How much to charge for a birthday cake in the UK
Updated 14 October 2026
A simple homemade 8-inch birthday sponge in the UK costs around £40 to make once your time is counted, so a fair price is roughly £50 to £66. A decorated cake that takes three and a half hours comes to nearer £98. The ingredients are under £10 either way. The difference is almost all your time.
A worked 8-inch sponge
Two 8-inch Victoria sponge layers, filled with jam and buttercream, finished with buttercream and sprinkles:
| Ingredient | Pack | Used |
|---|---|---|
| Self-raising flour | £0.85 for 1 kg | 225 g |
| Caster sugar | £1.20 for 1 kg | 225 g |
| Butter (sponge) | £2.40 for 250 g | 225 g |
| Eggs | £2.40 for 12 | 4 |
| Butter (buttercream) | £2.40 for 250 g | 250 g |
| Icing sugar | £1.30 for 1 kg | 500 g |
| Strawberry jam | £1.20 for 340 g | 100 g |
| Sprinkles and decorations | £2.50 | 1 pot |
That’s £9.32 of ingredients. Add £3.50 for a cake board and box, and 10% for the oven and kit. Then the part most people leave out: your time, at £12.71 an hour, the UK National Living Wage from April 2026.
Three ways the same cake can be priced
| The cake | Your time | True cost | Price | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decorated, 3½ hours, 40% margin | £44.48 | £58.59 | £97.70 | £39.11 |
| Simple, 2 hours, 40% margin | £25.42 | £39.53 | £65.90 | £26.37 |
| Simple, 2 hours, 20% margin | £25.42 | £39.53 | £49.50 | £9.97 |
If those numbers feel high, look at the “ingredients times three” price: £27.97. At that price, once the ingredients, board, box and oven are paid for, you’d be making about £7 an hour for a two-hour cake, less than the minimum wage.
Count all of your time
Most underpricing comes from counting only the time the cake is in the oven. A birthday cake usually involves:
- Messages back and forth about flavour, size, colours and wording
- Shopping for anything you don’t keep in stock
- Baking, levelling, crumb-coating and chilling between layers
- Decorating, which is often longer than everything else put together
- Boxing, handing over or delivering, and the washing up
Quoting with confidence
- Price from your own costs first, then compare with local bakers, not the other way round
- Quote the price per cake, and say what it includes: size, flavour, filling and how many it serves
- Charge separately for delivery, toppers and anything made to order, so the base price stays clear
- Take a deposit or full payment before you buy ingredients: a personalised cake can’t be resold
Selling to the public also means allergen information and registering with your council. The free sell-from-home checklist and allergen label maker cover both.