Stop Asking Other People What You Should Charge for Your Cakes

There’s a moment most baking business owners go through.

You’ve made something you’re proud of. Maybe six beautifully decorated cupcakes. Maybe a celebration cake. Maybe something you’ve spent hours perfecting.

And then you get stuck on the same question:

“What should I charge for this cake?”

So you ask.

You ask a family member

Someone who loves you. Someone who is used to being given cake for birthdays, celebrations, and “just because”.

They look at your cupcakes and say:

“About a tenner? It’s only ingredients really.”

You ask a friend

Your friend wants to be supportive. They don’t want to undervalue you.

“Maybe £15? They are quite pretty.”

Helpful. Kind. Still not really useful.

You ask the internet

This is where things really start to unravel.

Someone says £30.

Someone else says £10.

A debate starts:

• bulk buying changes everything

• ingredients matter

• overheads matter

• beginners should charge less

• your area dictates pricing

• you should charge more because you’re skilled

• you should charge less to build customers

• selling on Facebook Marketplace is great as someone sells 100 boxes a week for just £5 each

• Tiffany's jewellers sell paperclips for $1,000 so you could charge £100 for six cupcakes to the right customer

It's not just you, it's me too!

And if I’m honest, even I still have moments where I think “maybe I should just check what someone else would charge for this”.

Because it feels quick.

Reassuring.

Like it might confirm you’re in the right ballpark.

But even when I do it — whether the answers are lower, higher, or exactly what I’m already charging (rare) — it still doesn’t actually give a clear answer.

Because I’m not comparing like-for-like businesses.

I'm looking at people with completely different:

• costs

• speed

• experience

• goals

• customer base

• overheads

So even when the numbers look similar, the reality behind them usually isn’t.

And that’s why I always end up back in the same place: my own numbers, my own setup, and what

I actually need my business to do.

And meanwhile, your actual life is getting more expensive

You notice your weekly shop includes a surprising amount of baking ingredients and cleaning products.

Your electricity bill is higher than you expected.

Maybe it’s the ovens. Maybe it’s the washing up. Maybe it’s just “how it is”.

You hear someone say:

“I do markets, they’re great for getting your name out there.”

So you look into it.

And suddenly you’re staring at £300 worth of costs:

• stall fees

• gazebo

• tables

• signage

• packaging

• card machine

• stock that might not even sell

Money you don’t have yet, because you’re still not consistently paying yourself properly.

And then the emotional bit nobody talks about

Another friend says:

“Let’s go for drinks.”

And you say no.

Not because you don’t want to go.

But because your business is taking more than it is giving back right now.

You’re working constantly.

Orders are coming in.

But you’re not really sure if you’re actually earning anything.

So you do what seems sensible

You decide to fix it.

You raise your prices.

You quote properly.

You finally stop undercharging.

And then…

You get ghosted.

Or you hear nothing back.

Or worse — you realise your new prices don’t feel like they’re fitting your local market.

And now you’re wondering:

Is it me? Is it my prices? Should I just go back to what I was charging before?

This is where most bakers go wrong

They keep outsourcing the decision.

To Facebook groups.

To friends.

To family.

To what “everyone else is charging”.

But the truth is:

Nobody else has your business.

Not your costs.

Not your speed.

Not your time.

Not your setup.

Not your goals.

So copying them will never give you a stable answer.

It will only give you temporary relief.

So what do you actually do instead?

You learn how to price your own cakes.

Not by guessing.

Not by copying.

Not by asking.

But by understanding:

• what your cakes actually cost you to make

• what your time is worth inside your business

• what overheads are quietly eating your profit

• and how profit needs to function in a real business

  
  

This is what I call Victoria Sponge Theory — a simple way of breaking down a cake into ingredients, time, overheads and profit so you can see what’s really going on underneath the price tag.

Not theory for the sake of it.

A practical way to stop guessing.

Because profit isn’t optional

Profit isn’t there for “treats” or leftovers.

It’s what allows you to:

• invest back into your business

• improve efficiency

• buy better equipment

• take on larger orders

• eventually say yes to markets, events and growth opportunities

• and yes… occasionally have a cocktail without guilt

And this is where things start to change

Because once you understand your numbers properly:

You stop panicking about what other people charge.

You stop adjusting your prices every time someone in a Facebook group says something different.

You stop second-guessing every quote.

And you start making decisions based on your business, not someone else’s.

If this feels uncomfortably familiar…

You’re not alone.

And you don’t need another “just charge more” conversation.

You need a system that actually makes sense of what you’re already doing.

What next?

I’m currently putting together a workshop that walks through exactly this — how to understand your own pricing properly using a simple, practical approach (including Victoria Sponge Theory and a starter toolkit to help you apply it straight away).

If you want early access when it opens, you can join the waitlist here:

Priority Waiting List for "Don't Guess What To Charge...Know It!"

Save my spot now

You’ll also get the free pricing guide to help you start making sense of your numbers straight away.

If you want to go a bit deeper right now

You might also find these useful:

• How I priced a school cake (real breakdown example)

• Why I charged my husband for our daughter’s birthday cake (and what it taught me about pricing boundaries)

And finally…

You don’t need to figure this out alone.

If pricing has felt confusing, inconsistent, or like something you’re constantly second-guessing, that’s exactly what this is here to change.

We go back to basics, look at the real numbers behind your business, and build a way of pricing that actually makes sense for you.

No noise. No guessing. Just a clear, practical approach you can trust.

And I’ll walk you through it.

Victoria Sponge Theory....helping you to understand your pricing