30 Replies

That’s great to hear that Florida passed their law! Do you have a Facebook account? Lots of home/small businesses create a specific Facebook account that they can use for getting the word out. Are you allowed to make sales over the internet? Texas just passed our Cottage Food Law but we can’t sell over the internet. If you’re not allowed, maybe you can just start either a WordPress or Blogger blog and post your information and photos there.

In Florida, you can’t ship orders received through the internet – I’m pretty sure you can have a website, but the client must be local since he/she must either pick up the cake, or you need to deliver it. Thansk for the tip on WordPress or starting a blog. I appreciate it.

I started out with my personal FB page…I friended every single person I could in my small town. And then I took pictures of every cake,cookie and anything else and posted regularly. Also, my first few orders were for some businesses having open houses and it was good word-of-mouth (make friends with every hairdresser in town for the best word-of-mouth advertizing,lol) As far as pricing goes- visit some local bakeries and see what they charge, do NOT try to compete with grocery store prices- people who are looking for a ‘deal’ should go to the grocery store-they are not your customers-forget them….your customers will be people who are looking for custom designs, fresh baked items, quality ingredients and they will know that this costs money. And again, I cannot emphasize how important it is to be-friend the hair salons in your area….this is where your customers will be (females with expendle incomes) Best of luck to you! :)

I find the best way to get the word out is through my Mom groups…. I have a 5 year old so through our soccer team, basketball team, playdates, PTA, birthday parties all are great ways to spread the word. It’s easy to start a conversation about cake! Donate a cake or some cookies to your local school bake sale and watch the word spread like wildfire! It might take some freebies at first, but it works!

Thank you for the advice – I have donated cakes for fundraisers and will continue to do so – it’s a win-win for both sides… My children are all grown so I’m now relaying on them to spread the word – once I have an official website, I think that may help… I have so many ideas for great cakes – now I just need clients – my poor husband and Mom (she’s 91) can’t eat any more cake – they’ve both gained weight since I made them my official cake testers… LOL…

i would suggest contacting www.savoirfairemedia.com. they are really good at branding you and promoting. They make the best logos and websites, especially in this industry. Def create a FB page. it’s the best for your local business and you can have your friends share the site with their friends. Don’t worry soon they will come. Best of luck!

as far as pricing goes. You price your cakes at what it’s worth. Don’t worry about the people that want an elaborate cake for nothing. People will love what you do and word will get around. Just be firm and confident on your pricing and I would suggest you keep your orders at a minimum cost. I have mine set at orders starting at $125.

Thank you Karen – I appreciate the feedback – I have to work on my prices – right now I’m charging $2.50/serving for buttercream and $3.25/ps for fondant. It’s probably on the low side so I really have to figure out my actual cost including ingredients, materials & time. :)))

A Facebook page is a definite must-have! Share it with your friends and tell them to share it with the rest of their friends! It’ll slowly grow :)

In terms of a website, I created mine through a website called wix.com with which you can make your own fully customizable professional website – and it’s SO easy! I’m not sure if it’s your thing but it’s easy to get very creative with it. The only thing however is that you will have to pay for the web hosting (which you would for any website).

I have a facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/FunFetti-Cakes/271035662917797
My son is working on getting me a web page – can’t wait!!!

my website was created through wix.com as well. Good Luck DJ. :)

Lots of good advice ^
Pricing is also one of my biggest challenges. After years of giving cakes as my gift for baby parties, graduations, birthdays, etc. I am trying to make a small legit business. I too have a hard time charging what cake art is worth, & yes, seems most folks have no idea how much goes into a finished cake. I have compared my work to others I admire & felt are similar to my skill level & used that to help me price my cake art. Also do not compare yourself to the grocery store. it’s like apples & oranges, 2 different things. Remember it is edible art! I have settled for now on $100 minimum, $4/BC, $5/Fondant;per serv. min 25 serv. Hand- sculpted, custom sugar pieces start @$2 for dessert toppers and $15 for cake toppers. I usually try to work with someones’ budget and in this economy have also made a few really good trades!! (Ijoy massage chair, yard service, & work on my truck!!) Happy Caking!

To help you price your cakes, I can’t say enough good things about this software:

http://www.cakeboss.com/Default.aspx

I didn’t realize how much I was undercharging till I started using it.

It’s soo good to hear all the different opinions and experiences. I’m in the same boat. I started my business about 3 years ago and have done alot of marketing (FREE ofcourse) to get the word out. I created a facebook page and a twitter login. I have come across clients who value what I do and the time I put into doing it and I’ve also come across clients who want everything for a very minimal cost. Initially I was very flexible with everyone and then i realized that I was putting alot of money and time into this and not making any profit at all. I also have a fulltime job so I do alot of advertising at work as well..(mostly by making baked goods and taking it in..yes i know..another Free marketing source) but I guess starting out you will be putting in more money than making out of it. Good Luck to all :)

I understand exactly what you are going through. I started doing custom cakes in June of this year, and I feel that I am not selling my cakes at the right price. What everyone does not realize that it takes time, and money to make a custom cake. So clients try to get me to sell a 3d cakr for $50.00, and I think that is way under budget to sell a custom cake.

Deedee, I know what you mean. I just went through a similar experience. The client wanted a birthday cake for 30 people, plus a dozen cupcakes going around it – she also wanted three different flavors – and, of course, the decorations done in gumpaste – all for $50 or less. Quite an undertaking – I had to “lower” her expectactions by explaining that pricing a custom-made cake was based on the length of her “wish list.” I think that drove the point home.

Deedee and Funfetti , i see its been some time since your last msgs, i was wandering if you had any luck with customers and pricing? i am also new in the home cake business…its been a little over a year, and i find it very hard to keep a minimun price…. and giving the customer what they want for the price tag they are willing to pay!
hope you are having better luck

Hi, there… I’m still not comfortable with pricing – I know what needs to be said, but being new at this business makes it difficult to carry out – LOL!

I’m getting better at setting a price – I now feel that it’s up to the person if he/she wants to spend the money to display a beautiful cake at their party – at the end of the day, anything that is custom-made will be more expensive than something off the rack – or off the shelf as in the case of cakes!

If you have lots of ideas but are waiting on the customers, start working on dummy cakes! Styrofoam is pretty inexpensive. Fondant isn’t cheap, but think of it as your marketing budget! That way you’ll be able to showcase your great ideas, and have some display cakes around for when you start meeting with customers outside of your family & friends.

@ funfetti..thanks for getting back to me so fast…i understand what you mean..but sometimes i feel i donrt want to lose the customer…then drop the price!!it must stop i know..i am slowly raising the price…wish me luck! oh and love the pics ive seen so far…esp the shoe and purse cake..amazing!great job!!

@ wildorchid…first can i say i just caught a glimpse of the latest wedding cake you uploaded, it is fabulous..! thank you for the dummy cakes idea…i will definitely try that!

Hi everyone! I think this is the hardest issue when it comes to decorating. We all decorate cause we love doing it and a lot of us want to make it into a successful business. Sadly alot of us have done the “cheaper” cakes and it isn’t really much help. I rather donate a cake than do it for cheap cause that can spread like wildfire and than everyone will come to you cause you do awesome cakes for hardly anything. Here are a few tips I have learned some most the hard way and some from others who learned it the hard way….

1) Figure out how much your cake is actually costing you to make it. That number is usually alot higher than we think it is.
2) Don’t worry about scaring off the customer with your price. Ask them what they want, give them a quote, ask them their budget than tell them what you can do for their budget. You shouldn’t cut your profit in order to make them happy but you can try and work with their budget. I think of it this way, do I really want to cut into time with my family to stay up late working on a cake that I charged 50 bucks for but spent 30 in supplies….no and neither should you.
3) If they are really fighting for a cheap price and being difficult about the design, flavors, price etc…do you really want to do a cake for them? Some times you get someone you know will never be pleased with your work no matter how hard you try and it’s best to tell them sorry you can’t do their cake. Better than you being in tears and them being mad.
4) Ignore grocery store bakery prices! You can not compete with them and if you got someone that wants a cake for their prices that person is not a client for you.
5) Remember why you started decorating, it’s a labor of love but try not to make it into another chore.
6) If your doing cakes for free be careful, it becomes hard when you do them free for a friend and than a acquaintance, before you know it your doing it for free for everyone cause everyone is your friend when you do it for free. My teacher told me, never do cakes for free, not even for family and I understand that better now. If I really don’t want to charge them I still make them trade me something, they feel better and so do I, . Babysit my kids one night, make me some cake stands, teach me something. I know this one may not apply to you funfetti but I thought someone might find it useful :)

I’m sure I can think of more but it’s late and my brain went to bed a hr ago. Get practice dummies for play, make your own MMF (marshamallow fondant) it’s cheap and works great. I also take extra batter from cake orders and bake all sorts of different shaped cakes to practice on later. That way I dont waste anything and later I can make a cake I wanted to do.

This is just from my personally experience, I knew the guidelines and I still broke them, sometimes you have to learn the hard way for things to stick. Last year was one of my busiest, most fun decorating year ever, but I made hardly anything and pretty much all my time into the decorating. This year I will do it again but stick to my prices, when no one comes work on projects I wanted to make and most importantly enjoy my free time with my family and my long lost friend name Sleep.

I’m happy they lifted that law funfetti! I live in AK and they are going to lift it I think. We are a military family so chances will be next time we move we will get put into a state that it’s not allowed again. Best of luck to all of you and keep us posted :)

Hi, Jessica,

Thank you so much for your words of wisdom. You are absolutely right – this year I will try to remember all the good advice I have received and value my work.

I hate this part of the cake business! I am brand new and still learning, but I already have people asking me to make cakes. My cakes seem babyish (to me) next to some of the other ladies here on island decorating. So, I don’t feel like I can charge nearly what they do because my work isn’t nearly as good as theirs. But, I also don’t want to “undercut” them and cause them to lose business. So, where is the happy medium? I want to keep getting orders so that I can keep learning, but I don’t want to upset the fabulous decorators here because they all seem wonderful and they are amazing artists. Any suggestions?

I am new at cake decorating. I am passionate about cake but that is not the reason i decided to make it a business. I lost my job a year ago, right at the end of my pregnancy. It has been really hard to find a job again. So since i already had a culinary art degree i decided to take a cake decorating course and start my own business. But its not as rewarding as i tought it could be. In the past when it was just for fun, all my friends and family loved my cakes and baking goods. But when i decided to charge, they did not want anything at all from me LOL. I charge my cakes and other baked goods based on ingredients, servings and the time i put into it. I asked my family for help and in return i give them a discount on their next order. I just have a few pics on my fb page because is kind of new and its has been slow for me. I like to admire other people’s talent but never ever compare to them. A 5 year old could replicate my job. And it takes a lot of effort to become a pro and make a cake similar to the ones here. But i guess i should not punish my self and just keep trying. Good luck with your business.

@jrmom I think you are underestimating your work. Practice makes perfect, so the more you work at it, the better you’ll get. I am in the same boat as you. I started cake decorating this year. I also have a culinary degree that pushed me to do something more. So I’m sure you’ll do good. And I wish you luck on your venture!

I linked myself with a venue and got a constant stream of requests for novelty cakes. When I price them I always include my time and shopping time, baking, clearing up – as otherwise what is the point. If the cake cannot be bought at the local supermarket because it is so unique in its design – then people will not expect you to be making them for supermarket prices. So make sure you develop your craft so that it is way superior to the machine made cakes. In all honesty I never once had anyone query and quibble with me around price and I got paid exactly what I asked for every time. People just knew – if they asked for a little cake or a quick cake – my retort always was – I do not do little nor quick, supermarket that way…. please. It is a case of standing firm, creating something a bit different that people want to pay your price for and honing your skills so that your work is outstanding and worth the money.

It is so hard when you first start but now that I have been doing it for a couple of years you realize how hard you work and how many hours you put into it. Plus at first you try so hard to make it so beautiful that you spend more money than you make. Now I have gotten tougher and state my price as soon as they ask for a cake to eliminate any misunderstanding. I just now got a call for 12 mini cupcakes and she wants 2 flavors!!! I used to do it but now I won’t take orders of less than 24 and one flavor only. It is a lot of work and not worth turning on the oven, the whole kitchen mess for 12 mini cupcakes. The box alone with the liner cost me almost $2. So what is the point. I wish someone would put out a commercial educating people on how it is so customers would understand better. Anyways, just venting from phone call and happened to see this post. Have an awesome day!!!

I’m starting to brand my business as well. I’ve started a bit backwards, signing up for every local or semi local event I can find from flea markets to fruit stands working my way up to the local bridal show this summer. Pricing is difficult for me, someone recently recommended CakeUlator it’s an app for like $8. It allows you to save recipes and imput them by cups, ounces, etc. they update the prices every 30 days & let you add the cost of boxes, boards, ribbon, fondant, your hourly rate, decorating time, delivery, & shopping. It also let’s you send quotes via email or text. I was looking into the CakeBoss program but I thought I would start with the $8 CakeUlator. They have lots of useful tips on their website about designing your site, business plans, etc. I’ve found it very helpful!

Do you guys use separate charts and pricing structures for party and wedding cakes? The Wilton chart seems too small in some cases, but everyone in my area seems to use it. I have been using Earlenes but I’m afraid of confusing potential customers.

1) Make amazing cakes
2) Make a facebook page

If it is going really really well after those steps (500 orders+)
3) Make a website even if it’s just contact info or even better includes a shopping cart
4) Keep on shouting about your amazing cakes, NEVER SHUT UP!