The math behind the menu

Every price on the site comes from the same simple formula: what it costs you to make, plus a fair wage for your time, plus a little for the business. This page shows every line of it, and lets you plug in your own numbers.

Ingredientsflour, butter, sugar, sprinkles, prints

Packagingboards, boxes, sticks, ribbon

Your timehours × your hourly rate

Overhead%: oven, power, tools, permits, card fees

Profit%: savings, new equipment, slow months

Pricerounded to a menu-friendly number

Why "friends and family" prices feel so low: they usually cover the ingredients and nothing else, so every hour of baking and decorating is free. A 6″ cake has about of ingredients in it, but about of your time. At /hr, that time is worth , which is most of the price.

Your numbers

Change anything here and every price on this page updates. Your changes are saved in this browser only; the website menus keep the defaults until we update them together.

Your hourly rate, baking & decorating Hourly rate for teaching & parties Overhead Profit Cost per mile driven

Ingredient prices

Packaging prices

How long things take you

Time each order for a few weeks and put your real hours here. This is the number that matters most.

At a glance

"Cost incl. your pay" is ingredients, packaging, overhead and your hourly wage. Profit sits on top of that, so even at cost you are paid for your time.

Cakes, line by line

Each cake price includes your choice of flavor and filling, one buttercream color, a smooth finish and a shell border. Tap a cake to see every line.

Decorating extras, by cake size

Bigger cakes have more outside to decorate (an 8″ has about 1.4× the surface of a 6″, three tiers about 4×), so piping, drips and borders scale up. Fillings and flavors scale with how much cake is inside.

Everything else, line by line

How much for how many guests?

Handy for answering "what do I need for 30 people?"

Guests

The recipes these numbers assume

A few pricing habits worth starting now

Keep friends-and-family pricing, but make it a discount. Quote the real price, then take 15–20% off for people you love. They see what it's really worth, and you can choose when to offer it.
Time your first ten orders. Write down start and finish times for baking, decorating and cleanup, then update "How long things take you." Most new bakers underestimate by a lot.
Take a 50% deposit. It covers ingredients if someone cancels, and it's normal for custom cakes.
Set minimums. One dozen per flavor, 8 kids for a party, 4 guests for a class. Small orders cost almost as much time as big ones.
Re-check prices every January. Butter, eggs and boxes go up. Update the ingredient prices here and see what changes.
Don't compete with the grocery store. A $25 supermarket sheet cake isn't the same product. You're selling custom, hand-decorated, made-for-your-party.

Where the comparisons come from

Cake prices per serving: Homegrown, home-baker pricing guide; custom cake price guide; wedding cake cost guide 2026
Cake pops: published order forms from home bakeries (one, two)
Cupcakes: 4over4 cupcake pricing guide; Cake Central baker forum
Decorating parties and classes: Cake Central; cooking-school party packages; adult class listing
Ingredients: BLS average butter price; BLS average egg price; other ingredient and packaging prices are typical grocery and baking-supply prices. Check them against what you actually pay.

Prices vary a lot by town. Look up two or three home bakers near you before settling on numbers.