How much to charge for specialty cakes

by micah
(modesto, california)

Hi! I mostly do specialty/custom cakes and I have no idea how much to charge. Your wedding cake price guide was really helpful but I can't find a guide on how much to charge for specialty sculpted cakes. I attached a photo of a sponge bob cake I made.

-it took me 9 hours from measuring the ingredients to the last details of sponge bob's face.
-made of colored marshmallow fondant
-2 layers of red velvet cake which are 9x13
-cream cheese frosting

How much would I charge for that for example? and what are general the rules for charging for custom cakes?
Thank you in advance and I love your website.

Hi Micha,
First of all I LOVE your Sponge Bob cake. He is one of my favorite cartoon characters. You did a nice job making him.

How much to charge for a specialty cake largely depends on where you live and how much people are willing pay. If you lived in the heart of San Francisco or New York City you could charge more for your cake than if you are living in the outskirts.

You will need to decide how much your time is worth first. Factor in the cost of the ingredients and the materials and then come up with a fair price for your area.

The ingredients are usually not too high, unless you are purchasing your fondant premade. The real cost is your time.
When it comes to specialty cakes it seems you can never charge enough. I know how much of your heart and soul you put into that cake but the customer probably doesn't realize the effort quite as much as we do.

I live in CT about one and a half hours from NYC. Generally, I charge 3.00 per serving for party cakes, but that is not a specialty price. I would add onto that an additional 1.00 or 2.00 per slice
or $50 for a 9x13 cake. But again it depends on the difficulty of the job and the time I will be spending.

I also work part time at a bakery in a more affluent area and they made a sculpted car cake recently with fondant and charged close to $500 for it. I could not get that much for the same cake where I live. Probably half of that.
Call some bakeries in the area and ask them how much they charge. Even though your cakes are more personalized than a bakery and much better tasting I am sure, this will help with your decision . I hope that helps.

Good luck with your business.