Guide
How to price a custom cake
Cakes are harder to price than cookies because one cake is made from several recipes plus boards, boxes and a lot of decorating time. Here’s how to put it together.
Break the cake into recipes
Price each component as its own recipe batch: the sponge, any filling, and the frosting. Then decide how much of each batch one cake uses. For example, an 8-inch two-layer cake might use one batch of sponge and about 0.8 of a batch of buttercream.
Add the non-edible extras
Cake board, box, dowels, toppers, sprinkles, ribbon, a printed card. These are easy to forget and can add several dollars per cake.
Count decorating time separately
Crumb coating, smoothing, piping and writing often take longer than baking. Track it and price it at your hourly rate. If a design takes an extra hour, it costs an extra hour.
Price per serving helps customers compare
Many cake makers quote by the serving. Divide the cake’s price by the number of servings it gives (for example 16 party slices from an 8-inch round). It makes a larger cake easier to justify and easier to compare.
Example
| Part | Cost |
|---|---|
| Vanilla sponge, 1 batch (incl. 40 min work) | $19.02 |
| Buttercream, 0.8 batch (incl. 12 min work) | $10.64 |
| Board, box, sprinkles & topper | $5.45 |
| Assembly & decorating, 60 min at $20/h | $20.00 |
| Overhead, 10% | $5.51 |
| True cost | $60.62 |
| Fair price at a 40% margin (rounded up) | $101.25 |
| Per serving (16) | $6.33 |
Example uses example ingredient prices. Your numbers will differ.