Delia Smith’s Christmas Cake - worth ?

kah22

Each year I bake five of Delia Smith’s Traditional Christmas cake and believe me they are well fed !

I had two friends ask me about two weeks before Christmas to bake them one each and they’d payI I declined as the cakes wouldn’t have time to mature. It started me to wonder how much a Christmas Cake of that standard is worth when you consider the time and ingredients that go into it

VfM4meplse

No idea but maybe ask that your friends tell you if they'd like you to make them a Christmas cake by the August BH so you can prepare in one go. That way everyone benefits from both the best tasting cake and economy of scale.

I would suggest you cost it between then and now - they may find the final price to be quite off-putting!

Wicked_Lady

You should be able to cost out the ingredients fairly easily, including any marzipan and icing but the hard bit is the cost of your time.

Maybe use the National Living Wage to go by but I'd imagine it would end up as more than they would want to pay, even if you called it an Artisan Christmas Cake!

Pollycat

If you are planning to do this as a sort of little business side-line, I'd make absolutely sure that any potential customers (aka friends) understood how much you are going to charge and that it's a firm order. i.e. no saying 'Oh, but I picked one up from Aldi for £7.99 so I don't need another one'.

kah22

I agree it is hard to set a price. Cost of ingredients plus NMW does seem a way to go.
As far as a sideline is concerned that is a definite No, No. these are just some good friends
I think perhaps the best way to go is cost of material plus national minimum wage while at the same time explaining the amount of ingredients used, the brandy and cooking time and of course the time spent in the pre-soaking. If they agree great

VfM4meplse

I have a little news for the OP: after Christmas excess stocks of Christmas cake hit rock bottom. Eg 2lb iced cakes were reduced to £1.99 (from £3.99) in Aldi. My suggestion is that you buy a few and stash for those last-minute friends of yours next year. You could always remove the icing and marzipan to add your own signature style closer to the time. I'd be tempted to turn it over, skewer it and keep feeding it during the year

ETA: I bought one myself this evening, and plan to serve it with late night tea and coffee as a signal to big my guests goodbye tomorrow night.

JIL

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I have a little news for the OP: after Christmas excess stocks of Christmas cake hit rock bottom. Eg 2lb iced cakes were reduced to £1.99 (from £3.99) in Aldi. My suggestion is that you buy a few and stash for those last-minute friends of yours next year. You could always remove the icing and marzipan to add your own signature style closer to the time. I'd be tempted to turn it over, skewer it and keep feeding it during the year

ETA: I bought one myself this evening, and plan to serve it with late night tea and coffee as a signal to big my guests goodbye tomorrow night.

I bought three from lidl, reduced to £2.14 the week before Christmas. I put them in a small cardboard box and put a few "personal to them decorations" on top. We kept one and the others went to our parents.