Can I borrow your brains please.

[Satori]

Hi there.

I was just wondering if some of you Math whiz guys/and girls would crunch a couple of numbers for me.
I've been flooded with requests for giant cupcakes, People have been willing to pay money for them. I've never really been aware of how much it cost to make one. I've sat here trying to work it out and my results were a bit crazy. I know I'm going wrong somewhere. I'm not exactly sure what numbers I should divide or multiply. I was going to use an online spreadsheet to do it but I dont have experience with using those.

I am hoping one of you would be kind enough to work it out to give me a ballpark figure of what I should charge. I'm not going to include electricty because I find that confusing enough as it is.

Cake ingredients.

350 grams Unsalted Butter.
350 grams Caster Sugar.
6 Eggs.
2 tsp vanilla extract.
350 grams self-raising flour.
175 grams plain flour.

Buttercream ingredients.

500 grams unsalted butter.
1 kilogram Icing sugar.
2 tsp almond extract.

Prices of the inredients.

Icing sugar £1.89 1 kilogram bag.
Unsalted butter £1.36 250g block.
Vanilla & Almond extract £1.00 each in 38ml bottles.
Free range eggs £1.59
self raising flour £0.90 1kilogram bag.
plain flour £0.90 1kilogram bag.
Caster sugar £1.49 1kilogram bag.

I know there's other things I can charge for but most food colours and edible decorations I have in my cupboard already and won't be charging for those.
I'd just like to know the figure as I know that I've been making these at a loss and the figure I ended up with was way too high for me to charge people. I lack the skill to justify even asking that amount.

Thanks in advance guys.

[Aeni]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

This is a scaling arithmetic, no need for calculus. I'd look into it later, but seems like there's some information needed, or I'm missing something. Basically comes down to how much cupcakes are you making per recipe and if you're consistently getting the same number of cupcakes per batter recipe. People would pay $3.50~$4.00 per "regular" sized cupcakes here where I live, so not sure how much you're charging for yours. Do not forget to include your own labor cost.

[Aeni]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Er ... what the hell, let me try.

Okay, first of all, your costs initially will be high, because you're putting down money for ingredients which you will not recover in your first batch of cupcakes. This is called capital, although it's not like you're going out of your way to buy a new stove, rent out a kitchen and purchasing various utensils. But the ingredients I would still count as a form of capital investment.

The key here is to buy ingredients in bulk for cheap. I don't know of England has a form of Costco, but I'd highly encourage you to purchase supplies at the wholesale level, not retail. Otherwise you're going to dig yourself into the red really fast.

Make sure that if you do buy in bulk that you're able to sustain the ingredients and that any perishable items must be kept in storage where you can retard spoilage. A case in point is keeping things in the refridgerator or freezer, like maybe with vanilla extract, so that you do not have to deal with spoilage.

You also need to figure out how to consistently produce the same number of cupcakes per batch. Inconsistencies will penalize you heavily. Mistakes need to also be factored in. Something which my sister-in-law failed to do when she operated her own mochi making business. Spoilage, mistakes and inconsistencies will come back to bite you in the rear.

Please also plan ahead. Pay attention to food shortages, shipping disruptions, labor disruptions, etc ... anything that could cause a problem. Of course, I'm not sure how serious you are with this, whether this is just something you want to do in your spare time or if this is your fledgling business getting off the ground.

In any event, you essentially need to focus on the bigger picture. Estimate the number of cupcakes you're planning on baking for either the entire week or the entire month. Then you can determine how much ingredients you will need. From there, you can safely estimate your cost, factor in transportation costs, if any, and then determine how much you should price your cupcakes. The factor at which you should price is really dependant on what you're looking for. Are you maximizing profits? Are you just making sure you cover costs and have a little extra as bonus? Markup will determine the demand for your cupcakes. Charge too much and no one will bother. Charge too little and you'll likely sell yourself short. You could also say that the quantity is "LIMITED" and "FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED". They do this in Japan a lot. Making your goods scarce will justify a bit higher cost (especially if its really good)

As for the nitty gritty calculations, we can go over that if you provide some more information, as I've already mentioned.

[Satori]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

I'm sorry I thought I had already said. It's a recipe for 1 giant cupcake as in it's a cake about 9 inches tall that is shaped like a cupcake / mushroom.

What happened was I made a giant cupcake for my neice's birthday and posted a photo on facebook, Then I got flooded with requests/orders. I'm happy to make them but I knew I wasnt making any money from it. but when I tried to work out how much it costs each time to make the recipe for 1 giant cupcake then to ice it, The cost became more than my abilities could justify asking that ammount.

[Icemage]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Hi there.

I was just wondering if some of you Math whiz guys/and girls would crunch a couple of numbers for me.
I've been flooded with requests for giant cupcakes, People have been willing to pay money for them. I've never really been aware of how much it cost to make one. I've sat here trying to work it out and my results were a bit crazy. I know I'm going wrong somewhere. I'm not exactly sure what numbers I should divide or multiply. I was going to use an online spreadsheet to do it but I dont have experience with using those.

I am hoping one of you would be kind enough to work it out to give me a ballpark figure of what I should charge. I'm not going to include electricty because I find that confusing enough as it is.

Cake ingredients.

350 grams Unsalted Butter.
350 grams Caster Sugar.
6 Eggs.
2 tsp vanilla extract.
350 grams self-raising flour.
175 grams plain flour.

Buttercream ingredients.

500 grams unsalted butter.
1 kilogram Icing sugar.
2 tsp almond extract.

Prices of the inredients.

Icing sugar £1.89 1 kilogram bag.
Unsalted butter £1.36 250g block.
Vanilla & Almond extract £1.00 each in 38ml bottles.
Free range eggs £1.59
self raising flour £0.90 1kilogram bag.
plain flour £0.90 1kilogram bag.
Caster sugar £1.49 1kilogram bag.

I know there's other things I can charge for but most food colours and edible decorations I have in my cupboard already and won't be charging for those.
I'd just like to know the figure as I know that I've been making these at a loss and the figure I ended up with was way too high for me to charge people. I lack the skill to justify even asking that amount.

Thanks in advance guys.

One ingredient at a time:

Unsalted butter, 850g total, at £1.36 per 250g: £4.64
Caster sugar, 350g, at £1.49 per 1kg: £.53

I'm guessing your pricing on free range eggs is per dozen and not each? If so 6 eggs at £1.59 per dozen would be £.80.

Since you're in the UK your teaspoon is different from those of us here in the USA, 1 UK tsp = 3.55ml, so the 2 tsp each of vanilla and almond extract comes to 14.1ml of extract or about £.38

Flour: £.32 for 350g of self-rising, plus and additional £.16 for 175g of plain.

Icing sugar:£1.89 for 1kg.

Is butter really that expensive in the UK??

£4.64 + £.53 + £.80 + £.38 + £.32 + £.16 + £1.89 = £8.72 per giant cupcake of materials, before you consider packaging, electricity, food coloring, etc. I would charge at least £10 per if the pricing and amounts you've provided are correct (honestly, £12+ would be a better price, as your time and labor should be valuable).


Icemage

[Satori]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Thank you so much for the help that looks a lot more decent and fairer than I was getting. I was in the £14 region.
The price for the egss is for a box/carton of 6 eggs.

I've been selling them between £5 for family and close friends and £8-9 for everybody else. I knew I was giving away things each time but I was just glad of the practice. People have been telling me it was too low but I wasnt sure if they were being polite, I definately think I will have to find more cost effective recipe or hold off until my skills are worthy of that price.
They've been well recieved but I guess I only see the flaws.

Thanks again for the help, I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you.

[Firewind]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Even £14 is pretty reasonable to be fair Satori. There's a Johnnie Cupcakes stall in town and those guys charge from £26/€35 upwards for a bog standard giant cupcake. A special or personalised one can cost you up to £35/€45/lots of US Dollars.

That said the Carrot Cake standard sized cupcake that they sell there is worth every penny .

[Satori]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Thanks for the support Firewind.
I just wished my skills backed up the pricetag.
I've posted a couple of pics in the smile thread, Of The giant cupcake that started it all off and the 3 layered sponge I made for my mum's 44th on sept 25th. Which will give you an idea of why I think they lack that professional touch to warrant that kind of price.

Oh and yes the price of butter is outrageous, Ordinary butter is about 30 pence cheaper unfortunately I have to use unsalted lol.
My friend has just text me telling me that Morrisons "where I purchase my ingredients" sell a premade cake mix for 30p. I may buy a few and see how that works. I've seen some mixes require just the mix an egg and a little milk. So I imagine that would bring it right down. If the taste and durability are any good then I may have found a way to please everybody.

Allthough I would find it annoying due to it not being truly home baked.

[Icemage]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Thank you so much for the help that looks a lot more decent and fairer than I was getting. I was in the £14 region.
The price for the egss is for a box/carton of 6 eggs.

Increase my price estimate by £.80 then, or £9.52 because I was assuming your egg pricing was per dozen.

I've been selling them between £5 for family and close friends and £8-9 for everybody else. I knew I was giving away things each time but I was just glad of the practice. People have been telling me it was too low but I wasnt sure if they were being polite, I definately think I will have to find more cost effective recipe or hold off until my skills are worthy of that price.
They've been well recieved but I guess I only see the flaws.

Thanks again for the help, I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you.

You're losing a LOT of money at £5. £10 would barely break even (maybe not even, considering electricity costs). If you can clean up the presentation, £15 would be a very reasonable price, assuming you're actually looking to get paid for your time and not be taken advantage of by everyone who has ever heard of you.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Just as an FYI, butter is incredibly simple and easy to make, as my dad recently pointed out to me.

How to Make Butter

[DakAttack]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

Just as an FYI, butter is incredibly simple and easy to make, as my dad recently pointed out to me.

How to Make Butter

I don't think he can use that kind of butter.

[Satori]

Re: Can I borrow your brains please.

that's cool. I may try that just for the fun.
It reminded me of a cool / gross term and the reason behind it on Qi.

The term cum is from old times when milkmaids churned butter, they knew it was ready when they heard it "cum" It's when they heard a splat/slap and the buttermilk had oozed out of it.
We have some messed up ancestors.

I'm sorry if you never want to eat butter again.