What to charge: a pricing calculator for home bakers
Most home bakers undercharge, and almost always for the same reason: they price the ingredients and forget their own hours. Put your real numbers in and see what the order is actually worth.
Nothing here leaves your phone. There is no account, no saving and no tracking — refresh the page and it is gone.
How the number is built
Five layers, in order. Skip one and you are paying to work.
- Ingredients. What this order ate, not what the bag cost. Half a bag of flour is half a bag.
- Packaging. The box, the board, the dowels, the ribbon, the label. It is small and it is never zero.
- Your time. Every hour: shopping, baking, decorating, cleaning, and the twenty messages it took to agree the design. This is the line people leave out.
- Overhead. The oven’s electricity, the mixer wearing out, your phone, the fuel to the shop. A percentage is the honest shortcut — 10 to 20% of your direct costs is a normal range.
- Profit. Separate from your wage. Your wage pays you for the work; profit is what lets the business buy a better mixer, absorb a canceled order, or grow.
Picking your hourly rate
There is no official number, and anyone who gives you one is guessing about your market. Two ways people land on theirs:
- The replacement test. What would you have to pay someone competent to do this for you? That is the floor.
- The weekly test. What do you want to earn in a week, divided by the hours you can actually bake in a week? That is the rate your goal requires.
If your rate makes the cake look expensive, that is information about the cake — its size, its design, how long it takes — not a reason to pay yourself less.
Three sanity checks before you send the price
- Per serving. Divide by the servings. A price can look alarming and be completely ordinary per slice.
- The repeat test. If ten people ordered this tomorrow at this price, would you be glad or sick? If sick, the price is wrong.
- The deposit. For custom work, take something up front. A canceled wedding cake has already eaten your week.
Questions people actually ask
How much should I charge per serving for a cake?
There is no single right number — it depends on your ingredients, your design time and your market. Work out your total with the calculator above, divide by servings, and compare against what bakeries near you charge for the same size. If your number is far below theirs, check whether you have counted your hours.
Should I pay myself an hourly rate even if it is my hobby?
Yes. If you do not count your hours, you cannot tell a profitable order from one that costs you money, and you will take the ones that cost you money because they looked fine. Count the hours even when you choose to charge a friend less — then you know exactly how much the discount was.
What overhead percentage is normal?
Between 10% and 20% of your direct costs is a common working range for a home kitchen: electricity and gas, equipment wearing out, your phone, fuel for shopping. If you have bought a lot of equipment recently, use the higher end.
Is profit the same as my wage?
No, and keeping them separate is what makes a business more than a job. Your hourly rate pays you for your work. Profit sits on top and belongs to the business: it replaces a broken oven, covers a canceled order and buys the thing that makes next year easier.
Does this calculator save my numbers?
No. Everything happens in your browser, nothing is sent to us and nothing is stored. Refresh the page and it is blank again.
Other states
- GeorgiaNo state license since July 2025 · no revenue cap
- TexasNo permit · $150,000 cap · you must deliver online orders yourself
- CaliforniaCounty registration · $88,878 or $177,756 in 2026
- FloridaNo permit · $250,000 cap · mail order allowed by statute
- New YorkFree exemption, up to 16 weeks to be reviewed · no revenue cap · in-state only
- IllinoisRegister locally · no sales cap · online sales and in-state shipping allowed
- North CarolinaHome Processor program · kitchen inspected before you sell · an indoor pet disqualifies the kitchen
- New Jersey$100 permit for 2 years · $50,000 cap · NJ residents only, nothing in the post
- PennsylvaniaLimited Food Establishment · $35 a year · inspected · internet sales included
- ArizonaNo sales cap · refrigerated foods allowed · Arizona only, and TCS goes hand to hand
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