How to price a cake
Start with the cost. Every ingredient at what you paid, the frosting, the cake box and board, and the hours you spend baking, decorating and cleaning up. The calculator adds these into a batch cost. With "Pieces per batch" at 1, the price per piece is the price of the whole cake. Set it to 12 to see the price per slice.
Then set a target cost %. The price is the cost divided by that target. Decorated and custom cakes take far more time than a plain layer cake, so update the labor hours for each design rather than reusing one number.
Usable yield, trim and waste
You pay for the whole case, but you can only serve what is left after trimming. If a pound of romaine gives you 12 ounces of usable leaves, its yield is 75%. Enter recipe amounts as the trimmed amount you actually use, and the calculator divides by the yield, so each recipe carries the cost of the trim. To find a yield, weigh a pack before and after prep, and divide after by before.
Questions
How much should I charge for a cake?
Cost it first: ingredients, packaging and your time. Then divide by your target cost % as a decimal. The calculator does both steps.
How do I price by the slice?
Set pieces per batch to the number of slices. The calculator shows the price per slice and for the whole cake.
Should a cake box be per piece or per batch?
Per piece if each piece gets its own. For a whole cake with pieces set to 1, either gives the same result.
Is the 40% target a standard?
No. It is a placeholder. Set your own.