Dreaded Cake Pricing! Am I undercharging! (UK)

I find it so hard to price too! How many hours did it take you to make it all? And what was the cost off all the ingredients & materials? I bet you’ll find you’re working for minimum wage, which is so sad as your so talented! I have a matrix spreadsheet to work out my costs which £10 an hourly rate, but I rarely end up charging that much as it just sounds too much, and often I want to make the cake so much (because I enjoy it so much) that I end up being paid less than minimum wage! Not a very good business strategy, but I just love it too much! Am trying to stick to my guns a bit more & quote the price on my martrix otherwise I’ll never make any money, but it’s hard isn’t it! Fiona x

I’m dreadful at pricing as well but I try and have a base price for each size. £45 for 8" £35 for 6" and I don’t even have 4" tins yet but would aim for £20/25 I imagine (haven’t calculated that) then I add on for models etc. I include a basic level of decoration in the base price but would want more for the building blocks. My models are between £5-£10 depending on how complex (which is ludicrous as I’ve spent over 3 hours on one before! Ha!) I’ve been very candid haven’t I but I don’t think we need to be secretive over pricing, there’s far too much of that in the world of cake. My rough price for his cake would be £120-£130. Your cakes are amazing Laura, I’m surprised you aren’t charging much more!

Im also surprised you arent charging more Laura! Your cakes are very proffesional looking and I can see you aim to execute them perfectly. I do see your point though, im just a hobby baker really, but, I have charged the odd stranger who wanted a cake. I found it so difficult, and dreaded telling them a price as high as it was. But, then when i think to myself about all the hard work, time, effort and high price of quality ingredients used, I do see that it is justified.
Its a 3 tier cake! If the models were a bride and groom and you placed an elegant flower on, it would now be a wedding cake and the bride would have no problem paying £300 upwards for that cake. We have to value our skills more! :-)

I totally agree with Christine!!!

Hi Laura I would have charged around the same… £110-£125

I’m the same it’s so hard when people want 3 tiers this would take longer to make than a few flowers and would charge so much more if it where for a wedding cake I would charge £120 for this though, I have a set price list for each tier I add them up then work out how many hours decoration and charge £10ph but still get this wrong as I always get carried away and start adding things or changing things so spend more time on it lol

£110 seems v low for this gorgeous cake!
I struggle with pricing too but on my basic covered cake price alone I would have charged £110 before the added decorations.
I follow your page via facebook & I guess it’s easy to assume that someone as talented as you would have things ‘all figured out’ in terms of pricing but I guess it’s where most people fall down.
Do you make Wedding cakes? I think as a decorator it feels so much easier to put a higher price on a wedding cake but when it comes to celebration cakes (esp childrens I think) I know I tend to work it out using the cake app I have & think – ooh, no that’s too high & charge lower! Ridiculous really but I do think people are prepared to pay the true cost of cake when it comes to weddings but not ‘celebration’ cakes.

Minimum of £150 for a three tier cake with all those models, Try using the CostACake app, you will be surprised how much we all undercharge :-)

Where can I find a martrix I have trouble pricing cakes also

If you have a smart phone, download Cost a Cake Pro, I think it costs only a few quid. It takes a bit of time to set up, but I use it all the time to price my cakes, you add all your recipes into the app, along with extras, like cake boxes, boards, icing etc., then there is also an option to add an hourly rate and calculate the hours spent on the cake, the app then tells you the total cost x