Let me guess…
You sit down to reply to an enquiry, open up the message, and the panic starts.
What should I charge for this one?
Is this too much? Too little?
Will they ghost me if I say the price I actually want?
Pricing shouldn’t feel like a battle every time. But for so many cake makers, it does — especially when you’re home-based, self-taught, and juggling this biz alongside a million other things.
Good news? It doesn’t have to stay this way.
When I first started, I used to pluck numbers out of thin air and hope for the best. Sometimes they booked. Sometimes they ghosted. And every time I hit “send,” I felt sick.
But once I stopped guessing and created a strategy that actually made sense for my business, everything shifted.
– I felt more confident
– I made more profit
– And I finally started attracting clients who valued my work
Here’s the 4-step pricing method I use (and teach my clients):
Psst: want to follow along with a printable version? You can grab my free pricing guide at the end of this post.
✨ Step 1: Know your base costs
This includes your ingredients, materials (boards, boxes, dowels). Don’t guess — calculate and measure it.
✨ Step 2: Add your invisible costs
This is everything you still have to pay for when you make a cake, but might not always see.
Utilities, marketing costs, business insurance etc.
✨ Step 3: Add your TIME
This is where a lot of people go wrong. Your experience, skill, design time, and customer service matter — and they need to be priced in. This isn’t just a cake, it’s a custom experience. You need to be considering how long it takes from the moment you open their email enquiry to the last sprinkle of icing sugar being wiped away.
✨ Step 4: Profit isn’t a dirty word
Your business isn’t a charity. You deserve to be paid not just for your time, but for the risk and responsibility of running a business.
Make sure your final price includes enough margin to pay back into your business.
Client Win 🎉
Julie, one of my coaching clients, told me:
“I raised my prices and people still booked. I decided to quote correctly, assuming they’d both say “No” and they both came back with a “Yes”. I never would have done that if we hadn’t spoken!”
That’s the magic of a strategy — and not just winging it.
Want help applying this to your own business?
You can start with my free 4-step Pricing Guide, which walks you through the method above in much nmore detail, plus a real worked example so that you can see the steps in action!
Ready to go further?
If you know you need support that’s tailored to your business, book a Power Hour and we’ll work through your pricing together — one-on-one.
Over to you!
Have you ever felt that pricing panic before hitting send?
Leave a comment below — I’d love to hear your experience.
