One birthday cake for a child’s party in Texas sparked a massive debate online! Why? The baker who made it charged the parents a WILD amount!
Let’s break it down. Pamela Wooten, the owner of PamCakes Bakery, posted a video to TikTok earlier this week showing her making a three-tiered, avengers-themed cake for a kid’s 7th birthday party. She explained that each tier featured three superheroes — Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America. Don’t worry! She didn’t forget to include some of the other Avengers! The Hulk’s green hand rested on top of the sweet treat. And resting alongside the cake, she put Thor’s hammer and Captain America’s shield. Cute!
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Pamela explained each tier had a different flavor with different filling between the layers. She then covered them in American buttercream and used fondant or rice krispies to make decorations. So a ton of work went into the cake! No reason she shouldn’t charge for her work. But “very close to” $1,000?! Yeah, you read that right! Pamela said she charged her “repeat client” almost GRAND! For one cake!
For a child’s birthday party, that’s pretty outrageous! That’s way more than most couples spend on huge, fancy wedding cakes!
Sure, she put a lot of time, effort, and detail into it, but it is just a cake at the end of the day. We can’t believe someone willingly spent this much for a 7-year-old! Check out the results of the cake (below):
@pamcakescb If only every birthday order was like this!!! #baker #cakedecorating #caketok #bakery #cakegate #cake #cakedecorator
Wow! It is an amazing cake! But no matter how good it looks, many social media users couldn’t believe how much Pamela asked for it! They called her out for charging way “too much!” See the reactions (below):
“It turned out really good. But for a $1000 I would expect a whole of a lot more detail to it.”
“no, sorry. maybe $200/$250”
“Yeah for a thousand I’d expect the decorations to not be something my roommate and I could make….”
“No it’s not worth that money but it is a cute cake.”
“Damn for 1k I was expecting 10 tiers am I the only one thinking this is more in the 600-750 range cause other than the faces design seems pretty basic”
Not everyone is bashing Pamela for the price, though! Others feel that the cake is worth nearly a thousand dollars between the cost of ingredients, the detail that went into the cake, and the time it took to make it:
“People saying that this cake should cost $300-$400 have absolutely no idea the cost of ingredients or the time it takes to make a cake like this.”
“People are pressed about the price but thats a lot of work and her customer paid and she’s a returning customer so obviously price is not a problem for her customers”
“Remember for every one not saying worth a 1000$ you’re paying for her skill materials time and other factors. It was well worth the price.”
“People are getting upset yet a 3 tiered plain wedding cake would cost around this much. Beautiful and worth the price”
Hmm…
What does Pamela have to say for herself? She defended the price in an interview with People on Thursday, saying a lot more goes into custom cakes like this than what you find in the grocery store. In fact, she said it took roughly 15 hours to complete the superhero confection. Damn! The baker continued:
“This includes the time spent on drafting the client contract, shopping for the ingredients and materials, baking the cakes, making fillings and buttercream, icing all the tiers, sculpting the 3D pieces, and adding final decorations. Not a lot of people are aware of the time it actually takes to put these types of custom cakes together. It takes forever.”
Normally, Pamela would have charged exactly $1,000 for the cake. However, she ended up giving her client a $200 discount, making the total $810. Wow. As for how she calculates the pricing of her creations? Pamela broke it down. She explained:
“My formula is Materials + Ingredients + Labor + 30 percent. This gives me the least amount I should charge for my cakes. I then round up that final number.”
Sorry, but how much is she rounding up?
When it came to the superhero cake, the materials cost around $35 and the ingredients were $85. The labor came in at around $450, which is $30 per hour. Factoring in an additional 30 percent and a $60 delivery fee, the bill came to $810.
So where does the extra $200 come from?? She said that was a DISCOUNT!
That still seems pretty high for a child’s birthday cake. However, Pamela pointed out this item “could feed” a good amount of people — “anywhere between 50-60 people if cut correctly.” Before anyone argues a wedding cake doesn’t even cost that much, Pamela has a defense for that! She pointed out those are often simpler than a birthday cake that has a theme and more detail:
“Most people think wedding cakes are the most expensive cakes but actually it’s anything involving intricate decorations, especially the ones made out of fondant (which most birthday cakes are made out of). A naked wedding cake of the same size [as the superhero cake] would’ve cost $495 and would’ve taken about half the time to complete.”
Hmm. We still doubt many people would spend this much on birthday cake for a child — no matter how you break it down! But we guess as long as her client was happy with it, that’s what matters the most! Charge what you figure you’re worth, huh?
What are YOUR thoughts, Perezcious readers? Would you ever spend that much money on a kid’s birthday cake? Let us know in the comments below!
[Image via Pamela Wooten/TikTok]
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