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05 December 2006

opinions! Short of funds and inspired by Amy Sedaris, I may start selling cupcakes at craft fairs! I already bake and give out plenty, my question is, is $1 per cupcake too much to charge? I oughter do some real math and figure out how much they cost to make but that sounds damn boring so I figure $1 doesn't buy you much of nothing these days and would be fair.

Also! What flavors? I make grand lemon ones, good carrot cake ones, and am working on an orange one with chocolate buttercream, but what kind do you like? recipes wanted.

post by: Mrs.Pants at: 14:09 | 38 comments

$1 is fine.

You need a double chocolate one.

I want a lemon one.

posted by Specklet 05 December | 14:12

I'd pay a buck for a good cupcake.

Are you a member of this Flickr group, Mrs Pants? I joined just to drool over the pics. You might find good info in the discussions, not to mention cool decorating ideas.

posted by BoringPostcards 05 December | 14:14

specklet, you are right, i need to make a chocolate one!

I am a member of cupcakes that take the cake BP! I don't have a decent camera and I don't frost so good (yet) so I haven't added anything! The cupcake queen is chockylit who blogs here but I was trying to keep it pretty basic so there is something for most everyone.

surely my nervous baking binges can equal cash and cavities no?

also, i need sprinkles...

also : never buy those stupid silicone pans, they are complete bullshit.

posted by Mrs.Pants 05 December | 14:18

Something involving lumps of fudge is required, je pense. There's nothing tastier than something, errrrr, packing a lot of fudge...

posted by TheDonF 05 December | 14:19

Yay! All those flavors sound great, but I too would want a chocolate cupcake. And a buck is fine.

But! Be aware that you might be running against food laws -- if a city inspector comes through, you might get fined for selling food without a license. It's unlikely, but worth checking into nonetheless.

posted by me3dia 05 December | 14:19

$1 is good.

Fancy kinds are good, but do make a few plain boring ones. I had a cupcake last weekend at my church Christmas fair, and was dismayed when I bit into it to find that it wasn't plain frosting on plain cake- there was almond flavoring in the frosting. Ewwwwww. Some of us are really boring- plain is good.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 05 December | 14:24

(plus, almond flavoring is pure evil)

Sounds like a great idea, mrs.pants.

posted by gaspode 05 December | 14:27

that's okay me3dia, if a city inspector comes by i'll make him eat the poison one. i bake one into every dozen! keeps it interesting!

The quest to make a good chocolate cupcake begins!

posted by Mrs.Pants 05 December | 14:27

Joo know, Meeeeus Pants, Susie may be of help as well....

posted by Frisbee Girl 05 December | 14:38

Fris: haven't you moved yet? Get on with it already!

posted by eamondaly 05 December | 14:39

I know, huh!! I just have a little more debt left to wipe out and then I'm gone, daddy, gone.

posted by Frisbee Girl 05 December | 14:44

a buck each sounds more than reasonable.

posted by jonmc 05 December | 14:45

Cupcakes make people happy. I wish you would draw a picture of your cupcakes, mrs.pants!

Just because cupcakes are so pretty:

≡ Click to see image ≡

and so delicious:

cupcake
vegan cupcakes take over the world
cupcakes take the cake
martha stewart's highhat cupcakes

and so squishy:

strawberry cupcake with pompom
assorted cupcakes with sprinkles

posted by iconomy 05 December | 14:57

What about black cherry? A really moist black cherry one with cherries in.

posted by TheDonF 05 December | 15:03

recipes...eggselent...
oh for a bunch of toy cupcakes to throw around...

posted by ethylene 05 December | 15:08

frisbee i SHOULD be asking susie! Where's my brain?!

and also, when you come to chicago, I promise you these :

≡ Click to see image ≡

homely looking but tasty tasty!

posted by Mrs.Pants 05 December | 15:15

I think you should charge more. I remember watching the Martha Stuart made-for-TV biopic, and how she found she sold more pies when she raised her prices, since folks assumed they must be really good pies at that price. CakeLove in DC sells plenty of cupcakes at $3 a pop.

posted by mrmoonpie 05 December | 15:19

$1 is perfectly acceptable; even $1.50 would be fine. Me3dia beat me to what I was going to post. It's really not something to take lightly—the fines can be quite steep ($1,500), so please be careful. You might want to share table space in with someone else who is selling foodstuffs and has a license to sell them. Sorry to be a downer. I love the idea!

posted by smich 05 December | 15:25

More ideas on flavors and pricing.

posted by Specklet 05 December | 15:30

You could make little squares of fruit cocktail cake. I don't know if you could make cupcakes out of that recipe, but it's similar to my grandmother's, which my mother bakes for me ion my birthday. I love it.

Only now that I look at that recipe, it seems a lot heavier than the fruit cocktail cake I know and love. My mom's is light (and easy to bake) and the only sugar in it is in the nectar from the can of fruit cocktail and the brown sugar crumble topping.

If you're interested, I can call home and get Grandma's recipe.

posted by Hugh Janus 05 December | 15:37

The best thing about cupcakes are the frosting! Lots of bright colored, tasty frosting. There's nothing better than a chocolate cupcake with pink or yellow frosting, or a lemon cupcake with green frosting, and so on.

posted by muddgirl 05 December | 15:49

Cupcakes make people happy. I wish you would draw a picture of your cupcakes, mrs.pants!

She did!

Hope you don't mind that I linked to that, Mrs. P.

posted by mudpuppie 05 December | 15:50

Hey, mrs. pants, what medium are you using for your colored work?
Your flickr has helped me work off a tiny corner of the crankies.

posted by ethylene 05 December | 16:11

that was a cookie comic! i can't find it but i know i did a BUNCH of doodles with me conducting a singing cupcake choir...

colorful frosting! of course!

hmmm i really hope i don't get busted, that would suck all the fun and ummm potential profit out of this. I just want to start a moneyjar to save up for new contact lenses because i am incapable of saving money, but if it all went into a jar that was glued shut i think i could do it. how is it that everything i ever want to do is illegal?

posted by Mrs.Pants 05 December | 16:14

thanks eth, i usually use photoshop to color anything that will be printed, it's the easiest way to know what the final product will look like. Other than that acrylic and oil paints and sometimes gouache.

posted by Mrs.Pants 05 December | 16:18

Chocolate.
Coffee and Walnut.

posted by essexjan 05 December | 16:31

They also, for some reason, make me want to drink.
This is probably more due to a case of the angry cranky swears i've been having today than staring at smiling bottles of booze.
I'd much rather be doing something illegal.

i say we band together with druva and halonine and form "The Asian Equation" just to distract the authorities.

posted by ethylene 05 December | 16:37

You're on ethylene! Last week I photocopied an entire book at the library!

posted by halonine 05 December | 17:22

it's on!
now we need costumes!

"None of these things looks just like the others--"

posted by ethylene 05 December | 17:34

Well dammit, now I want an adorable cupcake. Something all frothy and sprinkly. I really have to stop clicking on food posts, especially when I have to fast for bloodwork tomorrow.

My favorite are Black Bottom cupcakes. The gooeyier the better.

posted by jrossi4r 05 December | 17:45

Oh I second black bottoms! I make bitchin' ones.

posted by gaspode 05 December | 18:44

Mint or caramel frosting!

posted by brujita 05 December | 18:46

Are you sure one buck is worth your while? I know ingredients are cheap but you have to buy in bulk to get a real benefit and you have to make lots, your time must be worth something. I would happily buy a one dollar cupcake if I liked sweets, but I think my upper limit is two dollars and I suggest you start by charging two and you can always cut your prices depending on the response.

/Occasional accountant god help me.

Maybe one with cinnamon and a little nutmeg in the dough for Christmas, what about gingerbread? Can you do that? IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE?

posted by Divine_Wino 05 December | 19:59

What you want, wino, has to be a greek walnut cake-y cupcake. That would be goodyumyum.

How about pumpkin spice cupcakes? I want that right now!

And in the summer... Key Lime cupcakes!

posted by taz 05 December | 20:16

$1 per cupcake is fine; people wouldn't think twice about it. You may even be able to get $2 per (and sell 6 for $9).

As for flavors: Chocolate with chocolate frosting would be your biggest seller, guaranteed.

posted by Doohickie 05 December | 22:28

On further review, Mrs. Doohickie says $1 max. (Apparently she has better impulse control than I.)

posted by Doohickie 05 December | 22:32

Coffee and Walnut

with

caramel frosting!

posted by Doohickie 05 December | 22:33

I still say two bucks or do the math and make sure one buck is worth your while, I suspect it isn't.

posted by Divine_Wino 05 December | 23:30

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