How to price a cake
A fair cake price covers four things. Leave one out and you end up paying to bake.
- Ingredients you actually use. Work out each one from the package price: price ÷ package size × amount used. The table above does this for you and converts between units like pounds and ounces or cups and teaspoons.
- Packaging and decorations. Boxes, boards, dowels, toppers and ribbon add up fast.
- Overhead. Your oven's power, wear on your equipment, card fees and listing fees. A percentage of the ingredient and packaging cost is the simplest way to include it.
- Your time. Count every hour, from shopping and baking to decorating, cleaning up and messaging the customer.
Then add profit on top. Profit is what lets you buy a new mixer or take a week off, and it's separate from your hourly wage.
Price per slice
Customers often compare cakes by price per serving, so the calculator shows it next to the total. Use the serving calculator to count slices from your tier sizes, then send the total up to the pricing tool.
Example
Take the example ingredients already in the calculator: about $12 for a buttercream cake. Add $4 of packaging, 15% overhead and 3 hours at $20, and the cost comes to about $78. With 20% profit, that's $95, or just under $4 a slice for 24 slices. Your numbers will be different, which is exactly why it's worth working them out.
Pricing smaller bakes? Try the cookie pricing calculator or the cupcake pricing calculator.
Questions
How do I price a cake?
Add up the cost of the ingredients you actually use, your packaging, a share of your overheads (power, equipment, fees) and your time at a fair hourly rate. Then add a profit margin. The calculator does each step and shows the price per slice so you can compare it with local bakeries.
How do I work out ingredient cost?
Divide the package price by the package size, then multiply by the amount the recipe uses. For example, a 5 lb bag of flour at $4.00 is $0.05 per ounce, so 12 ounces costs $0.60. Use the same unit for the package and the amount.
What hourly rate should I charge?
Pay yourself at least what you would earn in a job, and remember to count decorating, shopping, cleaning up and talking to the customer, not just baking time.
How many servings are in a cake?
It depends on the slice size. This calculator uses the two common cuts for 4-inch-tall tiers: wedding slices of 1 × 2 inches and party slices of 1.5 × 2 inches. A round tier's servings come from its area, so a 1 × 2 inch slice serves about 25 from an 8-inch round.
Can I use this for cookies and cupcakes?
Yes. Enter the ingredients for a whole batch and set servings to the number of cookies or cupcakes in the batch to get a price per piece.
Estimates only. Check your local cottage food rules for what you're allowed to sell from home.