I made a red velvet, sun and moon cake for a friend.
I'm not a professional but have been making cakes for friends and family for over 4 years now.
It was a creamcheese ermine buttercream frosting I made to make sure it would withstand travel and 26-29°c weather for 3-4 hours. And it did.
I priced it at 950 INR. My friend thought it was too much for a 500g cake. My material cost was around 400-450 INR.
Would genuinely like to know if I'm overcharging😥.
by nehart3
40 Comments
Okay so i do not know how prices are around your area. Because in american dolkars that is about 10 dollars which is a very low price for this work.
But figuring that half of it is ingredients. I would say for the time you may needed to make these it is failry priced. But could be a bit lower as a friends discount, but defently not overpriced imo.
Great cakes, lovely colours. Be proud of your work.
You should have charged even more in my opinion. It’s a lovely cake and your time is valuable.
I don’t think so! I’m in the US so I had to convert the amounts (it comes to just under $11) and you can’t even get a cake at a grocery store for that price! Not to mention homemade is always better than store bought!
Friends and family usually don’t realize how much goes into making something homemade. You have time, electricity/gas to bake, water/soap to clean all the dishes used etc.
I looked up the conversion and 900 INR would be like $10 US?? Or did I do the math wrong? In the USA I would charge about $100 US for a cake like that in a HCOL area. It’s the care that you took to make sure that it would withstand weather and travel requirements. And it’s beautiful.
Not sure how INR works.. but the usd conversion is $10 which is EXTREMELY cheap. I would pay around $30 usd for that. And I would say that’s still on the cheaper end. Ultimately, if you think it’s fair pricing- it probably is. No one can put a price on your labor except for you.
Did quick search on cost of ingredients in INR and I think this is fair price for the design!!
That seems reasonable to me. They are great looking cakes, and your fee needs to cover the ingredients, the skills you’ve developed and your time.
950 INR seems perfectly reasonable, since places like Flury’s have stuff for about 300 INR, and that’s just for a small slice.
but it really will depend on where you are, and if others in your area offer the same service for less
it sounds like you two had misaligned expectations about price.
You are not a professional, and you were baking for a friend. “overcharging” isn’t super relevant here.
I’d try to introspect on your own expectations: did you expect to be compensated for labor? did you expect to make a profit?
Talk with your friend about what you were looking to get out of this, and genuinely ask her what her expectations were.
Your friendship here is far more important than the money, or either of your pride ❤️
And your cakes are gorgeous!
I would have charged AT LEAST 13,000 inr. Your friend is crazy.
Obviously Reddit is a global website but it tends to skew towards the US, so hopefully some other Indian people can weigh in here. Google says 950INR is $10.50USD, which is very little here, so I don’t think you’ll find anyone to say you overcharged. Your piping and lettering could be more polished, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone charging $60-$80USD for a similar order. Maybe there is a more localized subreddit you can post in, or take note of what other bakeries (and especially home bakers) in your area are charging and see how you compare. Some universal advice, however, is that your price should reflect cost of materials + cost of labor + profit %. You will always have people who don’t think your prices are “worth it” no matter how much or how little you charge, and you just have to accept that they’re not the clients for you. Undercharging is probably one of the biggest hurdles to overcome as a home business, but as your skills and methods continue to improve, you will become more confident in your pricing as well and those “too expensive!” comments will be easily ignored when there’s a line of other clients happy to pay for your work. 😎
I’m sure I’ve read that a professional should price their cakes at 3x materials costs – for overheads and skill.
You seem not to be commercial and this was for a friend, so 1300 would have been the full retail cost, so it sounds to me like you charged a good ‘mates rates’ price, for a well made quality product – be proud!
In CAD that is like $15, you should have charged more, IMO
You aren’t overcharging at all.
I think it depends. Were you making a cake for a friend, and they reimbursed you for your time and ingredients? Or were they hiring you as a cake decorator to make a cake? Is it a cake mix? Or did you bake it from scratch?
My recommendation for the future is to decide on prices ahead of time. Figure out how long it takes you to bake and decorate a cake like this, figure out your ingredient/materials/travel costs, build in a profit to make it worth your while, and charge appropriately. Perhaps one price for strangers, but with a standard discount percentage for friends and family. That way they know before you bake the cake whether they think the price will be worth it, and they can go elsewhere if they don’t like it. One standard way of pricing food, assuming the preparation time isn’t too much, is just take your ingredient costs and double or triple it, which is what you did.
It’s beautifully done, and you’re clearly talented. By the standards of where I live in the US, that price would be very, very, cheap. A SLICE of cake from the store would cost at least 500 INR.
If your friend is unhappy with paying you for your time and skill, they can ask someone else.
It looks very professional I’m sure it wasn’t too much
Im in the US (California)
Adding:
Eggs here are $5-10 a carton. Granted you have ingredients already and you’d be using a fraction —If I went to the store to make cake, it would costs me $10 for a box cake and frosting. $15 for restock ingredients making it from scratch and about $30-$40 if I need everything starting new. Time and labor not included.
Not sure what resources you have on hand or what is easy / difficult to source with your funds. Maybe your friend was expecting free?
Edit: while the decoration isn’t hyper fancy, it’s also charming and more complex than a single square. That alone is worth more than $10. You charged your a friend discount price IMO.
Probably no. It’s hard to say since the financial situation between our countries differs so much and a simple conversion of the price won’t really help. I’m in the Netherlands so keep that in mind when reading this.
First of all, your price needs to cover expenses AND hourly pay. This is not some 8-at-the-time-in-the-oven cake. This is a craft. For comparison, ingredients here might be around €10-15. The hour wage can vary a lot but friends still need to pay you for your time! I’d probably pay a friend €20 for their effort. And then it’s the skill used to make it which is very hard to put a price on. So the minimum would be around €35. However, I’m into crafts as well and am extremely appreciative of the effort and SKILL put into it so I don’t think I’d pay less than €50 for a handmade cake just for me.
Do with the above info what you will. Something that should translate across cultures and continents is the managing of expectations. “Yes, I’d love to make a cake for your event!! To cover ingredients, time, preparing and washing up, my skills I would have to ask X, y, z.” Always, always talk about this beforehand. They can still decline and you can still be friends because maybe handmade crafts are out of their budget. Make sure to list the things that the price covers because people rarely think about anything but the cost of materials (goes for all crafts, really!). If they say that they can make it for less then genuinely wish them good luck and maybe direct them to a website with good recipes. They will find out how difficult it is and probably pay next time.
I think your cake came out very lovely. The piping on it is very beautiful and the colors are vibrant.
Family and close friends and co-workers never want to pay what you deserve. They always want the “family” discount and never value the time and work you put in. Don’t let them make you feel bad for charging what you think is fair.
May I also ask, what’s the recipe for your cream cheese ermine frosting? It sounds very delicious and stable.
I think your cake was worth much more than what you charged, it beautiful.
I would post in an indian subreddit only because they can give you much more relevant feedback compared to the market. I would look at the food subs.
Yeah see coming from the states it sounds like a great deal.
You did an excellent job too and I am sure if it was really an issue they would have let it be known to where you would have changed the price. You put your time and skill to make two special cakes that fit together and are custom I think that’s more than fair.
This style of cake is difficult to get shaping and size correct, and you’ve done wonderfully! I think you’re not overcharging and could likely even charge more because I feel like this style and shape is fancier than your average round or slab cake and you’ve essentially frosted two cakes and I know that moon cakes are tricky to frost. It’s a specialty style in my opinion and deserves its price point.
Nah this is fair. I would’ve charged more tbh cuz that’s a lot of work
Hi OP! I’m a pastry chef based out of India, and I think you priced it okay. IMO, you could’ve even gone up to 1.5K. Don’t worry about your friend, she clearly doesn’t appreciate how much work went into this
Your work is incredible.
Your friend asked you to make the cake because they wanted to take advantage. You have to factor in ingredients, time, energy costs, and your labor. I guarantee that if they went to a bakery, it would have cost at least 3-4 times what you quoted them, and they knew that, so they asked you because they could hound you about the price and you would do it for cheap. Do not bake for them again. Set your price, tell people upfront, get a deposit, and final payment 3-4 days before delivery.
I would have paid $30 for this but I don’t live where you do. But charging double that it cost you to make it is normal. However…. It’s your friend and I’m assuming they expected a discount.
Very beautiful and custom made. Very fair price.
Im an indian. A store bought cake of this size is anywhere between 400-600 rs. BUT, and its a big but here, this level of artistry will easily push even a store bought cake upto 1000 rs depending on the city.
Now factoring in the fact that you’re not a bakery, buying ingredients in bulk amount for cheaper price, your profit margin is far far low than a bakery. And the design and art and transport and consideration and apnapan, is not going to be provided by any bakery.
Your friend is lucky, and should stop complaining. And if its out of their price point they shouldn’t book you in the first place. I think a prior discussion about prices beforehand in the future will save you a lot of trouble
P.S. for westerners, 950 inr IS a lot of money to spend on a cake for most people in india. Imo, this cake is absolutely worth it, but if its a question of will i spend that money on a cake, i won’t. And most people won’t unless they’re kinda financially well-off or they want to rly stretch their budget for a special occasion.
First of all, the easiest way to find out is you calculate your supply cost, plus a little bit of electricity cost, plus your hourly labour cost, plus a little bit for your profit (your profit and labour cost should be slightly lower than market price as you’re not an professional). This is equal your cake price.
Secondly, after calculating this and it’s matching your current pricing, then you need to find a new friend. They’re complaining just because they’re expecting you to make a cake for them for free of labour cost, and I had this experience before (I used to make cakes at home and now i’m professional baker).
Edit: just read your post again and found out you think you overcharged because your price is double the material cost. But you forgot your own labour cost. Material cost is just the cheap part in the pricing
Absolute bargain! I’d have paid double that and then some!
Without completely understanding the currency, a 100% markup to cover your labor seems quite reasonable. The decorating is the equal of any of the professionals I’ve seen, especially with the requirements you had.
its hard to say,
I would say it looks pretty good
No. I understand the currency and know the costs a pound cake is available at. But would they have used the same ingredients you used. Also the fact it’s custom made not a round cake with a cheap whipped cream makes it all worthy of what you asked for. Offer a regular cake to your friend while they still remember the taste and ask would that work next time? They tried to take a discount off of you. I would dodge them next time.
After looking at the conversion to USD…no. I don’t know what pricing is like in India, but here that would be a steal.
Fellow baker here from India. I think your price is absolutely fair! A home made cake will always cost more and any bakery would have charged much more than you for the sun and moon design. I agree with the others that you should have worked out a cost range in advance and informed your friend so their expectations would be set correctly.
Pls share your frosting recipe !! It’s holding so beautifully…
Nope! You did not over charge. People loooooove to low ball bakers, I’ve dealt with this for years. She can always bake her own cakes and see how much money/work goes into it. You’re a great friend and your cakes are beautiful. Be confident in your work and your pricing, friend or not.
I’m no baker. But I feel it is low. I’m in India and I have seen people charging similar cakes for Rs. 1000 -Rs. 1200