It feels like the cost of everything has gone up over night. Literally.
It's affecting everyone and everything, and it doesn't feel like it's only slight or here and there.
Some of the people I've spoken to this week on Instagram - cake makers and customers - have all been saying the same thing.
Which is either
"how are we gonna increase our prices this much?"
Or
"I can't believe a cake can cost that much!"
So it got me thinking and I put a post up on stories asking how much people thought a cake was, and i'll do it again below with a different cake.
So what do we all think the cost of this 6 inch carrot cake with faux flowers would be?
The answer with todays prices and costs would be something like £95-£115
There are so many hidden costs when it comes to cake making, I think sometimes people think "oh but it's just a cake"
Which is of course absolutely fine everyone is allowed their own opinion, and sometimes it comes down to how important the cake is within your own budget, sometimes it just isn't a priority. Again that's cool to if it's what you want.
And sometimes that cake is the biggest priority - this is when it's my favourite - and we can go all in!
So after working out how many to feed, theres then style, design, flavour, any dietary requirements that need to be met and any other ideas of things you'd like to add.
This is a lot of emailing back and forth, which is really important to be able to get everything perfect.
There's then the decorations, where they need to be sourced from , if flowers need to be ordered in advance and then made food safe.
Or cake toppers that need designing and creating. And then if its a tiered cake the time it takes to dowel and stack a cake.
And then i guess what you would call hidden costs. Things like electricity, the time it takes to answer all of those emails, the time it takes to go and buy the ingredients, the quality of the ingredients you're using, the material costs for things like greaseproof paper, the cake box, the cake board. And then the time it takes to prep and line the tins, the clean you have to do before and after you finish working and all the washing up in-between.
It's always so much more than just a cake. If it came down to just a cake and can you do it cheaper i'd just drop off a box of ingredients like this one from a reel i made
Price increases are affecting everyone and everything and I honestly wish that I could control the cost of the ingredients - especially butter which was about 65p when i started baking for a business 5 and a half years ago!
All of those costs above are part of the job and are things that deserved to be paid for. I don't know anyone that would willing do all the parts of their job for free. Cake makers are no different.
So if you're a cake maker and you're paying yourself hourly you've gotta stop. Because the cake you charge £10 an hour for you're actually making probably half of that if you're lucky after you've done all of the jobs above.
And if you're a customer - and mine are the best and this rarely happens i'm incredibly lucky - ask for the quote and then say:
"Absolutely yes please. Where are the Ts + Cs?"
Not something else like :
"It's just a cake"
Or
"Can you do it cheaper!?"