The 6-step pricing formula
- Ingredients per batch. Weigh what you actually use, and price it from your last receipt.
- Packaging per piece. Boxes, liners, stickers and ribbon add up fast.
- Your time. Hours × the hourly rate you'd accept from a job. Include washing up.
- Overhead %. Gas, electricity, oven wear and delivery runs, as a % of your ingredient cost.
- Divide by pieces to get the true cost per piece.
- Add your margin. Profit isn't the same as paying yourself for your time.
Worked example: 12 vanilla cupcakes
| Ingredients | $2.44 |
| Packaging ($0.15 × 12) | $1.80 |
| Your time (1.5 h at $8/h) | $12.00 |
| Overheads (15% of ingredients) | $0.37 |
| Total batch cost | $16.61 |
|---|---|
| Cost per cupcake | $1.38 |
| Price at a 30% margin | $1.98 each · $23.72 a dozen |
Notice that your time is the biggest cost. If you charge less than your cost per piece, you're paying customers to eat your cake.
Common pricing mistakes
- Not counting your time. Underpricing usually comes from leaving labour out.
- Forgetting packaging. A box and a liner can cost more than the flour.
- Old prices. When butter or sugar goes up, your cost goes up. Update pack prices from your latest receipts.
كيف تسعّري الحلويات البيتية
احسبي كلفة المكوّنات والتغليف ووقتك والمصاريف (غاز، كهرباء، توصيل)، ثم أضيفي هامش الربح. الحاسبة المجانية تقوم بالحساب عنك: أدخلي أرقامك في الخانات الصفراء فتحصلي على كلفة القطعة والسعر المقترح للقطعة وللدزينة.
Price every recipe, track orders and profit
The Home Bakery Business System is a connected Excel + Google Sheets workbook: recipe costing to the gram from one ingredient list, an orders tracker, low-stock alerts, a pricing calculator and a monthly profit dashboard. Change the price of butter once and every recipe, margin and order updates. Also run a multi-currency business? See the Small Business Spreadsheet Bundle.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. It's a direct download of one .xlsx file: no email, no account, no payment.
Does it work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive and open it with Google Sheets, or open it in Microsoft Excel 2019, 2021 or Microsoft 365.
What's the difference from the Home Bakery Business System?
The free calculator prices one recipe at a time. The full system costs every recipe from a shared ingredient list and adds an orders tracker, inventory alerts and a monthly profit dashboard.
Free for use in your own business; please share the link to this page rather than the file. This is a calculation template, not financial advice. Questions? Contact us.