How to calculate the selling price of a cake

Name: How to calculate the selling price of a cake
Uploaded: 2026-10-17
Description: A complete example with a cheesecake: cost of ingredients, staff and overheads, profit percentage, VAT and final price.

All plans

A complete example with a cheesecake: cost of ingredients, staff and overheads, profit percentage, VAT and final price.

What it is for

“How much should I sell this cake for?” Many bakeries set the price by adding up the ingredients and multiplying by three, or by looking at what the patisserie across the road charges. The problem is that this leaves out labour, rent, electricity and the oven, and a cake that looks profitable may be leaving very little.

In this use case we work out, with real figures, the selling price of a 22 cm cheesecake from Pastelería La Plaza: what it really costs, what margin to leave and how Recipok does it for you.

1. The cost of the ingredients

This is the first and easiest part, as long as each ingredient has its purchase price without VAT. For our cake:

Ingredient	Quantity	Cost
Cream cheese	1,000 g	€6.90
35 % cream	400 ml	€1.48
Eggs	5 pieces	€1.10
Sugar	220 g	€0.24
Biscuit base (sub-recipe)	320 g	€1.15
22 cm cardboard cake box	1 piece	€0.62
Total ingredients		€11.49

The packaging counts: it is a cost of the cake even though nobody eats it. The biscuit base is a recipe within another recipe and brings its own cost.

2. Labour

Making the cake takes 30 minutes of handling (preparing, assembling, unmoulding and packing; oven time doesn’t count if nobody is watching it). The production team costs €15 an hour on average:

€15 ÷ 60 × 30 min = €7.50

3. The bakery’s fixed costs

Rent, electricity, gas, insurance, accountant and oven depreciation add up to €3,200 a month, and the team works 640 hours a month. Each working hour has to cover €5 of fixed costs:

€3,200 ÷ 640 h ÷ 60 × 30 min = €2.50

4. The full cost and the price

Item	Amount
Ingredients	€11.49
Labour	€7.50
Overheads	€2.50
Total cost	€21.49
+ 60 % profit on cost	€34.38 without VAT
+ 10 % VAT	€37.82 recommended retail price

If you had multiplied the ingredients (€11.49) by three and charged €34.47 including VAT, without VAT that would be €31.34: €9.85 of profit, 45.8 % instead of the 60 % you were aiming for.

You decide to round up to a retail price of €38.00. Without VAT that is €34.55, which leaves €13.06 of profit: 60.8 % on cost, or a 37.8 % margin on the price.

Recipes › Cheesecake › Selling prices

1Percentage of profit to be applied

60 %

VAT

10 %

Unit cost €21.49 2Recommended RRP €37.82

Rates by format	Current price	Wholesale price
Cheesecake (1 unit)	3€38.00	€28.00
Slice	€3.50	—

The Selling prices tab of the cheesecake.

1The profit you want on cost. The first time, Recipok suggests your company’s target margin.
2Recommended retail price, including VAT, calculated on the full cost.
3Current price: the price you actually sell at. With it, Recipok works out your real margin.

Other prices for the same cake

For cafés: a wholesale price of €28.00 without VAT leaves €6.51 per cake, 30.3 % on cost. It pays off through volume, but you know exactly how much.
By the slice: 12 slices at €3.50 come to €42.00 including VAT (€38.18 without VAT) compared with €38.00 for the whole cake. A slice doesn’t need the €0.62 cake box, but it does need its own packaging and more handling: create it as a sales format so Recipok takes it into account.

How Recipok does it, step by step

Ingredients with a price

Add each ingredient with its purchase price without VAT. See The ingredient sheet.

Fixed and staff costs

In General settings › Fixed and operating costs, fill in the Monthly fixed costs and, under Personnel costs, your team’s hours per month and salary. See Fixed and staff costs.

The recipe with its time

Create the cake with its ingredients and, in Recipe data, the Handling time. Check the result in Costing and charts: Recipe costing: how the cost is calculated.

Profit, VAT and current price

In Selling prices, adjust the percentage and the VAT and enter your real price. See Selling price and margins.

When a raw material goes up

If cream cheese goes up by 15 %, the cake now costs €22.53. Recipok recalculates it automatically; at the same retail price of €38.00, your profit drops to 53.4 %. The Variation filter in My Recipes shows you which recipes have become more expensive so you can decide whether to raise the price.

Try it

Create your free account and enter your best-selling cake. In a quarter of an hour you will know whether its price is giving you what you think.

Frequently asked questions

What profit percentage should I apply to a cake?

There is no universal figure: it depends on your area, your channel (counter, cafés, special orders) and your costs. What matters is that the percentage is applied to the full cost, including labour and fixed costs, and not just to the ingredients. Recipok suggests one based on your target margin.

Does the recommended retail price include VAT?

Yes. Recipok calculates cost × (1 + profit) × (1 + VAT). In the example, €21.49 × 1.60 × 1.10 = €37.82.

Why does my cake come out cheaper in Recipok than in my own sums?

Almost always because something is missing: an ingredient without a price, fixed costs not entered or a recipe without handling time. The Costing and charts panel shows you how much each part weighs.

Do I need to recalculate when cheese goes up?

No. When the price of an ingredient changes, every recipe that uses it is recalculated automatically. What you should do is check whether your selling price still leaves the margin you want.