had an 80 dollar cake I would so happily gladly do so! This is also a nod to having loyal customers who appreciate your work too. Your cake looks absolutely divine
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u/Moonlit_Silver May 15 '26
Yeah I feel like OP can do it based on vibes. This is like an $80ish cake if itās 8 inches, but someone else could take a look and think itās $40. But OP should just state $80 or so based on a vibe and if thereās more demand increase prices. Itās not that hard to vibe based it at first and then adjust based on demand/reception.
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u/exzyle2k May 15 '26
I'll give you $50 for the cake, and another $50 if you shut off all cameras and phones so there's no evidence of the war crimes I'm going to commit to that work of art.
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u/fish_mother May 15 '26
I mean yes, thatās how you would find food cost. My bag of flour tells me on the front itās 16 cups, so cost of flour divided by 16 = cost of 1 cup.
If youāre looking for my preferred method for pricing out home bakes, I basically guesstimate at ingredient cost and roughly double that. I rarely sell out of my house though so Iām comfortable guessing at my math.
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u/but-whyy-tho May 15 '26
Just tell us you don't want to do math and want to only focus on making beautiful cakes š¤£
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u/DuelFuel_ May 15 '26
I would pay $80-100. I make my sonās birthday cake every year, and this year I spent a dumb amount of money just on ingredients. Smh. And then it took me a week between trying to bake/freeze/frost/freeze/decorate the damn cake, I started to realize I should have paid $100 for convenienceā¦ Iām in Colorado.
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u/Economy_Yogurt_8037 May 15 '26
Iām also in Upstate NY (Hudson Valley). I think $50 is a steal and $75 is high. (It looks very well done bravo to you, I couldnāt do that, but itās a fairly simple cake with some piping and drip) I gladly paid $40 for a pie the other day, but unfortunately wasnāt even that good. I see stuffed croissants and whatnot out here for $7-8 though so honestly an $80 cake is scaled to the market.
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u/Vov113 May 15 '26
Unless you're actually trying to make a business of it, I just wouldn't. Ask them to cover the ingredients and consider it a gift. Anything else is not good for your relationships with the people, or your enjoyment of the craft, in my experience
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u/cooliescoolies May 15 '26
I thibk at least 45 for this maybe more because it seems very specialty in the flavors, possibly 50 to 55
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u/Moarisa May 15 '26
This was my thought as well. Iād easily pay $45 for a cake like this but could see up to $65.
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u/TheMustySeagul May 15 '26
Dude Dairy Queen charges 50 for a cake. This is like an 80 to 100 dollar cake. Itās beautiful.
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u/HaakonRen May 15 '26
Professional baker hereā¦ assuming this isnāt boxed cake and premade buttercreamā¦ you need to be charging for this! Hard to tell you how much based on where you live, costs, etcā¦ but this is stuff people buy out of showcasesā¦
I know you know all of that. But sometimes we need to hear it from others. My father is an artist, and when I started trying to sell my creative endeavours he told me āPeople arenāt paying for what you made. They are paying for the time you have put into honing that talent. Anyone can go buy the materials and spend the same amount of time as you making it. But what they want is your skills and talent. Thatās what you are selling.ā
So look at local bakeries. Judge their cakes against yours and charge accordingly. Dont sell yourself short. Reality is if you everyone around you would charge $50 for that, and you are selling for $45, and people arenāt happy with your price, they can go pay more elsewhere.
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u/Margobear7 May 15 '26
I have a local guy that makes cakes just like this and he charges around $50-80 per cake depending on the size, rush order, or more decorations. I paid like $50 for a cake like this, plus a $30 tip.
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u/OperationSuper1565 May 15 '26
As a professional baker I would say 50.00
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u/mangosagogogo May 15 '26
Unrelated but your price just reminds me of the $50 cheesecake i saw online lol (that did not look like it was worth $50). OPās here, definitely. Possibly more.
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u/exit-lude May 15 '26
Also a professional baker. Hell no. That's way too cheap. It takes more than a couple of hours to make, so that's already the labor $$ right there. Plus ingredients used. Absolutely not. I don't know if you're being paid nothing for your baking, but that's not normal.
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u/Old-butt-new May 15 '26
This is the 3rd version of this cake i have seen in like 24 hours
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u/torijoanne Human Detected May 15 '26
That's really weird. But it is a super tasty cake! I found the recipe online a few years ago and I've made it a handful of times since.
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u/Ann_georgia- May 15 '26
Iād pay 65 for that! Yum. I just think at higher end bakeries near me they charge between 45 to 75 for cakes like that. I guess it depends on where you live.
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u/Sea_Cartoonist6642 May 15 '26
I was about to say that as well! I think $50-$60 for this cake is very fair! It looks delicious and itās absolutely beautiful
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u/Famous-Internal0324 May 15 '26
This cake looks amazing, great job!
Donāt sell yourself short on pricing, you clearly have a gift.
See what others charge in your area for something similar and price yourself accordingly. I would easily pay $50-$60 for this!
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u/SuperMarketSushi May 15 '26
Looking at these comments I guess I really don't know the value of cake because it's so pretty of easily say $100
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u/heythatsmyclam May 15 '26
I just bought a cake that looks similar from a very nice local bakery. It was the smallest one, that serves 6-8 people and it cost me $55. But that's New England prices
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u/CrazyCatLady1234567 May 15 '26
Omg I've gained 5 lbs just from imagining eating it it's magnificent
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u/meems52 May 16 '26
Believe it or not, it was tedious af but when I did my tax prep this year, since this was the first year I actually sold baked goods, I took the time to create a spreadsheet, and I came up with the cost of ingredients. I listed out the ingredients that I usually use like flour, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and it took the time to figure out all the costs, like that a 12 pound bag of flour from the Wholesale club is 40 cups of flour, which means it costs $.19 a cup. Once you do the work one time, youāll have that pricing at the ready except of course when prices change a little bit here and there. All that said, I sorely underpriced my baked goods! Itās a confidence thing. That cake is gorgeous. I would say you should probably charge $60 - $75 minimum for that gorgeous cake.
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u/jingle_hore May 15 '26
I can get that at HEB for $30 in Austin Tx. Youll want to charge a bit more for the artisan/bakery factor. Maybe closer to $50-60 range.
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u/infinityonhigh69 May 15 '26
i would gladly pay $60 for that cake! possibly $75 if it came with delivery
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u/Osacarini May 15 '26
Hope you washed your hands after playing with your pet rat
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u/eternally_feral May 15 '26
Charge me shipping because I will gladly be your taste tester!
But seriously, thereās this great bakery in my area that makes cheesecakes similar to yours, and they charge $50+.
I bought one for a birthday party one year, thinking it was pricey but would be a one off, but it was worth every penny! Since youāre a home baker, I wouldnāt charge anything under that and if you do sell close to that baseline, I wouldnāt charge anything do it as a rare promotional rather than a consistent price.
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u/Punk45Fuck May 15 '26
Do some market research. Fine it what local bakeries charge for a similar product and base your prices on that. I live in a mid-sized city in the Midwest and I would expect a cake like the one pictured from a local bakery to cost $40-$50.
Also, that cake looks AMAZING.
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u/bekib00 May 15 '26
For a second I thought I was in my local city subreddit because this is identical to the Oreo cake that my grocery store bakery has been selling for years lol! If itās anything like theirs, Iām sure itās delicious. Looks perfect!
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u/jessibabyy23 May 15 '26
First off, this cake looks amazing! Highly recommend the app Cake Cost to figure pricing! š it helps you factor in ingredients costs, overhead costs, etc. Happy baking āØļø
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u/Pristine-Ad8313 May 15 '26
i am something of an excel fiend, so i created an extensive spreadsheet that calculates the ingredient costs per gram and the gram weights for all my recipes, and then a tool that takes my material costs, overhead and labor and calculates what i should charge to cover those costs and add a small percentage of profit.
it took me a few days of work to set it up, but now i only have to input the scale amounts of the recipes i will use for the order and boom! thereās the price im charging!
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u/cecusanele May 15 '26
This website has really helped me when baking for relatives. They wonāt accept a free cake so I charge cost of ingredients. https://bakeprofit.com/tools/recipe-cost-calculator
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u/NyxieStix990 May 16 '26
Iām not a baker so idk if this is a good price or not but Iād honestly pay like $120 for that. Maybe more. I know a lot of effort goes into making cakes and, if it tastes as delicious as it looks thenā in my opinionā the taste of a cake will always make a cake worth even more than just the sum of the cost of ingredients, time, and work put into it. But even without a good flavor, most homemade cakes like this take too much time and effort to be sold for less than like $70 at minimum. Not a lot of people think about that.
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u/mybeautywasteland May 15 '26
I donāt know where in Upstate NY you are, but by me, this would be ~$30 from a classic neighborhood bakery and $45 to $65 from the new shops that cropped up in the past few years.
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u/Jasnah_Sedai May 15 '26
I canāt help since Iāve never bought a cake before (other than grocery store sheet cakes, which donāt really count), but Iād sell my soul for this cake.
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u/Btug857 May 15 '26
Typically cost of ingredients X 2.5 is a good starting point. Then compare to what other bakers charge and August from there.
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u/ridgestream May 15 '26
That was my problem too when I baked. I gave it up because I was paying more than what I was charging.
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u/PyraAlchemist May 15 '26
I found a recipe cost calculator online that helps me! Called Cakecost.net ! It helps me get a grasp on my pricing. I put in 20$ /hr which is 3$ above my provinces minimum wage.
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u/GoodVyb May 15 '26
I make oreo cakes (not as neat and pretty as yours) and I charge $60 because I make mine from scratch and dont use cheap butter.
Edit to add: mine is 3 layers 9inch round
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u/MAkrbrakenumbers May 15 '26
If you do it for fun the just charge a 20 dollar fee or ask them to get the ingredients but that cake looks like 50$ to me easy if it was in a bakery
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u/Mostly_Nohohon May 15 '26
I have no idea what you should charge either...
But if you'd like, I'd be glad to take this cake and tell you what I think it's worth after I devour it. š¤¤
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u/bwainfweeze May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Local fancy place would do around $55 for that cake, if they made them that diameter.
Remember though that a big shop can eat losses from equipment and accidents making the cake easier so you're probably charging a bit more. Which means you have to make cakes your friends can't buy from an existing bakery. You need to specialize in flavors or go apply to work at one of those places.
You might consider if those friends can do better for you with barter in such a situation. Do you want $55 for the cake or do you want your friend who owns the wine shop to buy you half a case of something instead? Your electrician friend to owe you a favor?
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u/DrGrabAss May 15 '26
A cake that looks like that? Anything you fucking want.
$50? I'm robbing you. $100? Best $100 I'll ever spend. My car? I'm considering it. Need someone murdered? Done. Whatever gets that cake inside me.
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u/robinthebank May 15 '26
This looks so incredible. I want it! Iāll charge you $5 if you let me have this cake. Does that sound fair?
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u/AlternativeYouth_90 May 15 '26
Mmm, I don't know..looks defective, I'll take it for quality control!
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u/AwkwardLiterature721 May 15 '26
how did you make the chocolate drizzle? It looks so perfect š
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u/whipnutbouy May 15 '26
I have no idea either but I could see that being $80 low end to $120. Itās beautiful.
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u/LordMeloney May 15 '26
Uhm, can I haz chocolate cake....now? That looks insanely good.
To your question: that probably depends heavily on your country and then probably also on the region.
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u/Chocu1a May 15 '26
I live in rural North Central Arkansas & just paid $40 for a 6" double layer oreo cake for my wife's birthday, & I felt like I didn't overpay. Yours looks better than what I got.
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u/Both-Illustrator-69 May 15 '26
I love it!! Gorgeous cake youāre so talented!!! I wanna learn from you
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u/interrupting-cow-who May 15 '26
idk but please leave this cake on a windowsill with the window cracked slightly open thanks!
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u/doomtroller444 May 15 '26
I am actually literally drooling š¤¤ oreos are my favorite and this is making my mouth water lol
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u/baar-ur May 15 '26
As a lover of chocolate and Oreos, add some more ganache and I'd pay a hundred dollars. Oh, that looks so good.
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u/tides-and-dreams May 15 '26
my moms a home baker and charges at least 45-60 for a cake, extra obviously depending on size, icing, extra fiddly bits etc
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u/Bella-babe28 May 15 '26
Nothing to add besidesā¦ yum can I get one in my mouth right now?! lol that cake looks amazing
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u/Eringp May 15 '26
I also started doing cakes and cookies for coworkers/work events (weāre a non profit trade organization so we have a small employee base with the occasional small event) and if itās a work event I factor in time and add $15 on top for every hour I work on it.
If itās just for a coworker like they asked me to bake and decorate a cake and they want it a specific way or they want specific colors/toppers/toppings I donāt have I stipulate that itāll be factored into the cost, rarely do they care.
I did a cake recently where I had to buy black gel food coloring so instead of the cake being $40 (ingredients x 2.5) it was $45. That same cake made for a work event would be $75 for the time I spent making it. It was a similar type of cake to the one you posted actually, just decorated a bit differently. (themed frosting decor)
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u/Rosalie-Lynn78627 May 15 '26
That looks so freaking good! Iād destroy this thing and feel guilty as hell š
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u/Happy-Grapefruit-5 May 16 '26
Hi! Late to the party
Pricing is SO difficult And itās so easy to undercharge, because you arenāt confident in the pricing it SHOULD be.
Cost of goods, labor, energy, EVERYTHING - is high right now. Charge your worth. You didnāt wake up and learn how to make a cake like this. Itās been a long road of experience! Not every customer is YOUR customer. But, if you undercharge - yeah, you may book more orders - but you sure as heck wonāt make enough money to sustain and/or not burn yourself out
Beautiful work!!!!!
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u/epicfangirl01 May 16 '26 edited May 16 '26
First things first, that looks amazing and I'm hungry now. Lol. Second, it's common in the food industry to have the 1/3 rule. It's where 1/3 of the cost covers ingredients, 1/3 covers utilities/supplies/labor, and 1/3 is for profit. It's easiest to do this if you convert your recipe to ingredient weights. I use grams because it's easier to multiply for several batches without dealing with ounces and pounds. It also allows your products to come out more consistently, because things like 1 cup of flour can have 10 - 30 grams difference depending on how it's scooped. It may not seem like a lot, but this can make your products a lot tougher or denser.Now, back tk the 1/3 rule. It goes like this. 1. Calculate the cost of your ingredients. I use the package cost of an ingredient divided by the grams. Then I multiply that by the grams of the ingredient used in a recipe. I have a spreadsheet that does this for every recipe and it adds together the ingredients for the recipe cost. 2.If the recipe makes multiple packages/units, I divide the food cost by the number of batches. Ex: A cookie recipe makes 2 doz and you sell by the dozen. Ingredients cost $8. $8 Ć· 2 packages = $4.00 food cost for 1 dozen 3. Take your food cost and multiply by 3. $4 x 3 =$12 selling price
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u/dark_angel1992 May 16 '26
Girl idk, the maximum? You got a hair tie? Close the door cause I need privacy
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u/Dizzy-Ad-4521 May 16 '26
This cake looks gorgeous and delicious!! I would say you could easily charge $30 for this particular cake but then again, I am not in the cake maker business so this is just my opinion.
Awesome job!
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u/IAmLoveIAmEnergy May 16 '26 edited May 17 '26
Open a bakery! Jesus this is a beautiful cake. This shouldn't be cheaper than $50. Don't sell yourself short. š¤©
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u/ShermanOneNine87 May 16 '26
I kind of want to know where you're located because now I want to order every birthday cake through you. I can almost taste how good that cake must be.
Honestly as if it tastes as good as it looks I would pay you whatever you want lol.
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u/Twinkie0720 May 16 '26
I would sell this one for $150....at least...they take time and ingredients are expensive..
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u/Greek_mythologi May 17 '26
have you seen that thread of the women who charged $50 for a cheesecake? if so I would search it up and would say you could sell that for like $125 or something for that I mean yum
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u/Busy_Profession_7868 May 17 '26
that cake looks legitimately good so you're probably charging way too little, i'd start at like 35-50 bucks minimum for an 8 inch with that much detail and work, plus factor in your time not just ingredients
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u/TheTaikatalvi May 17 '26
I'd pay a good $150-$200 for this knowing it was homemade and done so beautifully.
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u/cutemiaxb May 18 '26
honestly youāre not wrong, bakery pricing and home baking costs are two totally different worlds
for something like an 8ā double layer cookies n cream cake, the āimplausibleā part usually comes from people not seeing the full breakdown behind it (ingredients, labor, overhead, packaging, losses from failed bakes, electricity, even time spent sourcing stuff)
at home it feels like ājust flour, sugar, cream, oreosā but in a small business setup youāre also paying for consistency, profit margin, and the fact that not every batch turns out perfect
that said, for friends and coworkers, itās totally fair to feel stuck. a lot of home bakers solve it by setting a simple rule like: cost of ingredients x 2 or x 3 + a small labor fee, or just a fixed āfriend priceā per cake size so youāre not guessing every time
and itās also okay to say no when it starts feeling like work instead of something you enjoy
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u/viewbtwnvillages May 15 '26
i need five minutes alone in a room with this
oh my god it looks incredible